© Reuters / Michael Dalder
Israeli rabbinical courts are increasingly relying on DNA tests in cases where the Jewishness of individuals seeking to marry is in doubt, recent complaints suggest. In almost all of these cases,
the individuals who were asked or advised to undergo genetic testing were immigrants from the former Soviet Union or their offspring.
About half a dozen complaints about the practice have been filed over the past year or so with ITIM, an organization that assists immigrants and converts challenged by Israel's religious bureaucracy.
"It is really terrifying thinking where this could lead," Elad Caplan, the director of the advocacy center at ITIM, told
Haaretz.
"Judaism is about belonging and community - it's not about race and blood, as our worst enemies have claimed."
In one recent case, he said, a bride-to-be was sent for DNA testing because she was born quite a few years after her parents were married, and doubts were raised as to whether she was the biological daughter of the woman.
In another case, Caplan said, a woman was sent for DNA testing after she reported that her mother was in her mid-forties when she gave birth to her and doubts were raised as to whether this could have been possible.
A Jewish bride and groom must marry through the Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate's office if they wish to be recognized as married in Israel. All couples seeking to marry through the Rabbinate must first register at one of its local offices.
These offices will typically refer individuals to the rabbinical courts if no certification exists that the mother of the bride or groom was married through the Rabbinate (or by a rabbi approved by the Rabbinate if they are from overseas). Likewise, couples will be referred to the rabbinical court if suspicions have been raised about the authenticity of the documentation they presented.
Comment: A third fire at a residential block in Paris killed 4, including two children, in late December.