Strong ethics of childbearing in our society, which puts pressure on couples without children to do everything in their power to have a child - if by artificial insemination, surrogacy or adoption - has also created a situation in which there are very few children - if applicable - in adoption. Add to that the abundant availability of free abortions and the result is a serious lack of adoption options locally.
Couples who decide to adopt are forced to look elsewhere for any children in Romania, the Ukraine or elsewhere. And these children are rarely, if ever, Jews.
She used to adopt a child abroad, the adoptive parents were to convert the child to Judaism. It was pursuant to section 5 of the Adoption Act, which provides that "the adopter must be of the same religion as the adopted child".
But after signing the Hague Convention on Protection of children and cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, Israel was forced to change the law. Israel can only a distinct member of the international conventions governing the adoption policy if the conversion to Judaism, including the dumping of the adopted child (usually a minor) in a mikvah of circumcision (for boys), remains a condition for adoption.
Unfortunately, the amendment, in 1996, was limited to cases of adoptions by foreigners. In other cases of adoption, the requirement is that the adopter and the adopted child is the same religion.
This has created huge difficulties. For example, if an Israeli Jew marries a woman non - Jewish Israeli - say one about 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who is not Jewish according to Halacha - if she has children non-Jews from a previous marriage, he cannot be adopted by Jewish father.
Or, if a Jewish infertile couple decides to have a child by a surrogate mother outside Israel for non-Jewish (in Israel only Jewish women can be substitutes), the child can be adopted. This is because according to some halakhic opinions a child born to a non-Jewish woman is a non-Jewish, even if the sperm and the egg was provided by the Jews. And this was the position adopted by the State of Israel. MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) suggested, putting an end to this absurd situation in which people effectively fulfill the role of parents for their children "adopted" Nevertheless lack the interest of parents.
Horowitz, in cooperation with the Irit Rosenblum of new family, an organization that promotes separation of religion and State, has proposed a bill that would completely eliminate the stipulation that "the adopter must be of the same religion as the adopted child".
Of course, Bill of Horowitz, which was to be discussed Sunday in the Ministerial Committee for legislation, has almost no chance to pass under the constellation of the current policy. The discussion has been postponed after the Department of Justice argued that there is a special legal Committee is currently reviewing all of the question of the adoption.
But Horowitz adopting modification is the right thing to do.
Conversion becomes a condition for the adoption, inevitably pressure is brought to bear against the judges of the Rabbinical Court of conversion to the more lenient conversion process, thus violating the religious autonomy of these judges. And when the secular parents are expected to convert their child in the adoption procedure they are inevitably also put under pressure to present a show of the conversion as Rabbinical Court if they led a religious life - observe the Shabbat, eat kosher food, participating in the synagogue, when in reality they have no religious feelings whatsoever.
Religious faith should not be a condition precedent to the adoption of a child, instead economic and psychological stability and - particularly - large amounts of love should be.
At the same time, the rabbis should not be expected to introduce some leniencies in their interpretation of "who is Jewish" to accommodate secular parents interested in adopting a child.
The time has come to separate the religion of the adoption process.
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