There are thousands of young people who mistakenly believe themselves halachically Jewish. They are zera Yisrael, of Jewish descent, without being Jewish
As told to Barbara Bensoussan by Yehoshua Parker
It was the summer of 2002, and I’d been learning for a month in the beginners’ program of a kiruv yeshivah in Jerusalem. The content was interesting, but I wasn’t yet sold on Torah Judaism. Then I found myself at the Kosel Plaza at the close of Tishah B’Av, wedged among thousands of Jews praying and singing. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed by a profound sense of clarity and connection. All the classes I’d attended came alive for me — Torah is emes, I realized. I had the same reaction Napoleon did when he saw Jews crying on Tishah B’Av: If the Jews were still mourning their Temple after 2,000 years, they would surely live eternally as a people.
I went back to yeshivah uplifted, engaging in my classes with renewed enthusiasm. But two weeks later, the yeshivah director took me aside.
“I’m sorry, but you have to leave,” he announced. “We’ve done some research into your background, and halachically, you aren’t Jewish. We have no financial mandate to support non-Jews, and somebody else could be using your bed.”
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