NEWS I

Soviet Emigres Raise
Knotty Halachic Issues

HERB KEINON

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Special to The Jewish News

ound the great shofar
to herald our freedom,
lift a banner to gather
our exiles and reunite our
people scattered in the four
corners of the earth," obser-
vant Jews pray three times a
day.
It is no coincidence, said
Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron,
Sephardi chief rabbi of
Haifa, that this prayer im-
mediately follows another
that asks God to "bless the
earth with fruitfulness and
satisfy us with Your abun-
dance."
The message, the rabbi
said, is clear: a flourishing,
abundant, economically in-
dependent land is a blessing
in absorbing immigrants.
"We still have not merited
this," he said. As a result,
Israel —with its meager
coffers — is faced with a
moral dilemma Rabbi
Bakshi-Doron framed in
halachic terminology:'
"Immigrants and the poor of
your city, who comes first?"
This was just one of a
number of the issues recent-
ly dealt with at an oral law
conference that had as its
theme "Immigrant Absorp-
tion in Halacha." Among the
questions raised were what
happens if a wife wants to
emigrate to Israel, but the
husband doesn't? Do Soviet
Jews have to bring witnesses
to prove they are Jewish?
Does a Soviet Jew married
in a civil marriage need a
divorce certificate to annul
the marriage?
If the conference was any
indication, the Soviet im-
migration wave will provide
scholars with enough mate-
rial to fill volume upon vol-
ume of responsa literature.
Rabbi Bakshi-Doron's ques-
tion — who is the state
responsible to provide for
first — generated a number
of other questions.
Those who attended the
conference looking for au-
thoritative halachic rulings
were disappointed. What
they received was more food
for thought, and a reminder
of the existing precedents
that will serve as guideposts
towards solving the halachic
dilemmas that the new aliya
has already presented.
"The question of immi-
grants versus those living in
tents is not one of who is
right, but of who comes
first," Rabbi Bakshi-Doron
said. He quoted a general

ruling regarding charity
that one should first give to
relatives, then to fellow
townspeople, then fellow
countrymen, and only then
to foreigners.
On the face of it this seems
to solve the dilemma. If
Israel has a limited budget,
it should first take care of
those who have lived there
the longest. Veteran Israelis
should get the limited
number of homes and jobs.
But other considerations
complicate the issue.
First of all, Rabbi Bakshi-
Doron said, every. Jew — by
virtue of a religious obliga-
tion to move to Israel —
automatically has the rights
of someone who lives there.
In other words, dual citizen-

"Redeeming
captives comes
before everything,
even before
providing for the
poor. And money
should not be an
issue when dealing
with the
redemption of
captives."
Bakshi-Doron

ship doesn't come when a
Jew actually moves to Israel,
but when he is born.
"A Jew physically may
live abroad, but his soul
lives in Israel," Rabbi
Bakshi-Doron said. As such,
even Jews in the Diaspora
are citizens of "our country,"
which makes it more
difficult to determine "who
gets charity first."
Another factor that com-
plicates the question, the
rabbi said, is that providing
for the immigrants is con-
sidered pidyon shvu'im,the
redemption of captives.
"Redeeming captives
comes before everything,
even before providing for the
poor," he said, citing a vast
array of commentators.
"And money should not be
an issue when dealing with
the redemption of captives."
Rabbi Bakshi-Doron said
the state has a halachic
obligation to ensure the
redemption of the captives —
including providing for their
basic needs — even if it
means taking money that
was earmarked for other
purposes.
But the municipalities, he