UTJ: Adoption Bill Would Open Door to Assimilation

A bill which would allow adoptive parents to bypass halachic requirements for conversion of non-Jewish children has passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset.

The bill, authored by MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid) was denounced by United Torah Judaism  MK Rabbi Uri Maklev during Wednesday’s plenum debate, in which he warned that, if implemented, it would “harm Jewish identity and cause severe assimilation.”

With the support of the Netanyahu government behind it, the bill would enable Jewish parents to adopt non-Jewish children without a halachic conversion, and the reverse, as well, permitting non-Jewish parents to adopt Jewish children.

The vote on the first reading was 39 in favor and 10 opposed. MKs supporting it were from both the coalition and the opposition, while all the votes against were from the chareidi parties.

MK Maklev rejected the claim of those supporting the bill that it seeks to correct discrimination against Jewish parents who wish to adopt but are currently disqualified because they are not religiously observant.

It is a fallacy to call this discrimination, he said. Rather, the issue is whether there will be a proper conversion or not. A family that does not keep Torah and mitzvos is not equipped to adopt a non-Jewish child.

“What do they want from adoption? Conversion. They want to raise a child in a Jewish family so that he will be Jewish, and so they are asked to comply with the process of conversion, like anyone else.”

Furthermore, he pointed out, the fact that a Jewish child would be able to grow up in a non-Jewish family, where no one knows he is Jewish, will lead to assimilation.

“The government supports a bill which undermines the foundations of the Jewish people and harms the basis of Jewish identity,” Maklev concluded.

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the November 8th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.