Pluralism wars reignite in Israel
December 31, 2009 by Steve
By Ron Kampeas · December 28, 2009
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- Conservative Jewish women wear prayer shawls and carry Torah scrolls at the Western Wall on Dec. 18, 2009. The right of women to pray aloud at the holy site is one of several issues exacerbating tensions between Israeli Orthodox authorities and non-Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora. (Yossi Zamir / Flash 90 / JTA)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A string of controversies has reignited the pluralism wars, prompting a loose alliance of American and Israeli Jews to wage a renewed campaign against Orthodox control in the Jewish state.
Among the litany of developments making headlines: The arrest of a woman for wearing a prayer shawl at the Western Wall; protests by fervently Orthodox, or haredim, against a parking lot open on the Sabbath and against the Intel branch in Jerusalem for working through the Sabbath; a battle over gender-segregated public buses; and the burial in Spain of a child converted to Judaism by a Conservative rabbi in a corner of a cemetery reserved for non-Jews.
In response, activists have organized protests in Israel and the United States against the perceived hegemony in Israel of haredi-aligned rabbis. Organizers say that their goal is to keep Jews caring about Judaism and Israel, despite what they describe as the increasingly alienating behavior of Israel’s Orthodox religious authorities and members of the country’s haredi population.
"People are saying enough is enough," said Andrew Sacks, director of the Israel branch of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly. "You have a segment of the American Jewish community that cares deeply enough to want to change it, but you have a second less desirable effect, among younger people especially, that says if that’s what Israel is all about, I don’t want any part of it.”
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson, who directs the Women’s Rabbinic Network, helped organize a day of solidarity and support of Women of the Wall on Dec. 17 that encouraged Jewish women across the United States to hold meetings, read from the Torah or pray in support of women who choose to pray at the Western Wall, including those who wear religious vestments. Separately, another group is organizing a similar protest in San Francisco on Jan. 10.
"My intent was to give people a way to support people in Israel, and to support Israel around an issue women and men feel strongly about," Ellenson told JTA.
"It is not ‘Love Israel, right or wrong,’ or ‘I can’t be connected,’" she said. "We need to look at the complexities of this country that we love, we can’t reject it, nor can we be silent when there are issues that require our involvement."
Activists on both sides see the Western Wall as something of a battlefront. In recent years, the site’s government-funded Orthodox rabbinate has banned mixed groups from singing, an action that precludes Israel and American Jewish youth groups from a tradition of bursting into Hatikvah to celebrate the wall’s return to Jewish control in 1967.
One protest against the Orthodox monopoly took place in Jerusalem on the evening of Nov. 28. Protesters marched from Paris Square to Zion Square in Jerusalem’s city center, carrying signs that read "Iran is here — we’re sick of haredi violence," "Jerusalem will not fall," and "We are sick of (religious) coercion."
Nofrat Frenkel, whose arrest at the Western Wall a couple of weeks before helped spur the recent demonstration, delivered a message that explicitly addressed the threat of the alienation of Diaspora Jews from Israel and religion.
"The crowd gathered here today proves to the Jewish people everywhere, in Israel and in the Diaspora, that ‘offense against public sensitivity’ is not the sole province of the ultra-Orthodox," the medical student and gay rights activist reportedly said. "We are also the public, the public who pays taxes and serve our country, in the IDF and National Service."
Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, told an audience of Conservative movement leaders that Frenkel was "led away" from the Wall, not arrested, the Forward reported. He later issued a statement correcting the misimpression and confirming that Frenkel was, indeed, arrested. Oren said he has asked his government to investigate why he was misled. However it is resolved, the incident illustrates the sensitivity of Israeli officials explaining the practices of their country’s rabbis to American Jews.
Oren, who was in Israel, could not be reached for comment.
The flurry of controversies in Israel come at a time when American Jewish pluralism has become more expansive than ever. Guests at the White House Chanukah party ranged from Chabad rabbis to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who heads Beth Simchat Torah, a gay synagogue in New York.
Some groups, particularly among the Orthodox, reject the activism as Americans imposing their mores on Israel.
Israel "is a country that has a functioned with a certain understanding among its religious and not religious Jews," said Rabbi Avi Shafran, the spokesman for Agudath Israel of America. "If the activists don’t want to alienate Jews, they shouldn’t thumb their noses at the traditional Jews in Israel."
Shafran also noted that the most vocal haredi protesters were minorities within their own communities. Much has been made of the continued protests outside Intel’s offices, but these were sharply reduced in number after a compromise last month that allowed non-Jewish workers to work through the Sabbath. But this has gone unnoticed, Shafran said.
"The main haredi groups were in favor of the compromise, but there are always holdouts," Shafran said.
Other American Orthodox leaders, however, fret about the possibility of alienation from Israel. They note that alienation could extend even to the modern Orthodox because of a recent crisis in conversion policy that has threatened to discredit the majority of Orthodox converts.
Rabbi Avi Weiss, who heads the Amcha activism group and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a liberal Modern Orthodox seminary, called for dialogue. "The greatest threat facing us, more than external enemy, is a divisiveness within our people that is so dangerous, God forbid, it could lead to calamity," he said.
Weiss noted that Orthodox authorities defend their actions by citing "humra" — the strict application of Jewish law. "In a world of humra, there’s got to be a stress on the humra of Ahavat Yisrael," the love of the Jewish people, Weiss said.
Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Israel was suffering periodic social pangs that arise when there is relative peace, and suggested that these needed to be addressed indigenously, and not due to U.S. Jewish pressure.
"Every time there’s a lull in daily threats of terrorist acts, normal life brings to the fore many of these unresolved social tensions," he said. "Some of them impact on relations with Diaspora Jews, but it’s more important for Israelis to deal with them because of their own need of religious tolerance, than because of the Americans’ need.”
The New Israel Fund, a group that has long advocated for a role for Diaspora Jews in making the case for pluralism, welcomed the attention on the issues, said its spokeswoman, Naomi Paiss.
"The whole premise of the New Israel Fund is that you can love Israel and you can fix it," she said. "The Israeli government has a special responsibility — what is made law in Israel signifies the closest we have to a religious ruling, even for those of us who don’t live in Israel. We American Jews do take this personally and we should."
An example was the 13-year-old boy who died this month in Madrid. The order to bury him in a segregated corner of the Jewish cemetery came from Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Israel’s chief Sephardic rabbi.
NIF is currently organizing a petition drive among Jews in Israel and the Diaspora urging Yisrael Katz, Israel’s transportation minister, to ban publicly funded buses from segregating male and female passengers.
"If he yields to haredi pressure, we expect to become louder in response both here and in Israel," she said. "We will use every means at our disposal to educate the American public about the issue."
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Ron Kampeas is JTA’s Washington bureau chief.
Reason for Hope
December 29, 2009 by Steve
Rabbi Dow Marmur
Most Orthodox Jews are individuals who wish to serve God in a particular way, often at great sacrifice. I respect them whether or not I agree with them. But there are at least three groups that, though in the Diaspora at worst only annoying, are often a menace and worse in Israel. At times they seem to be a potential threat to the Jewish state.
1. Extremists (black hats) who, urged by their gurus and in need of acting out their aggressions and frustrations in the guise of piety, will physically attack those who have different views. Rioters outside a municipal parking lot and a high-tech firm in Jerusalem, both open on Shabbat, are two among many recent illustrations.
2. The political parties that are at best lukewarm toward the democratic process yet will use it cynically to gain concessions for their adherents and try to foist their ways on others. The latest is an attempt in the Knesset to impose stricter laws about the sale of chametz on Pesach. Every government panders to them and buys their support.
3. The so-called national-religious movement (knitted kippot), nowadays often linked to the settlers. An example of its activities can be illustrated by the current tendency to use state-sponsored institutions (hesder yeshivot are in the news) to plant seeds of insubordination in the army and thus threaten the very fabric of the state.
Though these groups are still remarkably successful, together they’ve also created a backlash. Whereas a few decades ago, Israel’s secular majority tolerated religious extremists because it didn’t see them as a menace, and even found it convenient to describe them as the authentic exponents of Judaism – which reassured the secularists to have nothing to do with religion - things have changed in recent years because:
(a) The anti-religious stance of secularists has motivated some of their children to rebel by being “born again” Orthodox. (b) The general climate in the country has moved toward a greater appreciation of Judaism, often manifest as traditionalism, “spirituality” and a desire to study Torah. Happily for many of us, secularism ain’t what it used to be.
The conventional division that Reform Jews encountered a few decades ago when they first tried to establish synagogues and other institutions in Israel was between hostile secularists, whom they couldn’t identify with and who despised them, and equally hostile Orthodox Jews from whom they or their forbears had distanced themselves long ago.
In those days it was customary in liberal religious circles to complain about being ignored by the secularists and abused by the Orthodox as the reason for the lack of progress of Reform and Conservative Judaism in the Jewish state. The new situation has changed the religious dynamics in Israel. Liberal Judaism has become an option.
I spent yesterday at a meeting of Reform rabbis held in the very successful Reform congregation in Modein. The agenda included an overview of what’s happening in the movement. I came away greatly impressed by the new spirit and energy.
Existing congregations are growing and new ones are being formed. The impact of Reform Judaism on the education system is increasingly noticeable. Most of the some 60 rabbis who have been ordained by the Hebrew Union College are working in Israel. New initiatives are being planned. And all this at a time of severe financial constraints!
We’ve little cause to style ourselves as victims. Without ceasing to oppose the aforementioned groups and acknowledging the danger they constitute, we’ve nevertheless good reason to strongly re-affirm our hope in a pluralistic and democratic Jewish state.
Jerusalem 24.12.09 Dow Marmur
Tel Aviv Mayor awards IMPJ’s Mechina community service program
December 15, 2009 by Steve
Ron Huldai, mayor of Tel Aviv, helped mark the city’s centennial by recognizing several individuals and groups for excellence in volunteering, among them the Mechina, the pre-draft program of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. The ceremony took place in Tel Aviv on December 2.
The Mechina is a gap year initiative that helps prepare young people for the challenges of army life through academic, spiritual and ethical enrichment, as well as involvement in social and community projects. Participants – there are 44 this academic year – live in Jaffa, where they spend about 15 hours a week working with groups ranging from senior citizens to troubled youth under the aegis of the Tel Aviv Municipality’s social services department. In addition, they spend additional time volunteering on an individual basis.
In recommending the Mechina for this year’s mayoral citation, Dana Karmel, who coordinates volunteer activities for the city’s southern district, which includes Jaffa, wrote: “There are also projects and programs that have been the sole initiative of the Mechina…. One example is a study centre that has been active for a couple of years, tutoring children for free and helping them with their homework – a direct initiative of the participants and completely under their own supervision. Karmel added that thanks to her department’s close ties with the Mechina, opportunities arise on an ad hoc basis for individual projects that include holiday fund-raising for needy families, providing transportation to senior citizens and painting their homes.
“Each year, it is exciting to see and hear the reactions and experiences that different people have after working with the Mechina: teenagers who have improved their academic achievements, senior citizens who have enjoyed dancing and playing checkers, children who given a place to be during the afternoon, all thanks to the Mechina’s volunteers. The Mechina’s contribution to the population of Jaffa, with the guidance and management of the program’s devoted staff, is highly significant. The participants work with a sense of modesty out of pure altruism, with respect for everyone and a true belief in justice and serving society.”
The Mechina program is directed by Rabbi Aharon Fox, who also heads the IMPJ’s youth movement, Noar Telem. Fox is a senior reserve commander in one of the IDF’s most elite units and was ordained in 2003 on Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Jerusalem campus.
By the way, the Web site of the Jewish United Fund / Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago features a delightful article on the Mechina penned by the noted Israeli writer Stuart Schoffman. He has a daughter who’s a Mechina participant, and a son who’s a Mechina grad now serving in the IDF. The article can be accessed by clicking here. 
Mayor Ron Huldai (centre) awards his citation for exceptional volunteer work to the IMPJ’s Mechina gap-year program. Accepting the award are Liora Vered-Ezrachi (right), the Mechina’s coordinator for voluntary activities, and Lior Doron, a program grad now serving in the IDF. 
IMPJ activists and Mechina supporters give the gap-year program and its representatives a rousing ovation at the awards ceremony.
National organisations condemn harassment of the ‘Women of the Wall’
December 1, 2009 by Steve
The Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) has been joined the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA) in noting the recent events in Israel regarding the ‘Women of the Wall’ “with great sadness and frustration” said the Executive Director, Steve Denenberg. “The harassment of a group of Jewish women seeking to celebrate their Judaism highlights the need for Israel to fulfil the commitment in the Declaration of Independence to ensure freedom of religion for all.”
“The arrest of student, Nofrat Frenkel, for carrying a Sefer Torah and wearing a Tallit in the vicinity of the Kotel is a salutary reminder that there are segments of Israeli society that are neither democratic nor egalitarian” said Denenberg “It is for this reason that the UPJ and ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of Australia) work so hard to support the work of IRAC, the Israel Religious Action Centre, in its efforts to address matters such as this”.
NCJWA Federal President Rysia Rozen concurred "NCJWA fully supports UPJ in its initiative to protest against women being discriminated at the Kotel. Women should have equal rights with men in all religious sites in Israel."
IRAC Director, Anat Hoffman, is a member of the ‘Women of the Wall’ group was present at the incident and reported “As they do at the start of every month, Israel’s Women of the Wall went to the Kotel on Wednesday to celebrate Rosh Chodesh. This week, the women of WoW were celebrating a new Sefer Torah, one donated to them by Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation in Pittsburgh.”
“It is important to note that at no point did we reveal the Torah and there was no attempt or intent to read from the Torah at this location” said Hoffman. Ordinarily at this point in their service, WoW participants exit the Kotel plaza, walk around the enormous staircase leading up to the Dome of the Rock, proceed south and descend stairs to the archaeological dig site nearby known as Robinson’s Arch, where they read from their Sefer Torah. This is the location that Israel’s Supreme Court said they can use for their Torah readings in its 2003 decision denying WoW the right to pray as a group at the Kotel.
“We agree with Anat Hoffman when she says that it may be time for IRAC to revisit the Supreme Court decision which banned them from reading Torah at the Kotel” said Denenberg “We believe that public opinion will agree that the Wailing Wall cannot be a place where other forms of Judaism are not welcome. There must be more than one way to be Jewish in the Jewish state.”
‘Women of the Wall’ is the only group in all of Israel in which Orthodox, Conservative and Progressive Jews pray together.
“This is just the latest episode in a campaign to harass women and prevent them, and other members of the growing progressive movement in Israel, being able to enjoy the freedom of religion promised at the establishment of the State” said Denenberg “Fortunately, as with previous issues of religious inequality, we know that such incidents will further strengthen the resolve of IRAC and all who seek religious pluralism and equality in Israel, and will encourage them to redouble their efforts”.
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