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Congregation Beth Shalom
Parent/Tot Class
For Children 18 months to 2-1/2 years
Tuesdays — June 22 August 10
9:30-11 a.m.
Held in Congregation Beth Shalom's
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Teacher: Gail Moses
To register call:
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5/21
1999
26 Detroit Jewish Nevis
(;)
MATTHEW DORM
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washington
or those American Jews who
want to see the peace process
move forward and who
oppose Orthodox control
over religious affairs in Israel, Binyamin
Netanyahu was not their man.
But will incoming Prime Minister
Ehud Barak become the champion of
their convictions?
Barak, 57, left the military four years
ago and, in the mold of slain Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, has positioned
himself as a dovish security hawk.
But where does the most decorated
soldier in Israel's history stand on
issues of religion and state?
He has been absolutely consistent.
It took him some time to reach a
decision — but once he did he was
absolutely immovable" in his opposi-
tion to "any legislation that divides
the Jewish people," said Rabbi
Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of
ARZA, Association of Reform
Zionists of America.
In a 1997 interview, during the
height of the controversy over conver-
sion legislation — a move to codify
Israel's ban on the recognition of
non-Orthodox conversions — Barak
said, "It's not politics when it comes
to dealing with the very unity of the
Jewish people. I will never support —
and the Labor Parry will never sup-
port — any legislation that threatens
to divide the Jewish people."
The Reform and Conservative
movements have spent the last three
years playing defense in the Knesset
while waging battles in the Israeli
courts to win official recognition of
conversions performed by their rabbis
and government funding for their
institutions. They now expect differ-
ent dynamics on what has come to be
known as the pluralism controversy.
But now that Barak has been elect-
ed prime minister, will he stick with
his promises made as leader of the
opposition or will he move to accom-
modate the haredim, or fervently
Orthodox, in his west for unity of
the Jewish people? The answer will be
determined by how dependent Barak
becomes on the Orthodox and fer-
vently Orthodox parties that made
significant gains in this week's elec-
dons to the Knesset.
Some religious pluralism advocates
believe that the last Labor-led govern-
ments, under Rabin and then Shimon
Peres, sacrificed those issues in order
to gain support for their peace poli-
cies from the Orthodox parties.
But proponents of religious plural-
ism point to Barak's agreement with
the modern Orthodox movement
Meimad, which joined his One Israel
party list.
Labor and Meimad reached an
agreement that would significantly
transform the role of religion in Israel.
Based on a document hammered
out earlier this year dubbed the "New
Covenant on Religion and State," the
agreement calls for public transporta-
tion on Shabbat, as determined by
the local authorities; the establish-
ment of a framework for civil mar-
riages in Israel, something which does
not currently exist; and the transfer-
ring of jurisdiction of the religious
courts from the Interior Ministry to
the Ministry of Justice.
At the same time, it bars all busi-
ness arid commercial transactions on
Shabbat with the exception of cultur-
al, sport and leisure activities.
Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the
Conservative movement's Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York, said
he expects Barak to follow the covenant
as he seeks to reduce secular-religious
tensions. But at the same time, Schorsch
predicted, Barak will tread carefully
because "this government is not going to
turn against the Orthodox."
During his campaign this year,
Barak reiterated his opposition to any
legislation that would delegitimize
Reform and Conservative Jews,
including the controversial conversion
bill. "We will block it. We will not let
it pass. We will raise our hands against
it, period," he told American Jewish
activists in Israel earlier this year.
Some Orthodox Jews in America
said no one should dismiss the
influence of the religious parties in
Israel. Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of
public relations for Agudath Israel
of America, said, - We're hoping
Barak will be, as he put it, 'every-
body's prime minister.'" 17,