Adoption and the Law of Return

The Law of Return was most recently the subject of what can aptly be described as a microcosm of the insanity of Israeli legal interpretation as displayed in Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's opinion that, as summarized by Ynetnews.com, because the section of the Law of Return addressing who is a Jew does not discuss the ramifications of adoption of a Jewish child by non-Jewish parents, the question of the child’s Jewish identity is open to interpretation.

In most legal systems the absence of a legal provision which would change a person's legal status would mean only that the person's legal status is what it always was. The real question is why would anyone think that adoption of a Jew by non-Jews makes the person less Jewish? If this were the case any Jews saved by Christian parents from the Holocaust – for instance Abraham Foxman, Director of the Anti-Defamation League who was raised as and by a Catholic – could face serious problems if they wanted to make aliyah under the Law of Return.

In any case, pursuant to a 1970 Amendment, the Law of Return states that “[f]or the purposes of this Law, ‘Jew’ means a person who was born of a Jewish mother . . . ." specifically including people who were born to but not necessarily raised by Jewish parents. The only real question being has the person at issue who has been adopted by non-Jewish parents become "a member of another religion" - since such persons are understandably excluded from the Law's benefits.