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Israel Stirs Pursuit Of Pluralism
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S
lowly but inexorably, Israel is
chipping away at obstacles to the
pluralistic practice of Judaism in
the Jewish state. And that’s encouraging
news.
In the past few weeks, the Israeli
government not only approved a land-
mark compromise to expand the non-
Orthodox prayer section of the Western
Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, but the Israeli
Supreme Court also ruled that mikvot
(ritual baths) must allow non-Orthodox
conversion rites.
That’s not to say Israel’s non-Orthodox
streams are out of the discrimina-
tion woods yet. Pressing issues remain
for Israel’s Reform (Progressive) and
Conservative (Masorti) Jews — and even
for modern Orthodox Jews.
For example, the hundreds of Israelis
who convert to Judaism each year under
the rubric of the Progressive and Masorti
streams aren’t considered Jewish by
Israel’s haredi Orthodox-controlled Chief
Rabbinate though they’re counted as Jews
by Israel’s Population Registry. In effect,
Jewish converts in Israel can only be mar-
ried or buried under Jewish law if their
conversion fell under the strictures of
Orthodox Judaism.
Modern Orthodox Jews, meanwhile,
still face uphill battles in bridging per-
ceived indifference to their approach to
religious law and ritual at the Wall, the
historic government ruling enlarging and
increasing the accessibility of the non-
Orthodox prayer section notwithstanding.
MIKVAHINDUCED INROAD
The Feb. 11 mikvah ruling holds that
Israel’s public mikvot, run by the haredi-
influenced Religious Services Ministry,
must extend access to groups seeking
non-Orthodox conversions, not an insig-
nificant move in a society where reli-
gious battle lines long have been drawn.
The ministry sought to deny such
access on the grounds that non-Orthodox
converts aren’t Jewish, ignoring that
Orthodox converts aren’t Jewish either
until they immerse.
Gilad Kariv, president of Israel’s Reform
movement, put it simply to JTA: “This
ruling really goes beyond the issue of
immersion in the mikvah. The justices are
saying that even if we have an Orthodox
establishment, this establishment cannot
impose any policy that goes against the
basic democratic values of the state.”
Since modern statehood in 1948, Israel
time and again has confronted being
both a Jewish and democratic state. Non-
Orthodox streams have had to beg for
public funding as well as recognition of
their rabbis.
ROUGH TIDES AWAIT
The Netanyahu government, with
Women of the Wall at the epicenter,
brokered Cabinet passage of the Jan.
31 agreement relating to the Wall.
The accord creates a distinctive space
at the Wall, in an archaeological area
known as Robinson’s Arch, for egalitar-
ian prayer. Following passage, haredi
Orthodox lawmaker Moshe Gafni, who
chairs the Knesset’s powerful finance
committee, called Reform Jews, 1.5
million strong in America, “a group of
clowns who stab the holy Torah.”
The haredi Orthodox group Agudath
Israel of America chimed in that desig-
nating an area at the Wall for “feminist
and mixed-gender prayer not only pro-
fanes the holy site,” but also “creates yet a
further lamentable rift between Jews.”
Clearly, there’s plenty of work still to
do to bring Jews in Israel together.
Open mikvot and an egalitarian prayer
section at the Wall alone won’t heal the rift
wrought by haredi Jews who steadfastly
oppose the full bloom of the faith we so
love. They may not consider their opposi-
tion reflective of religious intolerance or
gender inequality, but it certainly seems
ethically and symbolically demeaning.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of
the Western Wall and Holy Sites, resisted
Women of the Wall’s 20-year fight for
freer women’s prayer at the Wall. But he
had no choice but to accept the govern-
ment-mandated agreement — although
“with a heavy heart.” Further reforms
won’t come easy.
Israel is the ancestral home of the
Jewish people. Labels distinguish the
various levels of religious observance,
but no Jew should fear being subject to
religious discrimination in, of all places,
our beloved Jewish state.
Religious pluralism in Israel is far
from a done deal, but it is taking root. *
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8 February 25 • 2016
Corrections
• In “Jewish Fund” (Feb. 18, page 3), web addresses for the Jewish Fund’s survey
should be www.jewishcommunitysurvey.morpace.com for adults 18 or older and
www.jewishteensurvey.morpace.com for teens ages 13-17.
• In “Living His Dream” (Feb. 18, page 40), film producer Harper Shecter should
have been identified as female.