Insight

Diaspora MK wants religion to unite, not divide, world Jewry.

AVI MACHLIS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

I

f you passed Rabbi Michael
Melchior strolling in the
Knesset corridors, wearing his
black kipah and long beard,
you might mistakenly think he was
one of many fervently Orthodox leg-
islators in Israeli politics today.
But Melchior, who was appointed a
Cabinet minister with responsibility
for Diaspora relations and social
affairs on Aug. 5, has little in com-
mon with most Orthodox politi-
cians, who often seek to use legisla-
tion to anchor religion in society.
Since 1995, Melchior has been
chairman of the executive commit-
tee of Meimad, a centrist
Orthodox movement that seeks to
detach politics and religion. Before
the May elections, Meimad joined
forces with Prime Minister Ehud
Barak's Labor Party to form the
One Israel bloc.
Melchior explained how he
plans to use his new position both
to help resolve religious-secular
tensions and improve Israel-dias-
pora relations from within.
"The challenges are immense,"
he says, pointing out issues rang-
ing from Holocaust restitution to
Jewish identity and education.
"But what I really want to do is to
work here to change attitudes of
Israelis towards the diaspora. I
want to create an awareness in
Israel, which unfortunately hardly
exists here today, that we are part of a
Jewish world."
Melchior insisted that the new
ministry be defined as "social and
diaspora affairs" because he believes
that what happens in Israeli society
affects the diaspora as well.
For example, he says, the spiraling
religious-secular conflict, with
Orthodox and secular politicians
engaged in endless shouting matches,
is damaging for all Jews.
"If this will be the face of what
will be the dominant cultural politi-
cal image of Judaism, many people
will eventually opt out of the rela-
tionship with Israel and opt out of a
relationship with Judaism," he says.
"Therefore, I think that what we do

here in Israel, the changes in Israel,
will affect diaspora Jewry."
It is still unclear what kind of
authority or budgets the new min-
istry will have for Melchior to imple-
ment Meimad's vision. But this is the
first time a ministry has been formed
explicitly to deal with diaspora
affairs. In Israel's previous govern-
ment, Bobby Brown served as an
adviser to the prime minister on dias-
pora affairs.
Born in Denmark to an eighth-

Ile

He served as an adviser on diaspora
affairs to Rabbi Yehuda Amital,
Meimad's founder, who briefly was a
minister without portfolio following the
assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
Melchior supports Barak's vision
on the peace process. But he thinks
Israelis should be more open to
Palestinian suffering. Melchior him-
self periodically visits Palestinian
refugee camps and holds talks with
Muslim clerics.
In 1988, Melchior helped found
Meimad as a political party, but
it failed to earn enough votes
to qualify for the Knesset and
instead transformed into a
social movement. Meimad has
criticized the Orthodox com-
munity for using religious texts
to bolster political positions.
The movement advocates an
end to religious coercion, while
urging the Orthodox communi-
ty to adopt humanistic values,
respect non-Orthodox Jews and
include liberal rabbis in the
conversion process.
"I am an Orthodox rabbi,
and I am 100 percent commit-
ted to halacha and its Orthodox
interpretation," Melchior says.
"But I also have very, very good
relations with Conservative and
Reform Jewry."
On the issue of conversions,
he says, "I think the real solu-
tion is to take it out of the polit-
ical realm. I think the state of
Israel should not be dealing with
who is a Jew but who is an Israeli."
In his new position, Melchior
expects to be dispatched to bolster
support from Jewish lobbies in the
United States when the peace process
begins to move ahead. Recounting a
meeting with congressmen on Capitol
Hill a few years ago, he said:
"When they saw me — as an
Orthodox rabbi who looks like one
— and heard what I had to say
about the peace process, they nearly
fell off their chairs. The worst thing
was that I think they had the per-
spective from extreme right-wing
activists that Judaism and peace are
two opposites, and certainly reli-
gious Judaism and peace. And they
were very surprised, I think, posi-
tively surprised:T-1

Wounds

Rabbi Michael Melchior

generation rabbinical family,
Melchior, 45, came to Israel after
completing high school and studied
at Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem. He
stayed for eight years, was ordained
in 1980 and then appointed chief
rabbi of Oslo.
After living in Oslo from 1980 to
1986, Melchior made aliya to Israel.
He continued to serve as chief rabbi
of Norway, spending about 18 weeks
a year in Scandinavia. He has been
employed by the Norwegian govern-
ment as an adviser on human rights
issues, served as the international
director of the Elie Wiesel
Foundation and won several awards,
including the Norwegian Nobel
Institute's prize for tolerance and
bridge-building.

Itemember
When

From the pages of The Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50

years ago.

1989

A giant forest fire attributed to
arsonists caused a pall of smoke to
hang over Mount Carmel and the
city of Haifa.
Two hundred BBYOers pitched
over a 40-hour period to raise $700
at the Jolson AZA Softball
Marathon for Muscular Dystrophy.

1979

Five Jews who were on the Jesse
Jackson mission to the Mideast
quit the delegation, protesting
Jackson's behavior on the tour.
Alan Herbach was appointed
assistant director, Michigan
Region, Jewish National Fund.

1969

Orthodox services and kosher meals
became available in East Lansing,
where seven MSU students rented a
three-story house established
through a Young Israel loan and a
gift from Mr. and Mrs. M. Biber.
A new class for students with
limited Hebrew educational back-
ground has opened at Hillel Day
School.

1959

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
refused to receive any Jewish dele-
gation during his stay in the United
States.
After 19 years of business on
Dexter, Walter Herz Interiors opened
a new showroom on Livernois.

1949

The Israel government has decided
to join the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
Samuel Rubiner, secretary of the
Cunningham Drug Co., has been
named chairman of the major com-
mercial and professional unit of the
United Foundation Torch Drive.
Soncino Press in London
announced the completion of the
first, unabridged, authoritative
translation of the Talmud into
English.

— Compiled by Sy Manello,
editorial assistant

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