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Responses to the Arrival of Non-halakhic Russian-Speaking Jews

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Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany’s Jewish Communities, 1990–2005

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Migration History ((PSMH))

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Abstract

In this chapter, the author focuses on the large number of Jewish ‘quota refugees’ who had a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. Considered as Jewish by the German authorities but not Jewish by Jewish communities, most were unable to join the communities. He explains the misunderstandings and miscommunications which allowed this situation to transpire, and how Russian-speaking Jews reacted to this challenge to their self-understandings as Jews. Finally, he investigates how and why the immigration regulations were modified in 2005 to bring the entrance criteria in line with Jewish religious law (the Halakha). This chapter therefore shows how a policy designed to help Jews facing persecution changed over time to become one that was aimed specifically at ‘strengthening’ Germany’s Jewish communities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The preamble to the constitution of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany , which was established in 1997 and represents most of Germany’s Liberal communities, states: ‘A Jew is someone who was born to a Jewish mother or has converted to Judaism under halakhic law’. See: Union of Progressive Jews in Germany 1997. https://www.liberale-juden.de/uber-uns/35-grundsatze/. Accessed 29 July 2019.

  2. 2.

    In October 2010, a notice for non-halakhic Jews interested in converting to Judaism (‘Angebot für Gijurinteressierte—deren Väter jüdisch sind’) appeared in Jewish publications across Germany. It advertised a pilot project to be held in Bad Sobernheim that would prepare non-halakhic Jews for a conversion that would be recognized by the Chief Rabbinate in Israel. The seminar course was provided by the main Jewish institutions in Germany (the Central Council of Jews in Germany , the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany and the Rabbinical Conference) ‘in cooperation with the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel’. (See: Gemeindeblatt Köln 2010. Angebot für Gijurinteressierte. October, 57.) It is unclear whether the delay in providing such a course was due to the recalcitrance of the Chief Rabbinate.

  3. 3.

    Ignatz Bubis (1937–1999): Jewish leader in the Federal Republic. Bubis moved to Germany after being liberated from the Nazi labour camp in Częstochowa, Poland . After relocating to Frankfurt in 1956, he established himself in the real estate business and became active in the Jewish community. As a property developer, he came into conflict with student activists who occupied his properties on several occasions in the 1970s.

  4. 4.

    This issue had arisen in a Bundestag debate in June 1996, in which Cem Özdemir from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen argued that the decreased threat level was just a convenient excuse to limit the immigration. (German Bundestag 1996a. Stenographischer Bericht, plenary protocol 13/115, 26 June, 10316.)

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  1. London, UK

    Joseph Cronin

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Cronin, J. (2019). Responses to the Arrival of Non-halakhic Russian-Speaking Jews. In: Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany’s Jewish Communities, 1990–2005. Palgrave Studies in Migration History. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31273-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31273-2_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-31272-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-31273-2

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