The Jerusalem Rabbinical Court on Sunday approved the return to Judaism of three siblings under the age of 16, after their Muslim father consented to the procedure during an unusual hearing conducted by Zoom from prison.
The hearing was held after special coordination between the Israel Prison Service and the rabbinical court. The family has been accompanied in recent years by Yad L’Achim, an Orthodox Jewish organization that works with Jewish women and children in complex family situations.
(Photo: Moshe Glantz)
The children’s mother is a Jewish woman from central Israel who met her Muslim husband nearly 20 years ago. She said she experienced a difficult and complicated relationship for years, leaving the home several times but returning after he promised to change. She said that only after he was sentenced to prison did she find the courage to act to end the relationship.
The mother then turned to Yad L’Achim, which helped her begin divorce proceedings, a step she said she had not previously dared to take. She also underwent a formal process of returning to Judaism. Her children wanted to undergo the process as well but could not do so without their father’s approval.
After repeated requests from the children and appeals from their mother, the father agreed, in part because he did not want to lose contact with them and hoped to preserve the family unit.
For the hearing, the father was brought to the prison offices, where the facility commander provided a computer so he could join the online session with the rabbinical court and Israel Prison Service representatives.
During the hearing, after the children told the court they wanted to return to Judaism, the father was asked whether he understood and approved the process.
“Bottom line, they are Jewish according to Judaism, and I approve that my children undergo the process of returning to Judaism and be Jewish in every respect,” he said.
Under Jewish law, the children are considered fully Jewish. The process was carried out, among other reasons, so they could change their nationality listing in Israel’s official state records.
Yad L’Achim said the children have grown stronger in their Jewish identity in recent months. The eldest son received tefillin, ritual leather boxes and straps worn by observant Jewish men during weekday morning prayers, from the organization and has been putting them on regularly.
The organization said completing the process was a significant step for the family and a new beginning for the three children.
“For these children, this is a moment of closure and the opening of a new chapter in their lives,” Yad L’Achim said. “Behind every case like this are children who seek to know who they are and where they belong, and we are pleased that, like their mother, they too chose to return to Judaism.”
Rabbi Eyal Yosef, a rabbinical court judge and director of Israel’s Rabbinical Courts Administration, praised the cooperation that made the hearing possible.
“The cooperation between the court, the Israel Prison Service and all the parties involved enabled this successful proceeding to take place,” Yosef said. “We wish the children and their family the opportunity to open a new chapter of belonging and blessing, and we thank everyone who helped bring the process to a successful conclusion.”