North American Immigrants Making Significant Impact On Orthodox In Israel

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 8 November 1999

North American immigrants, though small in numbers, have made a significant impact on Orthodox society and institutions in Israel, according to a new report published jointly by the American Jewish Committee and Bar-Ilan University's Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People.

The North American Impact on Israeli Orthodoxy is the third in a series of AJC publications on religious streams in Israel. Publications released earlier this year explored the Reform and Conservative, or Masorti, movements in Israel. The series is a joint project of AJC and the Argov Center.

While immigrants to Israel from the United States and Canada make up just 2 percent of Israel's population, more than 80 percent of these newcomers are Orthodox.

From educational institutions to synagogue congregations established by North American immigrants, a worldview held by these Orthodox Jews is making a mark. These American Orthodox immigrants generally are open to the world at large, including the secular sector of Israeli society, egalitarian attitudes toward women, and the vision of a broad-based Jewish community that provides much more—culturally, educationally and socially—than just prayer and ritual.

"American influence is evident in the most exciting educational ventures in Israel today, which seek to play the same bridging function there that Modern Orthodox played in the United States," Dr. Steven Bayme, Director of AJC's Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, and Dr. Charles Liebman, Director of the Argov Center, write in the foreword to The North American Impact on Israeli Orthodoxy.

The influence of North American immigrants becomes more important as the "gap between sabra and North American Orthodox attitudes towards secular culture has widened in recent years as Israeli Orthodoxy has turned more extreme," writes Yair Sheleg, a journalist with the Israeli daily Ha'aretz and author of the report.

"Sheleg's study shows that most Orthodox American immigrants do not fit the stereotype of extremists fostered by the influence of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane," said Dr. Bayme.

Among Sheleg's findings of North American influence on Orthodoxy in Israel:

- Educational institutions, such as the Pardes, Gesher and Hartman Institutes, and the Ohr Torah network of schools were founded and are led and staffed by Orthodox rabbis an educators who came from America. This kind of enlightened Orthodoxy can translate the beauties of Jewish tradition to a predominantly secular Israeli public, thus strengthening ties among all Jews.

- North American immigrants are financially well off, and, thus, this community has been a key financial backer of Orthodox institutions in the country, giving far more, proportionately, than native-born Israelis or immigrants from any other Diaspora.

- American Orthodox Jews played a central role in the founding and early years of Bar-Ilan University, a religious university located near Tel Aviv, though over the years the American Orthodox role on the board of trustees has diminished significantly.

- North American immigrants have been at the forefront of virtually every drive to found Orthodox congregations in Israel that afford a degree of equality between men and women. "American-oriented" institutions pioneered advanced Torah study for women. In recent years, women's Torah study has extended beyond the "American" community, and now encompasses quite a few institutions of singularly sabra character.

- With the immigration of American Orthodox Jews the idea of synagogue as community center has spread. "American-style" synagogues, providing for worship, adult education, group excursions, community celebrations, youth programs and involvement of the rabbi in the personal lives of congregants, have become a widespread phenomenon in Israel.

"Clearly American Orthodoxy and its attitudes have made inroads in the native Orthodox community of Israel," writes Mr. Sheleg.

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