The Supreme Court is set to rule today on a petition against what is termed the government”s recent policy of preventing Subbotnik Jews from making Aliyah
Newscaster: The Supreme Court is set to rule today on a petition against what is termed the government”s recent policy of preventing Subbotnik Jews from making Aliyah. A large number have immigrated to Israel, and an estimated 20,000 remain in the former Soviet Union. The petitioners are the “Shavei Israel” Organization and a Subbotnik Jews whose requested for Israeli citizenship was denied on the grounds that her husband is not Jewish. “Shavei Israel” chairman, Michael Freund, spoke to us about the case.
Michael Freund: We filed the petition on behalf of Lubov Goncharev, who is a woman Subbotnik Jews from the southern Russian village of Vysoki. Lubov”s parents made Aliyah a few years ago, and settled in Beit Shemesh, they were recognized as Jews, and registered as Israeli citizens with no problems. But in recent years, the Interior Ministry, for inexplicable reasons, has begun making it far more difficult for Subbotnik Jews from the former Soviet Union to come to Israel. And when Lubov herself submitted an application to make Aliyah, her application was denied, even though her parents had already moved to Israel as Jews and were living here at the time.
Steve Lindy: Denied on what basis?
Michael Freund: The Interior Ministry told Lubov that because she, as a Subbotnik Jew had married outside the community framework, meaning, she had married a non-Jew, she had lost her right to make Aliyah. Now, there is no basis in the law whatsoever for the Interior Ministry”s decision. There is no such thing as a person losing their right to make Aliyah because of their choice of a spouse. This is simply illegal, immoral, and antithetical to Zionism, and it is essentially sentencing Lubov and her Jewish children to a future of assimilation and further inter marriage in the former Soviet Union.
Steve Lindy: Exactly what is a Subbotnik Jews?
Michael Freund: About 2 centuries ago, in the south of Russia, there was a group of Russian peasants and farmers who decided to adopt Judaism, and they underwent conversion. It”s a phenomenon that was written about by all the great Jewish historians, such as Simon Dubanov and others. When the Tzar of Russia at the time, Alexander the I learned of this movement, he issued a series of very harsh decrees against the Subbotnik Jews, which culminated in their expulsion to the far reaches of the empire. Nonetheless, the Subbotnik Jews maintained their Jewish identity despite Tzarist persecution and Soviet oppression. Many of them were murdered when the Nazis invaded the former Soviet Union in June of 1941. Over the past century, thousands of Subbotnik Jews have made Aliyah freely to Israel, and have become an integral part of Israeli society. Their descendants include prominent figures such as the late of IDF Chief of Staff Refael (Raful) Eitan, and others. And again, just in the past few years, the Israeli government has suddenly begun to cast doubt about their Jewishness. This stance of the government simply makes no sense, and we decided to take the matter to court, because I think it is an act of historical injustice, after all that the people have endured to live as Jews and to remain Jews, for the State of Israel to now slam the door shut in their faces.
Newscaster: Michael Freund