The Right to Marry...

So, if you've been following at all, I've been having some problems with the Rabbis here in Israel. One Rabbinic branch told me I'm not Jewish. Another told me I need to have an Orthodox Rabbi write a letter proving my Jewishness. Here in Israel, the right to marry a fellow Jew comes from the Rabbanut. There is no such thing as a civil marriage between Jews in Israel. It's the OPPOSITE of the US and is looking more and more like Iran every day.

One of my religious "friends" told me "if you don't like it - move elsewhere and get married in the US!" Well, I don't like it. It's my DEMOCRATIC RIGHT not to like it. I'm all for the Jewish State (10000000% Zionist here) but I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to prove I'm a Jew when all 4 of my grandparents were persecuted in the Holocaust for being JEWISH! My maternal grandmother was in Auschwitz.

The basis for my lack of Jewishness stems from my mom marrying a Catholic on her 2nd marriage. Understand this: both of my birth parents are Jewish. Just because my mother married outside the faith does not make her a non-Jew. She was born a Jew, her mother's a Jew... that's how it rolls. My step-dad, who is AMAZING- by the way, is not Jewish. It doesn't mean I was raised Catholic. I wasn't. I went to the Beth Achim Religious school through Adat Shalom Synagogue. I was active in a Jewish youth movement called BBYO (B'nai B'rith Youth Organization). Yet, I went to a conservative (re: NOT Orthodox) synagogue and I have 2 Rabbis (perhaps 3) that have written on my behalf stating I am in fact a Jew.

None of those Rabbis are Orthodox. Their opinion on my Jewishness does not count.

But you know what's funny? If I were in the US, I could get married because I am a heterosexual. You know what's not funny? Some of my friends cannot get married. While I may be a Republican, I still believe in the democratic right to marry who you want (as long as they are human) - regardless of religious belief. Religion does not belong in American society. If I'm about to be miserable for the rest of my life (joking!) - so why can't my gay friends??

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