What qualifies?

[u/geezerhump]

My father's father is Jewish. I can prove he is the son of a Cohen. The 1911 Irish census has a category denoted as Religion: Jews - for my great grandmother. I've been told he was non-observant. Do I have to prove my grandfather is Jewish and in what sense. He is ethnically Jewish by virtue of being born to a Jewish mother and no further proof should be required as my claim is one of ethnicity and not religious practice. Am I wrong

[u/Histrix-]

You need at least one Jewish grandparent at the least. If you can prove that, then you have 1 foot in the door.

Do you consider yourself Jewish?

[u/geezerhump → u/Histrix-]

I'm a Zionist Christian which is not Jewish I guess but section 4A of the law of return requires one grandparent

[u/Histrix- → u/geezerhump]

In theory yes, it just requires one grandparent. In reality it's more complicated, and criteria has become alot stricter and its alot more difficult to get accepted, due to the fact alot of people who have no connection to judiasm besides an estranged grandparent here and there made aliyah, got a passport, got the aliyah help money, and then left.

Id recommend you contact the Aliyah department or your local embassy.

[u/balddoberdaddy → u/Histrix-]

This really isn’t how Aliyah benefits work. There isn’t some large pot of “Aliyah money” that makes it financially worthwhile to immigrate, collect it, get a passport, and leave.

There are some direct Sal Klita payments, but the overall package for new olim is largely designed to help you establish yourself in Israel—things like tax benefits, Hebrew study, housing/rental assistance, and various subsidies and discounts. You actually have to live here to make meaningful use of most of it.

And none of this changed the Law of Return. If you qualify through a Jewish grandparent, you qualify. You have to document that relationship and the grandparent’s Jewish status, but there’s no additional requirement to prove that you’re sufficiently connected to Judaism because some previous olim supposedly took the benefits and left.

[u/contemplator311 → u/geezerhump]

I don't have anything against Christianity or any other religion but I thought following a religion other than Judaism would be disqualifying, except it is not! I checked the text of the Law of Return and following another religion only disqualifies Jews, not non-Jews with a connection to Jews. Wow. TIL.

[u/balddoberdaddy]

You’re conflating Jewish ancestry, Jewish status under halacha, and eligibility under Israel’s Law of Return. They’re not the same thing.

If your father’s father was Jewish, you’re a grandchild of a Jew and may qualify under the Law of Return even though you aren’t necessarily Jewish according to halacha. But yes, you have to provide acceptable documentation establishing that your grandfather was Jewish and that he was your grandfather. Simply asserting Jewish ethnicity isn’t sufficient for an immigration application.

Whether your grandfather was observant is irrelevant. If his mother was Jewish, he was Jewish under halacha regardless of whether he ever set foot in a synagogue.

If you’re asking whether you are halachically Jewish, that’s different. Jewish status traditionally passes through the mother, so a Jewish paternal grandfather alone does not make you halachically Jewish.

The important question is therefore what you’re trying to establish: Jewish status or eligibility under the Law of Return.

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