JewsByChoice.Org

Bearing in mind that we’ve recently had a couple of posts here on the blog about making aliyah. I thought I would share this recent Forward article titled “Breaking Orthodox Monopoly, Israeli Reform and Conservative Congregations Get Government Land Grants” with our readers. It’s not directly about aliyah but it touches on one of the most important issues (IMO as a Conservative Jew) on the subject. Namely, the public funding and by extension legitimacy of Non-Orthodox stream of Judaism in Israel.

Here are a few snippets from the article which I found to be both interesting and ‘potentially’ promising regarding the future of liberal Judaism in Israel.

Modi’in, Israel — For the first time in Israel’s history, the Orthodox monopoly on state provision for prayer facilities has been broken, as land and premises have been assigned to congregations run by the Reform and Conservative movements.

These movements are heralding the development as far more than a financial coup: They describe it as a small step toward their recognition as legitimate streams of Judaism in Israel.

“This claims moral ground for these movements, and moral ground is important for them. It is not just a matter of money, but a symbol of legitimacy for non-Orthodox Judaism,” said Bar-Ilan University sociologist Ephraim Tabory, who is researching the standing of Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel.

In Israel, there is no separation of religion and state comparable with what exists in the United States and in other Western democracies. The Chief Rabbinate is an arm of the government, and the state maintains a network of religious institutions that includes seminaries and cultural organizations as well as synagogues. Since the establishment of the state, Orthodox institutions have jealously guarded their status as the only state-funded Jewish religious organizations. Orthodox rabbis have been insistent that only they should be eligible for state-salaried rabbinical positions.

In addition to funding for these purposes, the state sets aside at least one plot of land in every Jewish neighborhood for religious use. There, it funds the building of a synagogue that is turned over to a congregation — always an Orthodox one, until now.

The Reform and Conservative movements have succeeded, despite frequent resistance from local authorities, in establishing small networks of congregations in Israel in recent years, all funded privately. In all, the two movements have some 79 congregations around the country — 29 Reform and 50 Conservative. This is the first time, however, that non-Orthodox congregations have secured public funding.

And further into the article.

In June 2006, after much encouragement from the Housing Ministry, the municipality agreed that two of the 10 state-built synagogues in the city should be given over to non-Orthodox congregations — one Reform and one Conservative. Satisfied with this arrangement, in March 2008 the petitioners dropped their case.

“This is equality,” declared Iri Kassel, executive director of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, at the May opening of the building for Modi’in’s Congregation Yozma (“Initiative”).

“We broke a monopoly and brought about a development that is historic for the State of Israel,” the congregation’s rabbi, Kinneret Shiryon — Israel’s first woman rabbi — told the Forward.

You can read the article in its entirety here! Which by the way I recommend doing!

Between this and the current Conversion issues going on in Israel, I continue to feel optimistic that some fairly significant and I might add positive changes may indeed be on the horizon in Israel.

Anyhow, like I have said above and elsewhere on the blog, it looks like there might be some positive changes on the way but I for one remain cautious about things.

Speaking for myself (and only myself,) I just don’t have any serious interest in making aliyah until the Orthodox monopoly has been broken and the liberal streams (read as Conservative and Reform) have been sufficiently supported and recognized by the State of Israel. I in all honesty lead a very full and satisfying life (Jewishly speaking) here in LA and until things change in Israel I am perfectly happy to stay put!! Of course having said that things do seem to be looking much better in Israel these days.