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Denied Continued from Page 1
his citizenship application
twice, with the second denial
coming on Feb. 9. They told
Armstrong they thought he
spent nine months converting
to Conservative Judaism
through Rabbi Michael Beals
in Wilmington just because he
wanted to play pro basketball in
the Jewish state.

But Armstrong says he only
went through the conversion
process because Israel’s Interior
Ministry wouldn’t recog-
nize his Jewish background.

Armstrong’s mother, Lou Ellen
Butler, converted before he was
born with Congregation Beth El
in Philadelphia, a nondenom-
inational synagogue. Israel’s
Law of Return requires those
making aliyah to be affiliated
with a denomination.

So, Armstrong converted.

Yet it still wasn’t enough for
officials who doubted his
sincerity. Armstrong believes race is
a factor.

“They saw a Jew of color who
wanted to play a sport, and they
thought that wasn’t sincere,” he
said. Beals,
who leads
Congregation Beth Shalom in
Wilmington, agrees.

“His motives are insin-
cere because he’s an African
American who wants to play
basketball,” the rabbi said,
referring to the judgment from
Israeli officials. “That’s the only
reason.” A Feb. 10 Jewish Telegraphic
Agency story
compared Armstrong’s case to other recent
immigration cases involving
Jews of color.

Between December and
January, the Interior Ministry
denied the applications of “a
Ugandan man who converted with
the Conservative movement” and
a Black Jew who “had not spent
adequate time in the commu-
nity where he converted after
he became Jewish,” according
to the JTA report. The second
man, David Ben Moshe, got his
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Jared Armstrong 
decision overturned before being
rejected again because he “had
been convicted of a crime in the
United States.”
“They put a spin on why they
deny you so it doesn’t sound
racist,” Armstrong said.

According to
Beals, Armstrong was born Jewish
because his mother converted
before she gave birth to
him. And growing up, the
Philadelphian was very much
Jewish, he said.

He went to synagogue,
observed the High Holy days
and kept Shabbat; Armstrong’s
mother didn’t allow him to play
sports on Saturday.

“We kept it all day until the
sun went down,” he said.

When Armstrong was
between the ages of 10 and 12,
though, his parents got divorced
and he stopped going to
Congregation Beth El. He never
had a bar mitzvah and drifted
away from the strict observance
of his boyhood years.

But his sense of identity
never left him; the teenager and
Courtesy of Jared Armstrong
then-collegian always knew he
was Jewish in his “heart and
soul,” as he described it.

At the same time, Armstrong
was doing his best to make it as
a basketball player.

He scored more than 1,000
career points in just three
seasons at Christopher Dock
Mennonite High School in
Lansdale. Then he graduated
from Virginia-based Fork
Union Military Academy before
spending a year in Maryland
at Mount Zion Prep, recording
more than 16 points per game
for both teams.

After missing his freshman
season at the College of Central
Florida, he bounced back at
Butler Community College in
Kansas and then transferred
to Slippery Rock. In 2018-’19
and 2019-’20, he averaged
double-digit points and came
away convinced he could play
professionally. Yet his only option was
in Israel, so he applied for
citizenship. Upon rejection, he began
studying with Beals, who knew
Armstrong’s aunt from her
attendance at his services.

Armstrong went into
the mikveh and spent nine
months studying “every aspect
of Judaism” over Zoom due
to COVID, the rabbi said. He
showed up every week, and his
conversion was approved by the
required Beit Din, or house of
judgment, of “three knowledge-
able Jews,” as Beals described it.

Yet in addition to doubting
Armstrong’s sincerity, the Israeli
government said it couldn’t
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This message is sponsored by a friend of
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accept classes conducted on
Zoom. During those virtual
classes, Beals never doubted his
student’s authenticity.

“He was very passionate. I
could look at his face,” the rabbi
said. “I’m hoping somebody
will step in, overturn this and
say, ‘This is not who we are.’”
Armstrong is appealing the
decision. He is in Israel on a visa
and his family is supporting
him. “It’s heartbreaking because
you grow up a Jew, and then
you’re being told you’re not a
Jew,” he said. “Only God can tell
you who you are.” l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Fol low The
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