REAL ESTATE FOCUS FO R W. BLOOMFIELD SOUTHFIELD CLOISTER ON THE LAKES CONDO RANCH CONDO Bloomfield Hills Schools. 3 bed- rooms, study and 3 full baths. Generous living and dining room, 2 fireplaces, cen. air. By Owner. $188,000. With 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car att. gar- age, central alarm, first floor laundry, cathedral ceiling, deck, cable and more. $89, 500. 626-6153 356-3663 Israeli Rabbis Defuse Explosive Situation EDWIN BLACK Special to the Jewish News A n explosive situation was defused last week when Rabbi Eliahu Abergil, the ultra-Orthodox chief rabbi of Jerusalem's Baka district. signed an ac- cord with Israel's Reform movement which in essence recognized Reform Judaism's right to exist at least in Baka. In exchange, Reform Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kellman agreed to drop criminal charges against Rabbi Aber- gil lodged when the chief rab- bi led a violent raid against Weiman-Kellman's Reform synagogue on Simchat lbrah eve. Rabbi Abergil*s handwrit- ten declaration condemned violence. apologized to the Reform congregants. welcom- ed all Jews to Israel regard- less of their "different opinions.'' and pledged "not to interfere - with Reform ser- vices in Baka. By agreement, copies will be distributed "to every mailbox in the neigh- borhood.** The latest chapter in Israeli civil discord erupted sudden- ly on Simchat Torah as Reform Rabbi Levi Weiman- Kellman was leading his con- gregation of men and women in traditional joyous dancing with the IlDrah. Weiman- Kellman*s Congregation Kol Haneshama, comprised of some 50 families drawn from south Jerusalem. is tem- porarily located in the gym of the Baka community center in south Jerusalem. Rabbi Abergil, Baka's chief rabbi, an official of the Chief Rab- binate. has long agitated against Kol Haneshama. ac- cording to congregation officials. The climax to the strife came when Rabbi Abergil rallied his own ultra-Orth- odox congregants in Baka to demonstrate at what he called "the whorehouse." He then led a group of some 25 followers to Kol Haneshama for the confrontation. "Aber- gil just suddenly interrupted as were dancing and demand- ed to speak:' recounts Rabbi Weiman-Kellman. "He called us evil, corrupt and a whore- house.- Rabbi Abergil ex- plains, "I was unaccustomed to seeing men and women dancing together, and danc- ing with the Ibrah. - At one point, "a young man tried to grab the lbrah away, - remembers Rabbi Weiman- Kellman, "and when he couldn't, he and I struggled, and he let go of the lbrah to kick me. I was still holding onto the Thrall, to prevent it falling to the ground, while he was still kicking me. - Later, the police were summoned, and Rabbi Abergil was charg- — SOUTHFIELD BY OWNER VILLA POINTE CONDO OPEN SUN. 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People Power helps prevent birth defects March of Dimes -,PACE Nirt.IM. , 0. , hcE P(1911;IIER ed with felonious interference with a worship service and acts of violence. The incident might have re- mained just another act of civil violence in Israel had Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mor- dechai Eliahu himself not commented on the affair over Israel Radio by noting that there is no freedom of wor- ship" in Israel. Former Ash- kenaz Chief Rabbi Shiomo The latest chapter in Israel's religious strife came when an ultra-Orthodox rabbi led his followers into the Reform service. Goren added that there might be no problem at all if "Re- forms would not insist on calling themselves Jews. - And Zevulun Hammer, Min- ister of Religion. tried to dismiss the incident as "unimportant" because there weren't enough Reform Jews in Israel to matter. Forces on both sides quick- ly began escalating their rhetoric and their determina- tion to either persevere or obstruct future Reform ser- vices. Baka suddenly became the new war-cry of those seeking a more democratic Israel, in- cluding the freedom to wor- ship. Spearheading the drive is the fledgling Israel Move- ment for Progressive Juda- ism, the Reform movement in Israel. Five thousand mem- bers strong, their spokesman is Uri Regev who was raised secular, but who adopted the Reform denomination after visiting the U.S. "Only when I saw Reform Judaism in America," recalls Regev, "did I realize there were more than two options for a Jew: relig- ious and secular. Among the Reform in America, I saw a vitality and intensity among children and adults alike. I was immediately drawn to it." Regev was typical of the masses of Israelis who have been effectively forced away from religion in the Jewish State by an ultra-Orthodox minority. Faced with the choice of all or nothing, many Israelis are compelled to choose "nothing." But when Regev tried, as many other Israeli families have, to follow Reform traditions, he found religious discrimination. Ironically, such discrimina- tion is only directed against Jews and not against the myriad of other religious groups populating Israel. For example, Reform con- gregations — there are 19 of them countrywide — are regularly evicted from their premises, especially when the property is owned by a governmental or political en- tity. Unwilling to accept the situation, Regev, an attorney, filed a lawsuit four years ago against the Rabbinate seek- ing to overturn its prohibition on Reform marriage cere- monies and other Reform practices. But that controver- sial. litigation, still in Israeli courts, has a tortuous future before any denouement. Regardless of any civil rul- ing, however, the ultra- Orthodox community here will never accept Reform Judaism. Rabbi Zalman Quittner, personal assistant to Ashkenaz Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira, expressed the Orthodox view. "It isn't that we don't recognize Reform Jews as Jews, that is, people born Jewish who later joined the Reform move- ment," explain Rabbi Quitt- ner. "We just don't recognize their rabbis, nor their hal- achic actions. How can they be rabbis when they don't believe in the lbn Command- ments. when they drive to schul on shabbas, when they eat hazer (pork). If they want to start a new religion, and not call themselves Jews, they can do it. Fine. But it that case, a new religion needs no recognition from us anyway." When verbalized, Orthodox intolerance can often seem repugnant. But from the Or- thodox view, the Jewish peo- ple spent centuries striving to maintain and adhere to Judaic beliefs. lb do so re- quired perseverance over dispersion, occupation, assimilation, and extermina- tion. The price was not cheap, and is measured in blood among the generations. Now the faithful have come to the wellspring, to Israel. If it is indeed a Jewish State — even nominally, in their view — it is a disavowal of Jewish history to recast Judaism as a mere shadow of its former sense, which is what critics assert Reform Judaism seeks to dn. Unwilling to see their quiet neighborhood pulled into a religious battle, community organizers from the essential- ly easygoing Sephardic Baka district worked tirelessly to defuse the conflict. Rabbi Weiman-Kellman and Rabbi Abergil both agreed to attend a closed door negotiating ses- sion. The press was bared, but this reporter was allowed to attend. 109