from Israeli DEMOCRACY, Feb 1987

Jewish Pluralism or Orthodox Monopoly

Supreme Court: Shoshana Miller is Jewish.
Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz refuses to register her as Jewish.

Shoshana Miller converted to Judaism in the United States in 1982, within the framework of the Reform movement. Upon her arrival in Israel in October, 1985, she received, under the Law of Return, the status of an 'oleh', a Jew who has come to settle in Israel. When she came to the Ministry of Interior to receive her Identity Card (ID), the official refused to register her as 'Jewish' in the space provided for nationality (le'om) and suggested instead the following alternatives: (1) To write Christian, or (2) to leave the 'nationality' blank, or, later (3) to register her as "Jewish (converted)'. Miller refused all the offers and applied to the Supreme Court for an order to the Ministry of Interior to register her as just plain "Jewish'. The Supreme Court decreed on December 2, 1986, that Miller should be registered in her ID as 'Jewish' without any additions, as this was the intention of the legislation. It did not accept the Ministry of the Interior's petition that registering her conversion was necessary in order not to mislead other religious authorities (e.g. the Rabbinical Courts who preside over marriages) about her religious status.