The Jewish people could soon get some serious reinforcements with a new initiative designed to formulate policy on what are known as “emerging Jewish communities”.
Israel’s Ministry of the Diaspora has established a panel of experts to recommend policy by February 2016 how the state should relate to “groups with ties to the Jewish people.”
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“Over the past few years there has been an increasing awareness of large groups of people who are not Jewish by any definition but who have some type of connection to the Jewish people, ” said Dvir Kahana, the director general of the ministry.
“Some of these groups want some kind association with the Jewish people and/or Israel, which raises the question of what ties the government should have with them, ” he said in a statement to the media.
Under existing law, such groups are not eligible to immigrate to Israel because at least one of their grandparents must be Jewish or they have to have undergone an Orthodox conversion to Judaism.