If children are born to a non-Jewish mother...

Here is a question from class....

If children are born to a mother who is not Jewish and a Jewish father and they are recognized as Jewish by the Reform movement are they also recognized as Jewish by the State of Israel? I have heard that they are not recognized as Jewish (in Israel).

It is likely that the State of Israel would not recognize this child as Jewish under the law of return (a law that stipulates that Jews have the right to immigrate to Israel) because the reform doctrine of patrilineal descent is not in line with classical Jewish law. However, the son or daughter of a Jew, even if not considered technically Jewish by the state, still has the right to immigrate under an amendment to the law which was passed in 1970.

...the 1970 amendment, which accords the right to immigrate to Israel to non-Jews
who are either children or grandchildren of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew or the
spouse of a child or grandchild of a Jew (on condition that this person was not
previously a Jew who had knowingly converted to another faith). The amendment
was intended to accept in Israel families, mainly from Eastern Europe, where
mixed marriages were abundant(Source: Website of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs mfa.gov.il ).

The doctrine of patrilineal descent is embraced by the Reform (since 1983) and Reconstructionist Movements. Unfortunately it is not accepted across all streams of Judaism. For more on patrilineality check out:

http://judaism.about.com/od/whoisajew/a/whoisjewdescent.htm

for the reform position on children of intermarriages see:

http://data.ccarnet.org/cgi-bin/resodisp.pl?file=mm&year=1983