Question:
Hello, I am writing to ask if it would be possible to obtain affirmation of my Jewish status and what should I do.
I grew up in Kraków, in Poland where I had my bar mitzvah. My grandpa was from Jewish family settled in Jelenia Góra but unfortunately there are no any documents that would confirm this. I came to the UK 6 years ago and I don’t know any community here.
Now I would like to move to live in Israel and apply for aliyah but to do this I need any prove that I am Jew.
Please can you help?
Thank you,
Answer:
Hello,
This sounds like a difficult situation. The best that I can do, is to give you some suggestions how you might be able to confirm your Jewish heritage. It might help to try to get information from any of the cities that your grandparents, or your grandmother’s family lived in. Often, they have written records, but you might have to go down there in order to see them. Maybe there is someone that remembers your bar mitzva. You might have the marriage documents of your parents, or maybe there are some relatives that can testify for you. It might also help for you to contact the Bais Din on London, and they might be able to give you some other ideas. a Bais Din the deals with conversions, might have other creative ideas of how you might be able to prove your Jewishness. this doesn’t mean that the state of Israel will consider these things valid, but at least it is a place to start.
Best wishes
