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On The Boardwalk
New York (JTA) — In a move
highlighting the tension over re-
ligious issues in umbrella Jewish
organizations, Orthodox Zionist
groups have "suspended" their
membership in the American
Zionist Movement to protest the
passage of a resolution favoring
religious pluralism in Israel.
The groups — Arnit Women,
Emunah Women and the Reli-
gious Zionists of America — an-
nounced their move in a Jan. 12
letter to AZM President Seymour
Reich.
"It is with a heavy heart that
we are constrained to inform you
that we are suspending our mem-
bership in the American Zionist
Movement immediately," the let-
ter said.
It added: "Unless this perni-
cious resolution is withdrawn in
short order, we will have no al-
ternative other than to formally
withdraw from membership."
The letter was sent following
AZM's annual convention, which
took place Jan. 8-10 in Fort Laud-
erdale, Fla.
The controversial resolution
"calls upon the government and
Knesset of Israel to extend full
freedom of religion to all Jews in
Israel and equal treatment to all
movements and ideologies re-
flected in the American Zionist
Movement."
It was introduced at the reso-
lutions sessions by the Associa-
tion of Reform Zionists of
America and Mercaz, the Con-
servative movement's Zionist
arm.
Norman Schwartz, a former
vice president of AZM, who
chaired the session, said the vote
to pass the resolution "was not
close," although he did not reveal
the exact count.
In their letter to Mr. Reich, the
Orthodox groups reflected on
what passage of the resolution
meant for the Zionist movement
in the United States.
"Separate and apart from the
obvious fact that it is not the role
of the American Jewish commu-
nity to dictate religious standards
or practices to the sovereign gov-
ernment of the State of Israel,
what is much more critical to us
is that the adoption of the reso-
lution strikes a body blow to the
continued viability of the AZM as
a united coordinating body," they
wrote.
Mr. Reich, who has been pres-
ident of AZM since its founding
in 1993, was disappointed by the
departure of the Orthodox groups
but hopeful that their decision
was not permanent.
"I would hope that they would
reconsider and we could find a
way to accommodate their
needs," said Mr. Reich, who was
re-elected to another two-year
term at the convention.
Mr. Reich emphasized, how-
ever, that AZM will still "be able
to function" even without the Or-
thodox groups, since they did not
represent a majority of delegates
to the umbrella organization.
Hadassah-Women's Zionist
Organization of America has the
largest delegation, followed by
ARZA and Mercaz.
But the withdrawal of the Or-
thodox groups comes on the heels
of two other defections from AZM.
This leaves 10 groups as mem-
bers in good standing, down from
an original 16.
Last year, the American arm
of the right-wing Tsomet party
and the Zionist Organization of
America announced their own
suspensions from AZM to protest
the umbrella group's strong sup-
port for the policies of Israel's
dovish Labor government.
In addition, Likud USA had
been suspended from AZM for
failure to pay dues.
These moves had left the Or-
thodox groups alone in AZM in
representing a constituency gen-
erally opposed to the peace
process.
The departure of the Orthodox
groups from AZM reflected ten-
sions between Orthodox and non-
Orthodox groups being played out
in other American Jewish orga-
nizations.
Some say those kind of ten-
sions led to the demise late last
year of the Synagogue Council of
America, a 68-year-old umbrella
organization for Orthodox, Con-
servative and Reform rabbinical
groups.
The issue of religious plural-
ism in Israel has also been an on-
going source of debate within the
National Jewish Community Re-
lations Advisory Council, which
holds its annual plenum next
month.
Before last year's plenum, the
Reform movement made clear its
intention of introducing a reso-
lution similar to the one that
passed at AZM.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America threat-
ened to pull out of NJCRAC if the
resolution was even raised at the
plenum.
The Reform movement backed
off, but both sides agreed to par-
ticipate in a committee to study
the issue. According to Larry
Rubin, executive vice chairman
of NJCRAC, that committee will
announce at next month's
plenum that the Reform and Or-
thodox groups had agreed to par-