# The Law of Return **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274 "2011-03-19T19:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/1 "2011-03-19T19:45:16Z")
Let’s say the American government collapses due to an invasion of rapid beavers and I decide my best bet is to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. How do I prove that I am a Jew, or alternatively, the child or grandchild of a Jew? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/2 "2011-03-19T19:55:54Z")
It’s pretty tough, actually. It’s my understanding that you have to show some kind of physical proof that your family is Jewish, like your parents’ ketubah or something of that nature. In theory, I’m eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, but in reality, I have NO IDEA how I would prove it. My ancestors were exactly the sort of socialist atheist Zionists who immigrated to Israel during the Second Aliyah - but they went to Brooklyn instead. Because actually practicing Judaism would have been way to bourgeois for them, I have nothing physical I can point to. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/3 "2011-03-19T19:56:52Z")
There is absolutely no escape from rapid beavers. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/4 "2011-03-19T20:01:19Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > There is absolutely no escape from rapid beavers. But it’s even harder to escape a faster pussycat. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/5 "2011-03-19T20:09:34Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > There is absolutely no escape from rapid beavers. But what if a rapid beaver (or at least a very fast one) was Jewish? Could he emigrate to Israel? Could he become a rabbi? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/6 "2011-03-19T20:21:07Z")
I’m attracted to beavers myself. I probably wouldn’t leave. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/7 "2011-03-19T20:33:38Z")
My mother’s father was from Russia, so maybe records still exist listing him as a Jew? LIke Kyla, my Jewish ancestors dated from a time when religious observence was at a low and a lot of Jews actively played down their identity. Was your ancestor a Jew if secular authorities said he was? ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/8 "2011-03-19T21:58:46Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > There is absolutely no escape from rapid beavers. :smack: They’re twice as dangerous as slower-moving beavers, you know. Are we too early/late for the Dopers in Israel to weigh in on this? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/9 "2011-03-19T22:29:09Z")
I think it’s like midnight Sunday in Israel right now, so you may need to wait a couple hours. ---
**Author:** ![ToughLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@ToughLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToughLife)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/10 "2011-03-20T01:11:02Z")
A bit of googling got me here [http://www.ujia.org.il/aliyah\_klita\_sections.asp?id=3&back=M](http://www.ujia.org.il/aliyah_klita_sections.asp?id=3&back=M) ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/11 "2011-03-20T01:38:21Z")
> [@ToughLife](#): > > A bit of googling got me here > [http://www.ujia.org.il/aliyah\_klita\_sections.asp?id=3&back=M](http://www.ujia.org.il/aliyah_klita_sections.asp?id=3&back=M) Thanks for the info. The link states (as Kyla mentioned), that if you are a child of a Jew, you can provides your parents’ ketuba as proof of their Jewishness. However, what do you do if you have only one Jewish parent? Or if your Jewish parents were not married in an Orthodox ceremony? Or if the ketuba was lost? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/12 "2011-03-20T01:48:51Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > There is absolutely no escape from rapid beavers. :: all the Canadians in the thread wonder who revealed state secrets :: ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/13 "2011-03-20T02:18:39Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > My mother’s father was from Russia, so maybe records still exist listing him as a Jew? LIke Kyla, my Jewish ancestors dated from a time when religious observence was at a low and a lot of Jews actively played down their identity. Was your ancestor a Jew if secular authorities said he was? at least in the past it was so. Israel accepted the ubiquitous ethnicity declarations in Soviet documents. (Sure enough quite a few fraudulent ones were manufactured in late eighties and early nineties for non Jews wishing to emigrate due to the post-Soviet economic collapse ) Not sure if they still accept them though, now that most Jews from Russia moved there. This will certainly become an interesting topic once the American collapse drives an exodus on a scale similar to the Russian one and the question arises how to process the non-religious amongst American Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/14 "2011-03-20T02:30:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But what if a rapid beaver (or at least a very fast one) was Jewish? Could he emigrate to Israel? Could he become a rabbi? It might be easier for him to become a rabbit rather than a rabbi 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/15 "2011-03-20T15:13:16Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > It might be easier for him to become a rabbit rather than a rabbi 🙂 Maybe even a rapid rabid rabbit?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/16 "2011-03-20T15:17:40Z")
A rapid rabid rabbi rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-law-of-return/575274/17 "2011-03-20T15:36:47Z")
_sigh_ Hijacked by my own OP.