A story appeared this week in the Jerusalem Times ( http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=182586 ) and was re-iterated in the New York Times.

 

Now, in a world that distracts attention from many non-productive regimes by claiming only Chinese can be certain Asian believers, Islam splinters into different sects for different races from Hindu-origin Pakistanis to Arabs and Africans and beyond, and that Christianity divides for similar purely epigenetic reasons, should Israel join the crowd through claiming one type of Judaism at least is or may be by peculiar birth only?

 

If the Almighty...by whatever name or substance we consider the same transcendent Absolute that started us all...truly IS anybody's maker of all with rules of dignity, peace, and reason for all, whereas it's paradoxical, egregious and capricious to say autonomous facts CAN change their meanings if viewed by splintered religious (or populations) in different lands, it would definitely tend to isolate Israel were the Knesset to officially proclaim Judaism is NOT a faith a Creator calls all people to but is a name for ONE race He made.

 

I have been and remain a supporter of Israel, a nation which does not stifle belief or practices besides Judaism. I understand the pain the oldest Hebrew Jews have suffered at the hands of monsters throughout time. But even if the Knesset intends no such perception, imagine MyMood Alibabjihad, Laden, and others in the mid-East who might one day make propaganda that Judaism is for elites only and above all other people...while other propaganda might use Knesset activity to "support" that if Judaism is epigenetic, it follows by (legally incompetent) parallel inference the Abrahamic outgrowths Christianity and Islam incorporating Jewish Scriptures are epigenetic, thus racist, State-controllable, and subject to censure...worldwide, goodbye rights of ANY use of God's gifts to rationally analyze autonomous facts governments don't want talked about.

 

Israel is a wonderfully diverse nation, Hebrews like everyone else are entitled to the same rights, chances at life and longevity everyone is, but I pray it will not risk all its successes by choosing a definition of Judaism which masks race as belief...Israel's collective soul is too dear to me to think one kneejerk reaction of the Knesset itself could undo what so many despots could not.