Religion: Who's a Jew? (Contd.) *

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Israel startled Jews the world over by setting aside Halakha—Jewish religious law—as the official standard for determining Jewish nationality (TIME, Feb. 2). Last week, faced with angry protest by Israel's National Religious Party, Premier Golda Meir's Cabinet produced a compromise solution.

The Cabinet will back two new laws. One will stipulate that government registrars can accept as Jewish nationals only persons who are converts to Judaism or who were born to Jewish mothers and have remained Jews (which is the traditional rule). The other law will grant automatic Israeli citizenship, for the first time, to...