NAW .." . 8 4w". V Vw

Nonetheless, progress is clearly being
"nade on the ground.
"Relations are very warm and
friendly and supportive," says British-
born Rabbi Mickey Boyden, a former
chairman of the Israel Council of
Progressive Rabbis. He settled in Israel
14 years ago and heads a Reform con-
gregation in Ra'anana.
We share common aims and
\ideals," said Boyden. "This is the first
/time in the history of the State of
Israel where members of the three
streams are working together in a reli-
gious area in order to offer a joint
solution to a major issue."
Boyden's board colleague, Amnon
Shapira, who teaches biblical studies at
the Orthodox Bar-Ilan University,
adds: "I am not compromising my
eliefs, but the question is: how are we
going to live together? I would like all
Jews to be like me, but it's not like
that today. I have to ask how I can do
my best for my faith, for my God and
for the people of Israel."
In what, in Israeli terms, amounts
to pluralism, Shapira adds, "The
best way to encourage the Reform is
fight them. What we have to do is
show that Orthodox is better. We
have to fight on the spiritual level,
not on the political level. Otherwise,
we'll fail."
The unanswered question is
whether the judges of those courts
will convert the Karmiel graduates.
"We can't promise anything, but I see
good chance to think that the
results will be OK," says Shapira.
"The [institute] curriculum is the
-ame as the Orthodox curriculum.
We don't take one step without con-
ulting the Chief Rabbis. So far, they
laave given us their blessing. They are
not happy, but they do it.
Bobby Brown, Netanyahu's Jewish
affairs adviser, said he- believes that all
'-e streams will have no choice. If
hey want the conversions done in
Israel according to halacha," he says
bluntly, "this is the best they are
going to get." ❑

r

'

Correction

Grover Cleveland, mentioned
in last week's story "Lend Me
Your Ear," was among the presi-
dents who had Jewish interaction.
Grover Cleveland Alexander was
a baseball player. In the same
story, the reference to Robert Taft
should have been to President
William Howard Taft.

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