PLEASE HELP THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE RIGHTS OF MIXED FAMILIES (IN ISRAEL) (AMF)
Dear Friends: In addition to contacting the Half-Jewish Network, we hope that you will also consider contacting another organization as well, the Association for the Rights of Mixed Families (in Israel) (AMF).
Many adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage have expressed to the Half-Jewish Network a desire to donate money to an organization in Israel that will use their money to directly assist interfaith families in Israel.
The AMF would welcome such donations and other assistance.
The AMF is considering starting an organization for American supporters of its work, tentatively entitled, “U.S. Friends of the AMF.”
(For additional information on the problems of half-Jewish people in Israel, please see our “Israel” essay on this website.)
See below information that the AMF of Israel has sent us.
AMF OF ISRAEL STATEMENT
The AMF was founded in 1999 as an Israeli grassroots organization to empower, legitimize and assist intermarried families to integrate into Israeli society. The AMF believes that the state of Israel should take the lead in accepting interfaith families as integral members of the Jewish community worldwide.
The AMF also believes that the solution to the alienation crisis with Israel and to assimilation in the Diaspora (Jewish communities outside of Israel) is to welcome interfaith families.
The AMF is currently focused on assisting the members of Russian intermarried families who have made aliyah to Israel. Four generations of Soviet tyranny left the overwhelming majority of FSU (former Soviet Union) Jews secular and intermarried; over 1/3 of Russian immigrants to Israel are not considered Jewish according to Orthodox Jewish and Israeli state law.
Most of these intermarried couples and their adult children and grandchildren identify as Jewish and want to integrate into mainstream Israeli society, but cultural and social differences have produced widespread alienation and social problems.
Unemployment among immigrants is double (11%) the national average of veteran Israelis. Thirty-six percent of immigrant youth drop out of school, resulting in crime and anti-social behavior.
Yet even though these immigrants feel marginalized, they are hopeful and motivated, with only 10% expressing regret for coming to Israel.
AMF believes that the state of Israel should set the trend in accepting interfaith families as integral members of universal Judaism. Although the Israeli government provides financial assistance to interfaith immigrants, it makes it clear that their legal status as citizens is tenuous vis-a-vis the Orthodox rabbinate and the government’s Interior Ministry.
The AMF is working on a variety of projects which directly help members of interfaith families, including their adult children and grandchildren, as follows:
1. Operating community and school-based projects to facilitate integration into Israeli society;
2. Providing consultation services and intervention where rights of interfaith families have been violated; and
3. Promoting public policy and raising public awareness in Israel on behalf of interfaith families.
For more information about AMF’s work, please visit their website at:
