AJCommittee Adopts Forceful Resolution Calling For A Protection Of Religious Pluralism And A Reversal Of Negative Trends Regarding The Religious Establishment In Israel

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 13 May 1997

The American Jewish Committee, in a policy statement adopted by its Board of Governors on May 7, 1997, expressed serious concern regarding negative trends affecting the religious establishment in Israel and affecting religious pluralism.

The "Resolution on Religious Pluralism in Israel" was adopted during a session of AJC's 91st Annual Meeting, which took place May 7 - 9 in Washington, DC. The text of AJC's resolution affirms:

"Acquiescence in the demands of the religious parties to confirm and extend the monopolistic hold of the Orthodox rabbinate on the religious life of Israel, as evidenced most recently by support for the pending conversion bill, is having profound, long-term, adverse effects on the well-being of the Jewish people. So, too, is intolerant and inflammatory language from extremists on all sides.

"Measures and rhetoric that question the legitimacy of the religious life of the overwhelming majority of committed American Jews cause grave offense and thereby erode the bonds that have tied the minds and hearts of American Jews to Israel. Further, the use of the religious establishment as a tool of partisan politics is damaging both Judaism and democracy. These developments will over time separate Israel and Israelis from the prevailing currents of Jewish life, culture and thought in the Diaspora. Unless reversed, the attempt to imprison religious expression in Israel within the confines of a state-imposed orthodoxy will not only engender conflict among Israelis but will alienate the Diaspora, making Israel - however large its population and sacred its soil - progressively less relevant to Jews everywhere else.

"For the sake of Jewish unity, for the sake of the future of Judaism and the Jewish people, for the sake of the vital role that Israel must play in the future of world Jewry we call for a reversal of this trend.

"We call on the Knesset to refrain from enacting the pending conversion bill.

"We call upon all concerned Jews in Israel, America and elsewhere in the Diaspora to participate actively in public discussion of these matters and to educate the Israeli public regarding the issues at stake.

"We call on the Government of Israel to consult closely with representatives of all major religious streams of the Diaspora in the interest of protecting the religious pluralism that is essential to a vital and creative Jewish future.

"We call for an Israel that is hospitable to all expressions of Judaism. That is the Zion of which we have dreamed and for which we have labored."

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