POINT/COUNTERPOINT Struggle For Religious Equality Intensifying In rejecting the Ne'eman Commis- sion's recommendations, the Chief Rabbinate could not restrain itself from lobbing vicious verbal volleys against the Reform and Conservative movements. In truth, the movements would have been put in a much more difficult position had the rabbis simply e Ne'eman Commission ignored the passage which dealt with a as concluded its work. It joint conversion institute. ended not with a declaration But they could not resist blasting of victory nor with a big the notion that "Torah-true" Jews bang. It just petered out. could cooperate with those who Despite Minister Nee- "undermine the Jewish man's rather grandiose state- faith." ments, none of the seven There are two basic reasons participants on the commis- why the Chief Rabbinate sion agreed to sign off on its will never voluntarily cede recommendations. The power. The first is that the commission failed because ideological opposition of its basic logic — that the ultra-Orthodox leaders to Chief Rabbinate and the Reform and Conservatie non-Orthodox streams Judaism is all-consuming could work together to and uncompromising. It implement one universally RABBI AMMIEL cannot be overstated. recognized conversion "Destroyers of religion," HIR RS CH process — was flawed. "goyim of the highest order," Speci at to What have we learned? I The Jew ish News "idol-worshippers" and "spir- offer five preliminary lessons: itual nazis" are but a few of 1. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate will the arrows slung our way. Those who never voluntarily cede power. There believe with such perfect faith in the were many, including Yaacov Ne'eman, fallibility of competing interpretations who persuaded themselves that the of Judaism do not decide to work Chief Rabbinate would make some together on joint standards. They may concessions, even if only cosmetic, for support other political arrangements the sake of an agreement. but not religious cooperation. The second reason that the Chief Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is executive Rabbinate will not cede its power vol- director, Association of R eform Zionists untarily is that it is worth considerable of America, New York City. money, patronage, jobs and influence. Fighting against belief in a `perfect faith" and power, influence and money. ir There is not one monopoly in the world, political or financial, which has voluntarily ceded power. 2. Important Orthodox voices have emerged to challenge the Chief Rab- binate. The Chief Rabbinate has demonstrated that it is so extreme that significant Orthodox communities are beginning to challenge its authority. To the extent that a new generation of Zionist Orthodox leaders are sincerely interested in beginning a dialogue with non-Orthodox leaders, this could prove to be a significant development. 3. Orthodoxy in the United States A monopoly does not cede power. is losing its moderate wing. I assert this with tremendous sadness, for a healthy, vibrant and intellectually courageous modern Orthodoxy is vital to the future of world Jewry. The most disappointing element of the entire conversion crisis was the loud silence of the so-called "modern Orthodox" community during so much of the crisis. When its officials did ultimately speak, groups like the Orthodox Union supported the hard- line views of the Chief Rabbinate. 4. American Jews have considerable influence over events in Israel. When the conversion crisis first began some 18 months ago, Israeli leaders from the prime minister on down told us that resisting the conversion law was futile. After all, Orthodox parties controlled almost a fifth of the Knesset; there was a coalition agreement that committed all of the governing parties to pass the law; the law was an internal matter for Israeli society and had nothing to do with American Jews; all the law pro- posed doing was codifying the status quo. American Jews bought none of that. If Israel claims to be the spiritual and physical homeland of the Jewish peo- ple, then it must embrace the religious sensibilities of world Jewry. 5. The struggle for full religious equality will continue and intensify. The conversion crisis is not over. As a result of the failure of the Ne'eman Commission, we have returned to court. In a sense, we're back to the early days of the crisis — with one fundamental difference — the conver- sion law has been defeated (for now). The Reform movement will be moving forward aggressively on all fronts. Let there be full and fair disclo- sure. We shall soon begin a major effort to entitle Reform and Conserva- tive rabbis to officiate at marriages in –\ Israel. It is preposterous that the only place in the world where Jews are deprived of the option of non-Orthodox wed- ding ceremonies is the Jewish state. Even Orthodox polling indicates that 32 percent of Israelis — well over a million Jews — want this option immediately. O LITTERS Nursing Home Problems We are truly indebted to The Jewish News for its monitoring of problems at the nursing homes which serve Jewish residents. The former Borman Hall. 4/17 1998 30 In all profit-oriented nursing homes, every dollar saved in patient care and food service costs is an additional dollar in bottom-line profit. It is unfortunate that the leaders of our Jewish community saw fit to end the dedicated traditional non-profit nursing care of our Jewish elderly. They claimed that it was too costly. Hopefully some day, members of our Detroit-area Jewish commu- nity will come forward and acknowledge their duty to build and operate a non-profit nursing home. That the Detroit Jewish commu- nity does not now have a non- profit traditional Jewish nursing home is truly a shandeh. David Temple Erie, Mich. A Caution For Eaters . A word of caution before you start the toothpick approach of inconspic- uous food-consumption at parties as recommended in "Have Toothpick, Will Travel" April 10. Although people with a metabo- lism like Mr. Manello's can eat more than their allotted share at parties (as he did when he developed the tech- nique at my bar mitzvah in 1957), most of us are soon discovered one way or another. If a stain on our clothes from the squirt of something, we speared doesn't reveal our overindulgence, waistlines soon give truth to our serendipitous toothpick adventures. Therefore, use this technique with appropriate caution. Dr. Mark Roth Farmington Hills Letters Policy The Jewish News welcomes letters to the editor on topics of interest to the Jewish community. We reserve the right to edit letters. They should be limited to approxi- mately 350 words. Deadline for consideration is 10 a.m. Tuesday for Friday's edition.