Here’s another thing about Israel that gripes me, and it goes right back to the fucking theocracy that rules everything there.
I talked to Julie on Monday. She is (or was on Monday), after over two weeks, still in bureaucratic limbo, without a national ID number. This prevents her from opening a checking account, starting at ulpan, or even starting her job (which requires a certificate from the ulpan). She has every piece of paperwork that the shaliach in Chicago told her she needed. So what is the problem?
Julie is divorced. She has a get (a Jewish divorce certificate) issued here in Indianapolis by the Conservative rabbi when she was divorced.
The get does not have a wax seal with the impression of the rabbi’s signet ring (which I assume he does not have to start with). This is not a mistake or an omission; this is the way things are done here in Indianapolis.
The idiot bureaucrat with whom Julie was dealing said “that’s not a get.” This when:
- The shaliach told Julie that her get was sufficient and in proper form;
- The orthodox rabbi here in Indianapolis provided her with a cover letter stating that, after investigation, in his opinion the get was legal;
- Julie also has her civil divorce papers from the City of Indianapolis.
None of this impressed the idiot bureaucrat. The religious paper (or lack thereof — or lack of the one detail, more to the point) trumps all. And what the fuck difference does her divorce make anyway? She’s just trying to get an ID number!
THIS is what is wrong with Israel. I can understand taking care that immigrants are not trying to take inappropriate advantage of the Law of Return (which I think ought to be invalidated, but that’s fodder for another entry another day). But I don’t understand the insistence on such a small detail that most people wouldn’t give even half of a shit about. We’re talking about the CIVIL government here! It won’t even recognize a certificate from another CIVIL government as trumping one of merely religious significance? Bullshit.
Support Israel’s existence, yes. Support its form of government — fuggedaboudit. Live there — never. I’d die shooting brownshirts or skinheads breaking down my door before I’d run off to the ghetto.
I’m waiting to hear what her experience with the health care system is. My guess is it will be less than optimal. And that will be bad.
[UPDATE, 6/5/2004 9:12 AM] Just talked to Julie again before Shabbat. The get situation was resolved by going to the rabbinate in Haifa and crossing their palm with NIS 600 (which according to XE.com is about $132 as of a few minutes ago — wow. What a racket). I gather that the rabbi who talked to her asked why she had waited so many years to clear this up. Her response (after being somewhat surprised that he’d ask such a question) was that she’d only arrived in Israel a couple of weeks ago and it was never an issue where she’d lived before…