Okay, so my fiance and I have decided to make Aliyah.
A bit of background. I'm a convert to Judaism, Reform. For the record, I did NOT convert to please my fiance, I didn't even know him until several years after converting. At the time I converted, Israel did not accept Reform conversions as being Jewish enough for Aliyah, but they do now.
My fiance is a Jew born of Jewish parents who as young adults were kicked out of Nazi Germany, fled to Shanghai where they met and under dire circumstances had sex so that his mom got pregnant -- but not with my fiance, with his much, much older sister -- and they had to get married. My fiance was born after the war and in the United States and that was after two more sisters and a twelve year gap.
Well, anyway he was born of Jewish parents. He had his Bar Mitzvah at an Orthodox shul, but parents never really practiced Judaism. In fact, his father spent his life blaming Jews and Judaism for ruining his life. Back in Germany, my boyfriend's father had a promising future, he was even going to be in the Olympics -- but all those dreams were destroyed by Hitler and my fiance's father spent the rest of his life bemoaning Germany and being Jewish.
My fiance, on the other hand, took advantage of a current German law that allows descendants of those who were illegally kicked out of Germany by Hitler to have a restored German citizenship -- which probably has his father rolling in his grave. So now my fiance has a dual citizenship: US and German. The irony of that German citizenship thing is if his parents were never kicked out of Germany they never would have met and he never would have been born. Instead of going to Germany where it's cold in the winter, we've decided to move to Israel the heart of Armageddon.
But to irony. I had one rabbi ask his Torah study group, "What is Torah all about?"
Silence.
Rabbi: "Think. What is Torah all about?"
More silence.
Rabbi: "Torah is about the irony. It's always about the irony."
So keep that in mind when I tell you I got accepted for Aliyah but my boyfriend was rejected.
He wasn't able to prove to the Jewish Agency's satisfaction he was born of a Jewish mother, or father for that matter. It has been so long since his Bar Mitzvah, he doesn't even know where to begin to get records of a shul that moved years ago and the rabbi is long dead. My boyfriend's mother is buried in a Jewish cemetery, an Orthodox Jewish cemetery, and he sent proof of that in a letter signed by a rabbi. That should be enough proof he's a Jew, right? Well, the letter with Hebrew letterhead and the name Anshei Sfard signed by the rabbi there didn't happen to say it was actually a Jewish rabbi who signed it, nor did the letter specifically say Jewish mother buried in a Jewish cemetery and so he was rejected.
And, boy-oh-boy, is he mad. He's spitting nails. He's saying things like: "What do I want to go to that stupid country for anyway? So I can be in the middle of war zone? It's no wonder everybody hates the Jews. Even the Jews hate the Jews. There's never going to be peace in the Middle East when they continue to behave the way they do."
Don't ask me how his rejection is about peace in the Middle East. Nevertheless, my boyfriend got another signed letter from the rabbi at Anshei Sfard that says things like:
I am an ordained Orthodox Jewish rabbi. She is buried in an orthodox Jewish cemetery. Only Jews may be buried in this Jewish cemetery. He was born of a Jewish mother...
So now the Jewish Agency has reopened his file and we're both in limbo while our files are under review. We'll see what happens next.
A bit of background. I'm a convert to Judaism, Reform. For the record, I did NOT convert to please my fiance, I didn't even know him until several years after converting. At the time I converted, Israel did not accept Reform conversions as being Jewish enough for Aliyah, but they do now.
My fiance is a Jew born of Jewish parents who as young adults were kicked out of Nazi Germany, fled to Shanghai where they met and under dire circumstances had sex so that his mom got pregnant -- but not with my fiance, with his much, much older sister -- and they had to get married. My fiance was born after the war and in the United States and that was after two more sisters and a twelve year gap.
Well, anyway he was born of Jewish parents. He had his Bar Mitzvah at an Orthodox shul, but parents never really practiced Judaism. In fact, his father spent his life blaming Jews and Judaism for ruining his life. Back in Germany, my boyfriend's father had a promising future, he was even going to be in the Olympics -- but all those dreams were destroyed by Hitler and my fiance's father spent the rest of his life bemoaning Germany and being Jewish.
My fiance, on the other hand, took advantage of a current German law that allows descendants of those who were illegally kicked out of Germany by Hitler to have a restored German citizenship -- which probably has his father rolling in his grave. So now my fiance has a dual citizenship: US and German. The irony of that German citizenship thing is if his parents were never kicked out of Germany they never would have met and he never would have been born. Instead of going to Germany where it's cold in the winter, we've decided to move to Israel the heart of Armageddon.
But to irony. I had one rabbi ask his Torah study group, "What is Torah all about?"
Silence.
Rabbi: "Think. What is Torah all about?"
More silence.
Rabbi: "Torah is about the irony. It's always about the irony."
So keep that in mind when I tell you I got accepted for Aliyah but my boyfriend was rejected.
He wasn't able to prove to the Jewish Agency's satisfaction he was born of a Jewish mother, or father for that matter. It has been so long since his Bar Mitzvah, he doesn't even know where to begin to get records of a shul that moved years ago and the rabbi is long dead. My boyfriend's mother is buried in a Jewish cemetery, an Orthodox Jewish cemetery, and he sent proof of that in a letter signed by a rabbi. That should be enough proof he's a Jew, right? Well, the letter with Hebrew letterhead and the name Anshei Sfard signed by the rabbi there didn't happen to say it was actually a Jewish rabbi who signed it, nor did the letter specifically say Jewish mother buried in a Jewish cemetery and so he was rejected.
And, boy-oh-boy, is he mad. He's spitting nails. He's saying things like: "What do I want to go to that stupid country for anyway? So I can be in the middle of war zone? It's no wonder everybody hates the Jews. Even the Jews hate the Jews. There's never going to be peace in the Middle East when they continue to behave the way they do."
Don't ask me how his rejection is about peace in the Middle East. Nevertheless, my boyfriend got another signed letter from the rabbi at Anshei Sfard that says things like:
I am an ordained Orthodox Jewish rabbi. She is buried in an orthodox Jewish cemetery. Only Jews may be buried in this Jewish cemetery. He was born of a Jewish mother...
So now the Jewish Agency has reopened his file and we're both in limbo while our files are under review. We'll see what happens next.
