at the World Union for Progressive
Judaism (WUPJ), says that in his experi-
ence it is “rare to see the common good
having the highest value,” especially in
Israel where “the playing field among
denominations is not level at all.”
“When I am right and you are wrong,
how can there be diversity?” Oseran
asks. “You have to allow for more than
one way to be right in order to respect
diversity.”
Shaked disagrees, saying that unity
and friendship have little to do with
accepting others’ opinions or hoping to
change them.
“It’s naive to think that anyone will
change his or her mind,” she says, and it
has more to do with a belief that people
can become friends in spite of differ-
ences in levels of religious observance.
“It is very easy to rip apart the other.
It is very difficult to look for the posi-
tive,” Shaked says.
“Irrespective of which religious back-
ground you come from, you have to ask
yourself: Do I look to build bridges or
do I look to inflame?”
This has been Marne Rochester’s
modus operandi. An active Conservative
Jew, Rochester moved to Israel 26 years
ago. In the Jewish state, she maintains
her Conservative identity while send-
ing her daughter to a religious school
and praying at a variety of different
synagogues. She is most active in a
Jerusalem Masorti (the Hebrew term for
Conservative) congregation, but she also
attends a Sephardic, egalitarian minyan.
“I think Conservative and Orthodox,
and Conservative and Reform have a lot
in common,” says Rochester. “Both the
Orthodox and Conservative movements
are halachic [Jewish law] movements.
We just see the interpretation more lib-
erally than the Orthodox.”
When it comes to daily life, she says
it’s easy to get along — especially in
Israel where Conservative congregants
tend to follow more of the movement’s
code of conduct, as opposed to the U.S.,
where “a lot of people who belong to
Conservative shuls don’t necessarily go
by what the movement says.” Rochester
has Orthodox friends willing to eat in
her home and share Shabbat together
with her.
But Rochester, who takes part in
monthly Women of the Wall ceremo-
nies at the Kotel, says the biggest dif-
ferentiator between the Orthodox and
the Conservative, however, is the role
of women in public Judaism and the
synagogue. While in Orthodox Judaism
women take a back seat to men in reli-
gious life, “since my bat mitzvah, I read

from the Torah, lead services, put on a
tallit and tefillin,” she notes.
“But I feel like in my neighborhood
we all get along. We all respect each
other and don’t check each other’s
tzitzit,” she says.
Rochester notes, also, that Women
of the Wall was founded as a minyan
of women from different movements
coming together on common ground
for Rosh Chodesh. While it has become
a major media focus and a point of
divisiveness between Jews in the dias-
pora, in Israel, at its core, “You have
Orthodox, Reform and Conservative
women all together — that is such a
powerful, beautiful thing.”
Oseran says he wishes he would see
more leaders taking a stance in the
direction of unity.
“I am not optimistic from the top
down,” he says, but admits positive steps
are percolating on a grassroots level.
“There are many Orthodox Jews who
understand there is more than one way
to be Jewish and are prepared to bridge
some of the differences in order to be
stronger together,” adds Oseran, noting
that Israelis could learn a lot from the
Jewish Federations of North America
(JFNA) movement, which is built on a
sense of a collective Jewish community
in which any Jewish people can fit and
find their place.
“How do you create a building bridges
mindset?” Shaked asks. “Take the time
to make yourself available to talk to oth-
ers. Be open to meeting people. … we
all have to take the plunge.”
She also recommends celebrating the
successes of others and volunteering in
communities different from your own.
Harkening back to the unity estab-
lished by the Bloods and Crips in the
wake of the Baltimore riots in 2015,
Shaked says she read a study published
more than 20 years ago by the Simon
Wiesenthal Center that found gang
members cannot unify by simply learn-
ing about one another through movies,
being told positive messages about
one another or even through dialogue.
Rather, they need to work together on a
common project. By working for a com-
mon goal, the Bloods and Crips found
unity.
“I ask this Rosh Hashanah to join
with all Israelis, with friends of Israel,
with the Jewish people everywhere
in wishing for a better future,” said
Netanyahu in his previous Rosh
Hashanah address.
“I believe these friendships can be
struck. I have seen it, and I live it,”
Shaked said.

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September 29 • 2016

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