I know Jewish people are granted some special right to visit the state of Israel, and some companies organize free tours for Jewish born or living outside.
But does that apply only for people ethnically Jewish that come from Jewish families? Or also applies to new converts to Judaism?
Like, not literally converting tomorrow and demand a free vacation to Israel, but like, converting and in a few years wait and see if they offer me a free vacation to the country to visit the most iconic places of Judaism?
How does that works?
edit: I’m a hispanic atheist with no Jewish family that I know of, and I’m not interested on joining any religion, this is just a hypothetical case.
Friendly reminder that Israel
sterilizedadministered birth control shots without informed consent to Ethiopian Jewish women who were trying to invoke the Law of Return and migrate to Israel.This just isnt true. I’m not saying this to defend Israel and their actions in Gaza - its just really important to not get swept up in falsehoods, particularly at a time when legitimate criticism of Israel is being portrayed as antisemitic.
There are allegations that Israel administered a birth control drug - which has to be readministered every three months - to Ethiopian immigrants without informed consent. The investigation into this was flawed, but there is literally no evidence to suggest that anyone was forced or coerced into taking this.
What does seem plausible and even likely based on the facts is that doctors often made little or no effort to overcome language and cultural barriers and make sure that consent was fully informed and patients were completely aware of the effects of the procedure.
This is definitely an issue in and of itself, and is a level of societal racism. But what it is not, is ideoligical forcible sterilization.
Further, when you say ‘Ethiopian Jewish women tried to invoke the Law of Return’ the implication is that Israel was really against Ethiopian immigration. In reality, the Israeli government worked with the US to actively enable this - in 1984 Israeli covert forces worked to evacuate the Beta Israel community from Sudan to Israel during the civil war there (this is known as Operation Moses).
Basically, there is so so much to legitimately criticise the Israeli government for right now. Repeating misinformation like this just straight up doesn’t help.
They gave them a birth control shot without properly informing them of what it was. Still scandalous, but not what you are saying.
People aren’t machines, if your conversion was genuine and you built up relationships in your local community you’d probably get a chance - but if you show up saying “LOL, I’m technically Jewish. Where’s my free vacation” you’ll probably not.
There’s a surprising amount of freeish stuff out there if you’re willing to work for it.
Exactly right. You’re not gonna get a free vacation into one of the highest-security ethnostates in the world off some vague “gotcha” clause
It aint free if you work for it.
You don’t have to be a full Jew, just Jew ish
Birthright Israel offers trips to converts too, as long as you are in the age limits.
The law of return also allows converts to obtain citizenship.
In both cases you would have to be a practicing member of the community and do all of the necessary steps to officially become a member.
Conversion is a long process, made considerably easier since Israel came into existence but still not overnight. So no, not tomorrow. But yes, you could probably do it if you were determined enough, or had the right help: How 90 Peruvians became the latest Jewish settlers
The law of return does allow for converts to move to Israel. They do look into your conversion though and if it is a sham they’ll decline.
It’s not free though.
No, they don’t mean Jews religiously. They mean Jewish through heritage, similar to the way many countries do citizenship by birthright rather than birthplace (like the US does). In Hebrew law(?) the birthright is passed down by the mother as prior to genealogy that was a surefire way of proving your parent is who they say they are.
My information is secondhand and any corrections are welcome.
Edit: read below for more accurate information.
No, it’s for all Jews.
In Judaism, there’s no proselytizing - they’re not actively seeking converts. A rabbi is supposed to reject a request for conversion three times before beginning the process. There’s a bit involved - you can find it online - but it involves time and effort and depending on your genitalia a bit of pain (basically just a pinprick even if you’re already good to go, as it were, because a medical circumcision isn’t considered to count as a religious one). Orthodox Jews don’t tend to recognize converts unless they’re also orthodox, but that doesn’t affect the Law of Return.
It’s just a lot of work for a “free” vacation. It’d be easier in the end to just travel over there, unless you’re looking for citizenship.
There are of course many Jewish atheists, but they’re definitely going to push back on that point for a convert.
Honestly, for the level of effort and given OP’s atheism, I’d just save up for a trip to Costa Rica and do jungle zip lines and hang out with sloths. The candles and the hats are nice, but there’s easier ways to tour the Middle East - and I’d include joining the Marines in that.
there’s easier ways to tour the Middle East - and I’d include joining the Marines in that.
That gave me a nice chuckle, thanks.
So Judaism operates on the Beetlejuice rules?
Ancestry yes, but converts are also eligible.
birthright rather than birthplace like the US
I thought place was a criteria for the US, which is what was being claimed during the fake “birther” thing with Obama?
It’s either or. But the Obama thing was mostly just racism.
His dad isn’t an American citizen (Kenyan) and he has a couple of half brothers who aren’t citizens (different mother, born in Kenya).
Obama was double fine, both because he had a US Citizen mother and because he was born in Hawaii.
The conspiracy theory at the time was that he was actually born in Kenya like his half brothers. The conspiracy mostly just ignored that his mom existed, since she died back in 1995, so she wasn’t there to defend the point.
They didn’t ignore his mother, they argued that she hadn’t been in the US for enough time. For a birth abroad with one citizen parent, between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, the U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for 10 years prior to the person’s birth, at least five of which were after the age of 14. After 1986 it became 5 years / 2 years after 14.
She was 18 when she gave birth to Barack. He was born in Hawaii so it didn’t matter.
What they really ignored is there was zero reason for her to lie and say he was born in Hawaii. Even if it wasn’t automatic, obtaining citizenship for her child when she moved back home would have been paperwork, but not difficult. There is no downside to doing it that way unless her plan all along was for him to be the president. Makes no logical sense and a heck of a lot easier to just do the forms.
At one point some people tried to argue John McCain wasnt eligible either as he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which also made no difference.
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So like George Santos?
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For the next four decades they’ll be asking everyone if they made this post
/s?
