CARR 92-93 - Central Conference of American Rabbis

Descent

QUESTION: A young Soviet Jewish man has met a young

Soviet Jewish woman. Both have come to the United States recently from the Soviet Union.

Their parents are deceased and neither one is absolutely certain whether their mothers were

Jewish. While living in the Soviet Union, they suffered the disabilities of all Jews. Since their

arrival in the United States, they have participated in programs at the Jewish Community Center

and a number of synagogues in various cities in which they have lived. Shall we consider them

Jews and marry them, or shall we demand certain prerequisites before marriage? (A. M. – L. Z.,

Pittsburgh, PA)ANSWER: Let us begin by inquiring about the identity of these two

young people while they lived in the Soviet Union and now that they have settled in the United

States. As they suffered the disabilities of Soviet Jews certainly the Soviet government

considered them to be Jews, and they were accepted as Jews by their co-religionists in the

Soviet Union. To the best of their knowledge no one has ever questioned their Jewish identity.

Although the Russian Jewish community possesses very little Jewish knowledge the tradition of

matrilineal descent remains widely known among them. We may, therefore, presume that the

mother was Jewish in both instances and that the parents wished to have their children

recognized as Jews. During their stay in the Soviet Union they suffered because of their Jewish

identity and emigrated. It is, therefore, likely that the mothers of both young people were Jewish

if we follow the initial assumption, and so we may marry them as any other Jewish young people

in accordance with tradition. Furthermore, we may do so in keeping with our recent Reform

resolution on patrilineal descent as these individuals have identified themselves with the Jewish

community and participated in Jewish life to the best of their ability.March 1984