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Israel’s Battle For Peace Between Religion And State

T

he relationship between
diaspora rabbis whose conver-
over the majority of the Western Wall) as
religion and state in
sions are approved by the Israeli
to those in search of a more egalitarian
Israel is stormy. Lately, it
Chief Rabbinate.
environment (the ability to pray freely in
seems the ultra-Orthodox have
And earlier this summer,
the separate and almost-equal southern
launched a new offensive on sev-
ultra-Orthodox legislators pre-
section of the Wall).
eral fronts.
sented the Mikvah Bill, which has
The fear of the ultra-Orthodox is that
First, representatives of the
passed in its preliminary Knesset creating this southern section recognizes
ultra-Orthodox community
readings and is still being
and legitimizes pluralistic streams of
went back on their Western Wall
debated by the parliament. The
Judaism. The reality is that these streams
Yair Sheleg
compromise agreement, a
bill stipulates that any immersion received such legitimacy more than 20
JNS.org
compromise that would give
in a public mikvah (ritual bath)
years ago when a decision was made to
anyone interested in alternative
must be handled according to the establish official conversion institutes
prayer the option of holding services at
Chief Rabbinate’s rules.
whose leadership would include represen-
the Wall’s southern section. Now, they
This new ultra-Orthodox offensive
tatives of the Conservative and Reform
are demanding that the Reform and
must be fought.
movements.
Conservative movements be denied any
For starters, we must be unyielding
The State of Israel is the nation-state
official recognition in the new plaza at
in our opposition to reneging on the
of the whole Jewish people. As such, our
all.
Kotel compromise. The agreement in its
government must ensure all Jews can
Further, judges from the Petach
essence gave equally as much to the ultra- prayer at this most holy Jewish landmark.
Tikvah rabbinical court recently took
Orthodox (recognition of their monopoly
Regarding the Rabbi Lookstein affair
a bold step when they attempted to
revoke conversions conducted by Rabbi
Should alternative prayer
Haskel Lookstein, a prominent Orthodox
be allowed at the Kotel's
American rabbi. Lookstein converted,
southern section?
among others, Ivanka Trump, daughter of
Republican presidential candidate Donald
Western Wall
Trump. The judges who made this deci-
sion were unaware of who Lookstein is.
Rather, they based their decision on the
fact that he does not appear on the list of

POINT/
COUNTERPOINT

— it will work itself out. Chief Rabbi
David Lau announced that he did not
agree with the Petach Tikvah court’s
decision, so the particular situation will
be rectified. Nonetheless, the Lookstein
affair is indicative of a greater problem.
While the State of Israel needs a reliable
list of diaspora rabbis who perform con-
versions, that list cannot be comprised
of solely Orthodox rabbis. Israel’s High
Court of Justice long ago recognized non-
Orthodox conversions that were carried
out in the diaspora when it comes to the
Law of Return. What the rabbinical court
did in the Lookstein affair was to use its
monopoly over marriage to take back its
de facto monopoly over conversions as
well. This is not OK.
Lastly, mikvahs are taxpayer-funded
public buildings. The Rabbinate has no
right to dictate how those who wish to
immerse do so. Further, the law not only
affects those who wish to use the mikveh
to complete their non-Orthodox conver-
sions, but also thousands of women who
use the mikveh monthly and do not want
to be subject to the supervision of ultra-
Orthodox mikveh attendants who are
employed by the Chief Rabbinate. Ultra-
Orthodox political representatives have

point continued on page 10

counterpoint

Pursuing Peace
And Straightening
The Record

Y

air Sheleg’s op-ed, “Israel’s Battle
For Peace Between Religion
And State,” is troublesome in
several ways. While he portrays himself
as a dispassionate analyst, it is clear that
Sheleg’s essay intends, on the contrary,
to inflame passions — and he is not
above inverting the record in order to
do so.
In lieu of “haredi,” the writer used the
pejorative term “ultra-Orthodox.”
In an era when we express sensitiv-
ity and consideration toward minority
populations, we allow them to choose
the terms of their own identity and
avoid negative bias. The writer affords
the haredi community no such consid-
eration, using a modifier, “ultra-,” that
is universally negative when used to
describe a movement or community.
The Israel Democracy Institute claims
to be nonpartisan; the director of its
Religion and State program belies that,
at least with regards to Jewish religious

affairs.
Young Israel movement for more than 25
Second, the prem-
years. The other earned
ise of the op-ed
a BSE in computer sci-
directly contradicts
ence from Princeton
Sheleg’s statement
University, architects
to the media, made
a family of prominent
in his professional
Jewish websites and, not
capacity. His opinion
incidentally, identified
piece claims that “the
with the Conservative
ultra-Orthodox have
movement into adult-
launched a new offen- Rabbi Yaakov Rabbi Pesach hood. Both of us live
Menken
Lerner
sive;” speaking to
in the United States,
JNS.org
JNS.org
the New York Jewish
where we frequently
Week, however, he
interact with Reform and
noted that “the ultra-
Conservative leaders and members both
Orthodox are in a defensive position”
personally and professionally. Neither of
(our emphasis added), merely wishing
us exemplifies the stereotypical image
to preserve the status quo that has gov-
evoked by the term “ultra-Orthodox.”
erned Israeli practice since its founding. Groups like Women For the Wall, the
In this case, the pejorative term
women’s group acting to preserve tradi-
“ultra-” is both offensive and inaccu-
tional practice at the Western Wall, are
rate. Consider our own example. One
certainly not led by “ultra-Orthodox.”
of us holds a doctorate in not-for-profit
The vast majority of religious nation-
organization systems and served as
alist leaders and members all strongly
executive vice president of the national
oppose the changes advocated by Sheleg

— and, given his position, he is surely
well aware of this. Thus the “ultra-”
label is not merely pejorative, but a fac-
ile attempt to reframe the conversation
to avoid the real issues.
Why are the American liberal move-
ments pushing for major changes at the
Western Wall at this time? The question
gains potency given a demonstrated lack
of need. More than a decade ago, these
movements were allocated space at the
Robinson’s Arch section of the Kotel;
three years ago, then-Religious Affairs
Minister Naftali Bennett unveiled a new,
greatly expanded “Ezrat Yisrael” plat-
form in response to demands from these
same movements.
Since that time, this space has never
been filled. Not once. Most of the time
it sits completely empty; only when the
Sephardic chief rabbi of Jerusalem, for-
mer Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rav
Shlomo Amar, conducted a private ser-
vice there did the leaders of these move-
ments respond with possessive outrage.
To anyone with even minimal
knowledge of the differences in belief
and practice of traditional and non-
traditional Jews, the reasons for the
disuse of Ezrat Yisrael are not difficult
to discern. Neither movement prays for

counterpoint continued on page 10

8 July 28 • 2016