Feb 14 2008
An optimistic story about the Masorti movement in Israel, found its way into my RSS feed reader today and I thought it was worth sharing.
Here’s a snippet:
A few years ago, he attended a bat mitzva ceremony in Tucson and was jolted by a contrast between his own upbringing and what he witnessed that day in Arizona.
“At my bar mitzva when I read my parsha, my grandmother, whom I loved, was in the back and could hardly see me. She was in another zip code,” he quipped. “But at the Conservative shul in Tucson, I saw the grandmother sitting next to the family and she was given an aliya. It looked so natural to me. “I said, ‘Wait a minute. There is another way to experience your Judaism, not what I experienced in Israel as a child.’”
That moment launched him on a career path that has led to his current post as executive director and CEO of the Masorti movement in Israel, affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
To Hess, “the egalitarianism and the openness, the way you practice your Judaism with a commitment” to Halacha, or Jewish law, lured him toward religious practice.
You can read the rest here.
As a side note this last bit “To Hess, “the egalitarianism and the openness, the way you practice your Judaism with a commitment” to Halacha, or Jewish law, lured him toward religious practice.” is a great example of the type of diversity I was trying to describe in my last post.
Anyhow back to the topic at hand.
Coincidentally last Shabbat I spent the afternoon with a group of Israelis, including individuals who identified as Orthodox, secular and at least two who identified as being Masorti. It was quite an illuminating experience and I definitely learned a thing or two. First is that I couldn’t believe how ignorant, Israelis (ok well at least two Israelies) can be about what is going on in their own country religiously. Two of the Israelis (one of whom identifies as Masorti) adamantly claimed that all the term “Masorti” means is traditional and that anyone who believes in G-D and isn’t Orthodox, is Masorti. When I tried to point out that Masorti was indeed an organized movement in Israel, they both just scoffed at me and denied it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing because I know better.
Below is an map of Masorti at affiliated communities inside of Israel. You can click the image to be taken to more on the Masorti movements in Israel.
Okay so maybe on a Israeli scale the Masorti movement is a blip on the screen (I don’t know) but to think that some Israelis, who self- identify as Masorti themselves, don’t believe in the existence of the “Masorti” movement, is something I just found unbelievable. Well, that is until I read the following in today’s article.
The Masorti movement’s Web site (www.masorti.org) lists 47 congregations and 21 rabbis in Israel, but its leaders resisted providing a head count of lay membership.
“That’s an American question,” said Lissy. “In Israel, people don’t join synagogues. They are accustomed to just walk into an Orthodox place that is open and funded by the government.”
I knew that the Orthodox movement was subsidized by the government, however I didn’t realize that it was to the point that synagogues didn’t require paid dues from congregants. That’s really not the case here in the USA. In America there’s no way to technically be a Conservative Jew, unless you affiliate at the local synagogue, by becoming a due paying member. So people don’t actually have to pay anything to belong to a shul, they just walk in and participate if they want to. So with that being the case I’m now beginning to understand, why some Israelis may not be aware of the movement. However, having said that, I still think it’s really strange. However, hopefully things are changing for the better in Israel.
Here is one last snippet from the article, which gives me a sense of hope.
“In the past few years, Israel is way more open to different ideas and different mindsets. There is a reason to be optimistic, but there is a battle and there is a process. This is something we should be proud of.”
experience or week ago stories in place is you
Anyhow I’m curious to know what others think about all of this. Was my experience with the Israelis last weekend, typical of attitudes in Israel? Also I would be interested in hearing from our contributors and readers who either live in or have been to Israel, regarding the Masorti movement there, not to mention Israeli religious pluralism in general. So please do chime in on the subject.
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The thing is — and what I’m learning by reading the “Conservative Movement in Judaism — is that the Conservative movement in the U.S. does not really equate to the Masorati. I mean, the Conservative movement itself is so ambivalent and confused about what it’s trying to be. The author of the book pegs it pretty accurately when he mentions that the Conservative movement is all about the body of the community, that the services and the synagogue serve as this show of sorts. The Conservative movement is very much an “elite” and a “mass.” That is, the elite — rabbis and their family members — are held to a higher standard by the mass — the lay community. The Conservative movement wants to exist according to halakah, but it only expects its rabbis and the “elite” to truly follow them. The book makes a lot of interesting points.
But the idea of the American congregation with its bimah in the front and the dues and the community mass is incredibly foreign to those practicing Judaism in many other places. This is why there are so many havurah communities WITHIN the Conservative movement — groups that want more traditional services and don’t necessarily associate with the edifices in which they hold their minyanim. They fund themselves, basically.
I don’t know. I guess I can understand the Israelis in this situation. I think it’s almost a misnomer for the Masorati to associate with Conservative. Because really they’re Traditional, not Conservative. They’re probably best affiliated with the Union for Traditional Judaism. But either way, the whole setup of American Judaism is incredibly unique when it comes to denominations for Judaism. I think that having various ways to connect to Judaism is good, but I think that the idea of denominations is such a rough way to go about it. I have a really good quote about denominationalism in Judaism, but I can’t find it.
I’m sort of rambling now. I’ll stop
Chavi
This is an interesting post Avi. Here are some thoughts:
First, and perhaps Shimshonit, as our resident Israeli, can correct me if I’m wrong, but as I understand it in Israel a lot of people who live mostly secular lives but identify with Jewish tradition are called “Masorti” in the same way that religious Zionists are called “Dati.” The “Mesorah” is the inherited body of Jewish tradition, which is where the movement gets its name.
In a friendly bit of debate with Chavi (and as touchy as my comments below might sound, it is a friendly debate!) :)… I am not sure that it is accurate to characterize the Conservative movement as confused about what it is trying to be. I think the movement is growing (not numerically, but spiritually/ideologically, etc.), and it has growing pains. As a Jew who self identifies most with the Conservative/Masorti movement, I would suggest that the Reform movement is just as confused. First it threw away Jewish tradition, then when the Reconstructionists started making inroads in to progressive communities wanting more Mesorah in their Judaism, Reform followed suit. An example would be the new Mishkan Tefillah siddur, which looks like the Kol HaNeshamah of the Reconstructionists, but arrived ten years later. While some folks in the Conservative movement might sort of leave observance to the clergy, in Reform the leadership often seems to squelch the impulses of young people toward tradition and especially toward obligation to anything but social justice - for example, Rabbi Yoffie’s comments about the walkouts at Camp Kutz.
Now to agree with Chavi :)… I think you are absolutely right that denominations are a WAY bigger deal here than they are anywhere else. And that sucks, because when people identify first as Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox, and second as Jews, it’s a problem. That’s why I’m really excited about Big Tent Judaism, Post-Denominational Judaism, whatever you want to call it. Because in the end, we are a small enough People as it is, we don’t need to subdivide.
Regarding the UTJ… how many shuls are actually affiliated with them? As I understand it, it’s just a subdivision of the USCJ which practices a more Modern Orthodox variety of Judaism. Has anyone been to a shul connected to this group?
Hi, Avi. I remember you and I had a conversation about this once. “Movement Judaism” does not exist in the same way in Israel that it exists in the U.S. Where there are organized movements with central leadership and member congregations in the States, here congregations tend just to form and take on a flavor of their own. There are three shuls in my immediate neighborhood. Two formed around a congregation and then did rabbi searches; the third formed around a charismatic leader with very devoted followers who built him a shul. Israelis do pay synagogue dues, but since synagogues here are subsidized by the government, dues are much lower than what Americans are accustomed to. (We pay the same amount in shekels per year that we paid in dollars in the U.S.) While most religion remains local in Israel, some religious groups do organize and have a central leadership. These are usually chasidic sects, yeshiva communities, or, on a grander scale, religious parties like Shas, which is part of the current government.
I became aware of the Masorti movement in Arad (one of the dots on Avi’s map) and went to services there. They were lovely–egal, mellow, inclusive. One hot day, there was a hushed discussion about whether they should turn on the air conditioning. Some said yes, some said no, but after a few minutes, a woman in her early 70s snorted, got up, and switched on the air. At the time, I loved that there was a debate, but I also loved that at some point sensibility took over and someone acted. There is a learning center/hostel/administrative office in Jerusalem for the organized Masorti movement.
That said, the word “masorti” (lower-case m) refers to a large chunk of Israelis (exact figures unknown) who typically light candles on Friday night, eat a nice meal, clear the table, then switch on the TV. These are Israelis who are clearly not anti-religion as many secular Israelis are, but who are not interested in ritual beyond that based in the family and the home. These people are not big shul-goers, except perhaps during the high holidays (like many Americans). Yet because of the amount of Judaism taught in the schools (holidays, history, and sometimes Torah: my secular ulpan teacher last year had the prophets pretty well memorized), they are strongly identified Jews and reasonably well educated. (The word “dati” refers to anyone religious, from American-style Masorti rightwards.)
Israelis are, in general, not terribly knowledgeable about “movements” in Judaism since there is only one recognized movement in Israel: Orthodox Judaism. (We have David Ben-Gurion to thank for this.) And to many people’s chagrin, those who supervise kashrut, conduct weddings, issue gittim (divorce decrees) and carry out all other religious offices tend to be haredi Jews (the guys in black hats), since those are the Jews in control of the rabbinate. On the one hand, Israelis are disgusted by this (one-third choose to fly to Cyprus to avoid having a stranger in a black hat marry them), but on the other hand, they don’t know or recognize any other form of Judaism. A centuries-old fear and protectionism have made even the most secular Israeli leery of anyone touting a different brand of Judaism than a strictly halachic one; it just doesn’t sound legitimate to them. And while it’s true that American Reform and Conservative Judaism do have a presence in Israel, it’s a very small one, and sometimes localized. The map shows that the Masorti have a presence all over the country, but I would venture to guess that in sheer numbers, it’s a drop in the Israeli bucket. I heard that the Reform movement has a high school in Haifa, but aside from that and the HUC complex in Jerusalem, I really don’t see or hear much about them. These liberal movements have not made serious inroads in the country. At one time, they petitioned to be allowed a presence in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, but what they were offered were offices down the hall, with the Muslims, the Christians, and the Baha’i, not as part of the Jewish administration. They (understandably) turned this down. Some Israelis insist that if members of these liberal movements were to make aliyah en masse, they might have greater success in getting recognition from the government, but I have my doubts about this. Change happens very slowly here, and it would be asking a lot to expect people to immigrate to a country where their expression of Judaism is not considered legitimate, or their converts genuinely Jewish. This is a problem for which a solution has yet to be devised.
Our head rabbi is pretty intensely involved in the effort to support Masorti congregations in Israel, so we hear about it in shul a fair amount and in the near-year I’ve been going there we’ve had two different Israeli Masorti rabbis come in and talk. The three themes I recall they both mentioned were 1. lack of government support and recognition, 2. economic problems, which flows therefrom since it is very hard to impossible for them to get government funding, and 3. active hostility from the Israeli rabbinate (which is, as we are all aware, ultra-Orthodox by American standards). My shul’s in the process of doing such major renovations to our actual building that we haven’t been holding services in it for two years (hopefully the building will be completed by the High Holy Days of this year). Our cantor was explaining to one of our guests why exactly we were holding services in a middle-school, and our guest laughed and said his congregation’s been trying to build or buy a building for more than ten years without any luck. Every time they get funds they might use for such a purpose they end up funneling it into community projects.
It’s a hot issue among a lot of the Conservative Jews I interact with most often–it’s one of those subjects that makes my normally easy-going boyfriend sort of froth at the mouth a bit. His father’s a higher-up in a major Jewish charity organization, and it vexes him to have grown up seeing the support the Conservative movement gives to such organizations here in America for programs in Israel without the Israeli religious community responding with at least some respect for their movement. “They’re happy to take our money”, he told me once, “And then they call us heretics, snub our converts, won’t recognize our grandchildren, won’t sell our congregations Torah scrolls, and wouldn’t let us marry their daughters or sons”.
He’s a little touchier on the subject then most of the people I know, but the basic underlying sentiment is one I’ve heard from a number of different people–somewhat problematic, if it’s common. I don’t know how common that much ire actually is: he’s somewhat unique in that he’s grown up hyper-aware of the matter, because of what his father does, and most of the other younger Conservative Jews I know are all part of the same congregation as I am (hence they hear about it a lot, either directly at shul or from their parents). But if it’s common, or getting to be more so, it strikes me that could become a sticking point as my generation gets older.
Yair,
Friendly indeed! I don’t identify with Reform Judaism any longer, and I’m in the process of exploring the Conservative movement. I’ve attended a Conservative shul and have been reading articles (including a quality one by Jack Wertheimer — “The Perplexities of Conservative Judaism.” It’s a good read, and I think he makes a lot of very interesting points. I particularly started considering each of the movements and their woes when he said: “In religion as in other areas of life, disunity and disorganization can be symptoms of a deeper confusion. A wag once memorably classified Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism as, respectively, ‘crazy, hazy, and lazy.’ The ‘hazy,’ at least, is not inaccurate.”
I think it is safe to say that all of the movements have a fair amount of confusion. Reform is attempting to back-peddle and adopt a stance that tradition/observance may not be so bad. Orthodox is grappling with Modern Orthodoxy and in Israel is grappling with the near-complete cut-off from “mainstream” society. And Conservative, begun by defining itself as what it was not (namely Orthodox OR Reform) still has a long way to go before it can really claim a statement as to its purpose.
The thing about Conservative Judaism is that the people — the majority, that is — are not as observant as the rabbis and their families. I was talking to a friend about this and he quipped that it’s like Catholicism — the priests are expected to be more pious and holy than the lay community. This is a sentiment equally evident in Conservative Judaism.
I’m not putting down Conservative Jews or the movement, I’m exploring, developing, growing in my practice and my personal identification — having a “crisis” of self, as it were. And in this process, I find myself reading — a lot — about what is going on within the movements, how they are growing and changing and what they are doing to retain “members.” I admire those founders of the Chavurah movement “within” the Conservative movement, because they are maintaining a type of membership while practicing the observance that they expect the rabbis to according to halachic rulings.
But perhaps this is meant for a post. I’m keeping tabs on my exploration and ideas over on my personal blog.
Anyhow. Shalom, friends!
Chavi
Hi Chavi,
I didn’t think you were putting Conservative Judaism down… I just wanted to point out that the confusion is widespread :)! And frankly, you investing the amount of time and study in to these things as you are is a great example for everyone I think.
I will be interested in your future observations!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yair
Chavi:
I am also reading “The Conservative Movement in Judaism” and I agree with much of what it has to say about the Conservative Movement. If there was a chavurah located near me I would join it as I definitely feel the tension between the elite and the mass at my shul.
The more I learn about Masorti, the more I feel that I am closer to them theologically than the Conservative Movement. The Masorti are more traditional - yet egalitarian - than the Conservative Movement and I find that more appealing. When I finally make aliyah I would feel at home in a Masorti congregation (probably more so than I do in my current Conservative shul).
As for your second post — I find this to be accurate in (at least many) Conservative Judaism. The rabbis/cantors are expected to be very strict in halachah but the fact that many of the laypeople are not is overlooked. I have been trying to become more observant but it is difficult if the rabbi/cantor are already very busy and the laypeople are unwilling or unable to assist a fellow congregant.
Yair:
I don’t think there are more than a couple dozen or so who officially affiliate with the UTJ. Yes, originally it was simply an off-shoot of Conservative Judaism but it eventually completely broke away from it.