Judgement

In December, 1962, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected the claim of Brother Daniel, a Polish Jew who had become a Carmelite monk, that he was entitled to be admitted to Israel under the Law of Return. The Court was careful to indicate that it was not addressing itself to the meaning of the term “Jew” but interpreting a specific law and applying it to a specific situation. The Justices unanimously rejected the relevance of religious law in considering the question before them. The majority judges agreed that popular usage of the term "Jew" offers the proper guide and that apostasy is incompatible with it.