Balancing
theScales

Seeking recognition
as a Reform rabbi in Israel,
a former Detroiter petitions
Israeli Supreme Court.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Staff Writer

II

n the 1970s as a young Congregation
Shaarey Zedek member from Oak Park,
Marilyn Gold was openly disheartened to
discover that — at that time — only the
Southfield synagogue's men were permitted
to read from the Torah.
Thirty years later, Shaarey Zedek's women
share that service leadership and more —
and Rabbi Gold has taken her spiritual deter-
mination and strength to a dramatic new
level.

On Sept. 20, Rabbi Gold — now a Reform rabbi living in
Israel — petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to gain formal
recognition as the rabbi of her synagogue on Kibbutz Gezer —
something Israeli law only allows Orthodox rabbis.
This weekend, she will be "back home speaking at several
area synagogues about her life in Israel and what led her to file
the suit.
Quite simply, she said: "There are 16 rabbis in our regional
council and all of the others are Orthodox men. They are recog-
nized — and paid a salary — by the State of Israel:' said Rabbi
Gold, who now goes by Miri, a shorten version of her Hebrew
name, Miriam.
"One of them is even paid to be our community rabbi even
though he doesn't really do anything because the members of
the community don't want an Orthodox rabbi to serve them.
They come to me — a Reform rabbi — instead."
The petition was presented by the Israel Religious Action
Center (IRAC), which is the legal arm of the Israel Movement
for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ), Israel's Reform movement. It •
was filed on behalf of Rabbi Gold, her kibbutz, her synagogue
Congregation Birkat Shalom and the IMPJ.
While there are 40 Reform rabbis in Israel, Rabbi Gold knows
why she was approached by the IRAC to be named on the peti-
tion."I fit the bill because I am in the situation where I live in a
community that supports the request:' she said. "What we want
is recognition of the legitimacy of having a liberal rabbi — in a
community who wants it!'
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz described Rabbi Gold as
someone "who will become one of the most famous and contro-
versial figures in the Reform movement in Israel over the next

Scales on page 34

November 10 2005

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