New American Jewish Committee Publication Looks At Masorti Judaism In Israel

American Jewish Committee
Wednesday, 3 February 1999

The recent politicization of religion in Israel -- in particular the highly-charged issue of "Who is a Jew?" and the Religious Councils Bill -- has left little room for legitimate debate on the nature of Jewish identity in the Jewish State. Orthodox Jews have vociferously staked their moral, cultural and religious claims. Can Conservative Judaism in Israel bridge the gap between secular and religious Jews, between commitment to Jewish tradition and to modern values?

A new joint publication released by the American Jewish Committee and the Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People of Bar-Ilan University -- "The Shaping of Masorti Judaism in Israel" -- examines these and other issues. The 40-page publication was written by Rabbi Harvey Meirovich, author and teacher of Bible, Midrash and modern Jewish thought at the Schecter Institute of Jewish Studies, the Hebrew University, and the David Yellin Teachers' College in Jerusalem. This paper is the seventh in a joint series commissioned and published by AJC's Institute on American Jewish - Israeli Relations and the Argov Center to examine issues affecting American Jewry and Israel, documenting the ties and tensions that engage the world's two largest Jewish communities.

The Masorti movement was incorporated in 1979 after decades of failed attempts at launching Israel-based Conservative Judaism. Initially, the movement sought to broaden its base of support by tapping into the pockets of Conservative Jews in America and their parent organizations -- the Jewish Theological Seminary, the United Synagogue of America, and the Rabbinical Assembly of America. After a few years, however, primary funding for the movement shifted to the Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, whose board members represented the major national organizations of the Conservative Movement in North America, with fundraising coordinated with the campaign and development departments of the JTS.

In 1984, a new Conservative "player" arrived on the Israeli scene -- the Seminary of Judaic Studies (Bet Midrash, known since 1998 as the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies). It was to operate as a graduate school to train Masorti rabbis and educators to serve Israeli society.

"It is crucial to understand the Seminary's sentiments toward the movement and the Bet Midrash," writes Rabbi Meirovich. "[Seminary] Chancellor Ismar Schorsch argued that Jewish identity in Israel was vastly different from that in America. In Israel, Jewish identity was a function of nationality and citizenship. It was given through birth or immigration and was secular in character. American Jewish identity, however, was essentially religious in character and had to be created actively. If it were not fashioned, it simply would not exist.

"The creation of Jewish identity in America was a heroic venture that called for sustained work. This was why the synagogue was so vital, as the most effective vehicle for shaping and transmitting Jewish identity outside a Jewish polity. In Israel, the synagogue was insignificant because it contributed nothing to Jewish identity. Even worse, Schorsch argued, it was actively avoided and abhorred by most Israelis because of the negative baggage that Judaism as a religion carried for Israel's overwhelmingly secular population. The vast majority of Israelis had been stripped of their Judaism by two factors absent in America: the state was founded in rebellion against the Judaism of Eastern Europe, and the resurgence of ultra-Orthodoxy had reinvigorated an anti-religious animus among the secular population….

"The urgent question was how to address this calamity for the well-being of individual Israelis, for the welfare of Israeli-Diaspora relations, and for the long-term survival of Jewishness in Israel itself."

The AJC booklet further examines the significance of the TALI (enrichment of Jewish studies) school system, which was developed in the mid-to-late 1970s by Masorti Jews who made aliyah in the decade following the Six-Day War. Representing a radical innovation within Israel's secular educational system, TALI balanced a child's general education with a serious grounding in Judaic content, and brought the intellectual and religious orientation of Masorti Judasim to the attention of a much broader Israeli constituency. The first TALI school opened in 1976 with 33 students registered in the first three grades. By the mid 1990s it boasted some 600 pupils from preschool through grade 12. As a direct result of the indifference and even outright hostility displayed by Orthodox personnel within the Ministry of Education, a specialized foundation was established to procure independent funding.

In 1994, the Shenhar Report, a government commissioned education study, implicitly concluded that "the real existential challenge to Jewish survival in Israel no longer emanated from external enemies but from an inability to convince the next generation of Israeli children that Jewish learning and living were relevant options in their lives….

"TALI educators recognized that religious ritual was problematic for individuals coming from nonobservant backgrounds. The understanding was that each child, in deciding the nature and extent of his or her Jewish commitment, should do so not out of indifference, alienation, and apathy, but on the basis of knowledge, firsthand experience, and some measure of positive identification."

The effects of "Who is a Jew?" and related matters of Orthodox control over issues of personal status in Israel "produced an unprecedented backlash, especially in the Diaspora," the AJC report notes.

Regarding the proposed conversion law of 1996, "Conservative (Masorti) reaction was unequivocal on both sides of the Atlantic, sharply criticizing the government for agreeing, in principle, to sacrifice the legitimacy of non-Orthodox religious movements for short-term political gain." American Conservative and Reform leaders argued that Israel had a responsibility to Jews in the Diaspora, and not just Jews of Orthodox persuasion. The government of Israel, they asserted, was in effect declaring the inauthenticity of American synagogue life.

In looking to the future of Masorti Judaism, the publication stresses that it is not government policy as much as public attitudes that create obstacles to Conservative Judaism in Israel. "Israelis view non-Orthodox models of Judaism as inauthentic versions of the 'real' thing. They simply do not understand the pluralistic, egalitarian, and experimental character of American Judaism; nor do they appreciate why American Jews (and their Israeli counterparts) have so considerably altered traditional Judaism as Israelis know it….Even those who reject tradition in their own lives, or choose what to observe, nevertheless believe 'the religious tradition itself is fixed.'

"To make matters worse, most Israelis equate the two non-Orthodox movments. Though a willingness exists within the Masorti ranks to work together with Reform on cooperative ventures, there is persistent Masorti resistance to amalgamation of the two movements….The main stumbling block to religious union is reform Judaism's rejection of Jewish law in favor of individual choice. The Masorti view, in contrast, is that both tradition and change are necessary for a living Judaism."

In the foreword to the report, Dr. Steven Bayme, director of AJC's Institute on American Jewish - Israeli Relations, and Dr. Charles Liebman, director of the Argov Center, note that Conservative Judaism "holds the middle ground in American religious life, between Orthodoxy and Reform….Conservative Judasim has indeed become the 'third way' for American Jews."

The success of Conservative institutions in Israel, they add, depends on "its ability to convince large numbers of nonreligious Israelis, who identify Jewishly with a secular state and its culture, that religion is a core dimension of Jewishness and that the Jewish religion speaks to their spiritual needs."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org