of the Patriarchs (Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel) be Granted Citizenship Under Israel’s New Government?
Shavei Tzion | Return to Zion Congregation
Haifa, Israel

Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer and support! Together we serve in proclaiming Yeshua the Messiah in Israel!
As most of you know, a new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is in the process of being formed. Most of the political parties that have aligned with him are Orthodox. Among their coalition demands, is a change to the “Law of Return.” This law allows Jews from other countries to obtain citizenship in the State of Israel. This law also allows people who have even one Jewish grandparent to receive citizenship. These parties want to change the law in order to prevent assimilated descendants of Jews from moving to Israel.
In light of this, I want to share an interpretation from Genesis 24:
Abraham insisted that Isaac not marry a woman from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he dwelled. He sent his servant, Eliezer, back to his home country to find a wife for his son.
“And the servant said to him, ‘Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?’
But Abraham said to him, ‘Beware that you do not take my son back there.’” (vv. 5-6)
It is easy to understand the reason for Abraham’s request. First, among the Canaanites there was a curse of sin and moral baseness. There was no chance to find an appropriate wife in Canaan for Isaac through whom the Creator could bring salvation for the whole world.
Second, there was a potential bride for Isaac in Abraham’s former homeland, but if Isaac had to go back and live there in order to marry her, he would lose his calling and would not be able to fulfill his role in God’s greater plan.
Was Rebecca Jewish? No. She was Aramean, a resident of Haran. In the next generation, Rachel and Leah, the daughters of Rebecca’s brother, Laban, were also Aramean. We also know the stories of Rahab and Ruth, women from other nations who joined themselves to Israel. Each desired to join the Abrahamic family of faith, and even became a part of the human ancestry of Yeshua, the Son of David. Each of these women left behind their cultures and lifestyles “to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth.” Well, they succeeded!
And today, the Orthodox parties, which know and understand the Torah, want to turn away children and grandchildren with patrilineal Jewish ancestry – when our patriarchs took non-Jewish women as wives!
It sounds ridiculous, but that is our reality these days. In the Nazi camps, the grandchildren of Jews with as little as ¼ Jewish ancestry were murdered, but today the grandchildren of Jews may soon be refused when they apply to return to Israel.
I am sharing this to encourage you to pray for God’s will to be done and for the door to remain open for those returning to Israel. And may the thousands who wish to enter the heritage of the physical children of Abraham be allowed to serve for the glory of the Lord.