In meeting and talking with Israelis, we were confronted with the many conflicts they face on a daily basis: giving up sons and daughters to the military, the loss of their children and their neighbors' children in what appears to be endless war, and remembering and honoring the past while trying to create a new tomorrow. Those are external questions about which we in America are familiar. We were also exposed to difficult internal questions that ranged from how to create a religiously pluralistic society to how kibbutzim can transition from the original socialist model to a mixed public/private ownership model, a transition that many are going through to remain economically viable.
I, for one, was shocked to see the reality of how small a toe-hold the Reform and Conservative movement has in Israel. It is one thing to know that the governing political parties, operating on a coalition system, have long made political deals with the ultra- Orthodox in Israel—a trade of religious power for political power; it is another to visit the modern, progressive city of Haifa—some half million people- and learn there are exactly two Reform temples and just a few Conservative synagogues, or to learn from the mayor of Kiryat Shmona that there is no such thing as Reform in the city. It is one thing to know that the Israeli government provides financial subsidies to Orthodox congregations, but not to Reform or Conservative; it is another to visit Pinat Shorashim in the Galilee, with its small (Brattleboro-size) synagogue and Biblical Garden Program—you gotta see it- and know it gets not one shekel from the Government, while an Orthodox rabbi for that area gets a subsidy, even though he doesn't even have a congregation. The wonderful and inspiring rabbi for the Pinat Shorashim kibbutz, Rabbi Mary Gold, told us of her pending litigation in the Israeli Supreme Court to grant rights to non-Orthodox rabbis to conduct conversions—a big issue in Israel, given the large wave of Russian emigration and the desire of many people to convert with Reform or Conservative rabbis.
We were moved beyond words by Rabbi Maya Leibovich of Kehilat Mevasseret Zion, a small community located outside Jerusalem. She may still be the only Israeli-born woman to lead a congregation in all of Israel; she was certainly the first to be ordained. In her community of 20, 000 there are some 40 Orthodox congregations, in which women take no part in the service. Led by Rabbi Leibovich and starting in the usual path of meeting in member’s homes, a Reform synagogue was born. A kindergarten was founded in 1996 with a class of 14 children in a rented apartment. It was firebombed the following year—not by Arabs but by fanatic Jews. Today, a beautiful synagogue is being completed; there are over 100 students in the Hebrew School and there are social service programs to aid immigrants and women victims of violence, as well as youth programs and ecology programs and organ donor programs – all from this wonderful synagogue and all without any financial support from the Israeli government. Rabbi Leibovich speaks of the need for Reform Jews everywhere to support the liberal Reform movement in Israel. She speaks of the need to create an alternative choice that is neither Orthodox nor secular (non-religious). She speaks of the need for Reform Judaism to bridge not only between the old and the new in Judaism, but also to bridge tradition and democracy, so that a sterile theocracy is not what passes for religion in Israel. We met many faces; we were moved by many stories. These are just a few of them.
L'shalom,
Paul
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