Israel's Chief Rabbi Proposes Amending Law of Return

The Knesset should amend the Law of Return to curb non-Jewish immigration to Israel, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Lau urged.

Speaking at the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, Lau argued against the current law under which anyone with a Jewish grandparent is eligible for automatic Israeli citizenship.

According to halacha, Jewish law, only converts and those with a Jewish mother are Jews.

“For 10 years I have been asking to try to change this mistake of the third generation in the Law of Return—to fix it, to ensure that Israel will be a Jewish state, a state of Jews,” Lau said Sunday night at the emissaries' gala dinner.

“I have had the honor in the past year of being the emissary of [the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson] and to continue in his great footsteps of ensuring that conversion will be done in accordance with Jewish law,” he added.