My Orthodox friends in the US have made it abundantly clear that my pleas for them to make aliyah “before it is too late” are pointless. They think that the Jewish day schools give them a better chance at having Jewish grandchildren and the recent wave of anti-Semitism in the US was an anomaly and not, as I insist, a precursor to a second Holocaust. Sure, they love to visit Israel but everything they need to be a frum yid is readily available right where they are.
So moving to Israel has no benefit. But in yeshiva, when discussing issues, the bottom line is always, “l’mai nafka meeneh” (What is the practical implication?).
And the answer is that a Jew who remains in galut will remain a Jew but he will not be part of Klal Yisrael. Though it is difficult to determine how many Jews live outside of Israel because the definition of who is a Jew has become muddled, by conservative estimates, 6.9 million Jews out of a global population of 14.9 million live in Israel today. This means that 47% of the Jews currently live in Israel and by the same conservative estimates, the scales will tip in 2030 and more Jews will be inside Israel than outside.
And when that happens, by all opinions, the Jews must begin counting the Jubilee cycle, signaling the prophesied third inheritance of the land of Israel. Performing the Jubilee requires the performance of five mitzvoth: counting the Jubilee with a blessing, letting free slaves, returning land, blowing the shofar, and forgiving debts.
As part of forgiving debts, the land is returned to its original inheritors. This is not just theoretical. If the conditions for Jubilee have been met, the land of Israel can be distributed by lottery as it was in the days of Joshua. Every Jew will receive his Biblically mandated inheritance in the Land of Israel.
If this happens, this will create an additional classification in Judaism; klal Yisrael (the congregation of Israel). This will further complicate the Gordian Knot that is Jewish identity, an issue that has been entirely mishandled by both the Israeli government and rabbinate, when it has been handled at all.
The issue of Jewish identity has been treated like Schrodinger’s Cat by the Jewish community in exile in which every Jew is considered both a Jew while the possibility that this is not true is always in the background. In an attempt to keep order, the Orthodix Jews have made it blissfully binary; Jewish mothers have Jewish children, Jewish fathers don’t count. This is, of course, precisely the opposite of Torah law. Other branches of Judaism are not so binary, meaning that if they are to maintain their standard of Jewish identity, Orthodix Judaism must remain insular, cutting itself off from its brothers. Since this is not possible (and certainly not ideal or practicable), there must surely be many Jews being counted in Orthodox minyans whose Jewish status is not built on bedrock.
Israel has its own set of problems when it comes to determining who is a Jew. Halachic Jews (i.e. those lucky enough to have verifiably Jewish mothers) are granted citizen status under the Law of Return. As secular Zionism is a catastrophe based ideology, Jewish status is also granted to anyone who was Jewish enough to be taken by the Nazis, i.e. anyone with one Jewish grandparent or who is married to a Jewish spouse. As a result, many Israeli citizens are not halachically (Torah law) Jewish.
But the secular Jews who established the state did not understand that the Torah granting them their ancestral homeland was part of this national identity and not just a book of religious doctrine. So they excluded any descendant of Jews who voluntarily abandoned the Jewish religion, i.e. converted.
Anyone who has made aliyah knows that proving your Judaism to the Misrad Ha’Panim (Ministry of the Interior) is a frustrating affair since most American Jews take their identity at face value, never questioning it and never being questioned on it. In a recent case of a Christian missionary masquerading as an Orthodox Jew, it was discovered that he established his identity by completing an online smicha course. The rabbis never thought to ask.
These genealogical requirements highlight that Judaism is, in fact, a nation, as it is exclusively referred to in the Bible, and not a religion. As such, a Jew is someone who is part of klal yisrael. And the clearest defining factor of someone from klal yisrael is their inheritance of land from their father. And as the daughters of Tzelafchad taught us, this can be either a man or a woman.
As Israel becomes the homeland for the majority of Jews, Israeli identity will become more of a factor in determining Jewish identity. This will bring to the forefront the deficiencies in the Israeli system. The passage of time and the diminishing Jewish population will also bring this issue of Jewish identity for the Jews in exile.
But after 2030, there will be one problem the Jews outside of Israel will not be able to solve. They will not be part of klal Yisrael.
