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mtDNA tests as a vehicle for Jewish recognition of Former Soviet Union Israeli citizens: religious and political debate

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Abstract

Until recently, in rabbinic discourse as well as Israeli state policy, Jewish identity was not reckoned via genetics. While academic studies looked for genetic similarities among Jewish communities, these similarities did not determine Jewishness or state policy. This article is the first study spotlighting the novel use of mtDNA testing in order to determine the Jewishness of Israeli citizens who immigrated to Israel from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) 1990 onward. These tests offered by the Israeli State Rabbinate are accompanied by heated political and religious wrangles, in particular between leaders of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and the political party claiming to represent immigrants from the FSU. We aim to understand this current debate on determining Jewishness by mtDNA. We examine the reciprocal relationship between science, religion, communal identity and state policy, and question the possible social implications. In contrast to claims that the change in Jewish’ definition is guided by science and technology, we argue that this change is dictated primarily by specific historical and socio-political circumstances. Furthermore, enthusiasm or rejection of the use of mtDNA for Jewish recognition depends on inclusive or exclusive ideologies, not on the indecisive content of science or religion themselves.

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Notes

  1. Was calculated according to the data of The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics—https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2005/2.shnaton%20population/st02_02.pdf.

  2. In the Brother Daniel case, he was considered Jewish according to traditional Jewish law because his mother was Jewish. However, as a result of his conversion to Catholicism, Daniel was not considered Jewish under Israeli civil law and his request to be registered as a Jew and to get Israeli citizenship was denied by the Israeli High Court of Justice in 1962. In the Shalit case, children of an Israeli Jewish father and non-Jewish mother were considered Jewish according to civil law, but because of their mother's non-Jewish status, they were not considered Jewish according to Halacha. In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled to register the children's nationality as Jewish, but the third child, born after the Law of Return was amended in 1970, could not register as Jewish. https://knesset.gov.il/constitution/ConstMJewishState.htm

  3. A mamzer is a person was born from a forbidden relationship, referring in the main to an offspring that is a result of a married woman's adulterous relationship. Mamzer status is not synonymous with illegitimacy because it does not include children whose mothers were unmarried.

  4. Between March 2009 and November 2018 Sofa Landver from Yisrael Beyteynu party was the minister of Aliyah and Integration, with the exception of one year—between May 2015 and May 2016 the minister of Aliyah and Integration was Ze'ev Elkin from Likud party, both immigrated to Israel from FSU.

  5. For studies looking into the nuances of FSU citizens' identity, in the past and present, see for example; Keissar-Sugarman (2018), Lerner (2017).

    On behalf of both authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. Nurit Kirsh and Yael Hashiloni-Dolev have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MA Program for Biological Thought, The Open University of Israel, 1 University Road, 43107, Ra’anana, Israel

    Nurit Kirsh

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

    Yael Hashiloni-Dolev

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  1. Nurit Kirsh
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  2. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev
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Correspondence to Nurit Kirsh.

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Kirsh, N., Hashiloni-Dolev, Y. mtDNA tests as a vehicle for Jewish recognition of Former Soviet Union Israeli citizens: religious and political debate. BioSocieties 17, 461–484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41292-021-00228-6

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