A nation dedicated to gathering in the Jews of the world, Israel has never been able to answer a question basic to its existence: What is a Jew? Does a Jew become Jewish by birth, or by religious observance, or by mere inclination? Aware that providing an answer could rip apart the government's delicately balanced coalition of agnostic secularists and ultra-religious rabbis, the Knesset has never officially defined a Jew, although the word appears in many laws. Last week five justices of the Israeli Supreme Court retired to decide whether or not a tiny, bearded Roman Catholic monk can be a...
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