Dwindling Jewish majority

“Jewish population at lowest percentage since founding of Israel” (jpost.com, April 12) informs us that close to the establishment of the state, the Jewish percentage of the population stood at 82.1%, while today it stands at only 73.9% and continues to decline.

The Central Bureau of Statistics is right to warn that Israel should take steps to ensure that Israel maintains its status as a Jewish and democratic state. Israel was founded to be the Jewish homeland – the place that must take in people being persecuted as Jews, even if they are not Jewish according to Halacha.

To meet its obligations to Israel’s Jews and to people suffering antisemitism outside of Israel, Israel needs to define “Who is a Jew?” and implement outreach programs for those who enter Israel, completely legally, under the Law of Return but are not Jewish according to Jewish law. A Basic Law should be adopted which defines who can supervise conversions, how people/ groups can be approved to get added to the list, and reasons why one might be removed from the list. The rules must be set by the State so that people who undergo formal conversion do not have to live in fear of their conversions being annulled on the whim of a Minister whose personal standards differ from those of members of the State-approved conversion boards.

On the other side of the coin, asylum seekers entering Israel with no attachment to the Jewish people should be treated humanely and helped to find new homes outside of Israel. Israel is not big enough to become the home for the entire world population. TOBY F. BLOCK

Atlanta, GA