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Binyamin Netanyahu

Rabbi Eric Yoffie

Rabbi Ismar Schorsch

Calming The Storm

Religious
pluralism shot to
the top of the
agenda at the
continent's
largest annual
Jewish
gathering.

NEIL RUBIN
Special to The Jewish News

erri Bagen came to
Indianapolis feeling "power-
less and very frustrated"
about how the contentious
issue of religious pluralism is playing
out in the United States and Israel.
But after three days of near non-
stop meetings, seminars and addresses
with about 4,400 other Jewish leaders
from throughout North America, Ms.
Bagen, an Atlanta resident, left in
higher spirits.
"Being the eternal optimist, I
believe that we're going to find a solu-
tion to this, and that we can get a
message to our community that we've
been heard," she said.
Ms. Bagen and others had gathered
for the Council of Jewish Federations'
General Assembly, the largest annual
gathering of North American Jewry.
While the group usually focuses on

Neil Rubin is editor of one of our sister
publications, the Atlanta Jewish Times.

furthering fundraising techniques and
Jewish identity-building programs, the
subject of religious pluralism was on
everybody's mind this year.
And the gathering provided a
chance to gain American Jewry's per-
spective on the matter.
About a month ago, a date for rec-
ommendations to solve the crisis in
Israel passed when, with some last-
moment dramatics, the diverse mem-
bers of a compromise committee
agreed to a Jan. 31, 1998, extension.
The stakes are high because Israel's
Reform and Conservative leaders said
in Indianapolis that without concrete
progress by January, they will resume
legal appeals to Israel's Supreme
Court, which are expected to succeed.
That will trigger legislation by
Israel's religious parties to formally
recognize only the actions of
Orthodox rabbis. It, too, is likely to
pass; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu has said that he prefers a
compromise but will sign the bill.
If that happens, many federation

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leaders fear lasting damage to the
Israel-Diaspora relationship at a time
when they would prefer Jews to focus
on celebrating modern Israel's first
half-century.
A paramount concern is that if
some Americcin Jews believe that Israel
does not value their brand of Judaism,
they will diminish support for federa-
tion campaigns, a portion of which
supports an array of social service pro-
jects in the Jewish state.
Detroit's Dr. Conrad Giles, presi-
dent of the Council of Jewish
Federations, said there was an overrid-
ing concern to keep revisiting the
word "unity."
"We have to respect the right of
every institution to have its own agen-
da," said Dr. Giles. "But as an organi-
zation, CJF has to have as its agenda
keeping the community together. I
think the best line I heard during the
GA was 'we are a population substitut-
ing sound bites for sound leadership.
We don't need sound bites.' We need
strong leadership."