Stand Up for Reform Judaism in Israel!

The IRAC (Israel Religious Action Centre) of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism has prepared a petition which will be sent to President Shimon Peres. The petition calls for the State of Israel to officially recognize Rabbi Miri Gold, who serves as the Rabbi of Birkat Shalom congregation in Kibbutz Gezer.

If you’ve no wish to read any further, please click here to be taken to the online petition. You can sign up for the interesting and informative weekly IRAC e-newsletter (The Pluralist) at the same time.

For those who want the complete story, here it is as per the official IRAC petition website. I think it’s important enough to be quoted in full:

Rabbi Miri Gold has served as the Rabbi of Birkat Shalom congregation in Kibbutz Gezer since her ordination as a Reform Rabbi by the Hebrew Union College in 1999. 16 other local rabbis serve the area of the Gezer regional council and receive a State salary. Rabbi Miri Gold, who serves the entire region, is not recognized by the State because she is a Reform rabbi. Out of the thousands of rabbis recognized by the State of Israel there is not a single Reform rabbi!

It is time for a change – it is time for recognition!

In 2005 The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court through the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), demanding that Rabbi Miri Gold is recognized by the State. The court has ordered the State to present the criteria according to which rabbis are recognized. To this day the State has not replied. This fall we hope that the State will present an equal and just set of criteria, such that is accepted by the Supreme Court.

Recognition of Rabbi Miri Gold by the State of Israel means a true breakthrough, a precedent leading to the recognition of hundreds of rabbis from liberal streams in Judaism. Please join the struggle and sign this petition.

We, too, are Jewish. We, too, deserve Rabbis

A call for the State of Israel to officially recognize Rabbi Miri Gold

We the undersigned believe the time is long overdue for our nation to recognize that there is more than one way to practice Judaism and to acknowledge the value and importance of supporting spiritual leaders of all denominations to the stability and growth of our communities and our quality of life.

Whereas

1. Despite being the most popular and effective rabbi in the Gezer region, Rabbi Miri Gold is the only one who does not receive a salary from the State;
2. Rabbi Gold is denied equal status solely because she is female and Reform;
3. In 2005 Rabbi Gold, along with the Israel Religious Action Center, petitioned the Supreme Court for recognition, however the Court has repeatedly delayed making a decision.;
4. Though only 17% of Jews in Israel identify as Orthodox and 12% as traditional, Orthodox rabbis are the only ones recognized, and therefore, funded by the government.; and
5. The spiritual needs of 71% of Israelis are going unmet and even being denied, a form of brazen discrimination against liberal Jews.

Therefore - We urgently call on you to

1. Recognize immediately Miri Gold as an official rabbi of the Gezer Community and
2. Apply government funding to support the work of Rabbi Miri Gold and her peers, and to equally support all streams of Judaism in the spirit of Klal Yisrael, thereby fulfilling the religious pluralism and freedom that should be the hallmarks of the only Jewish and democratic state.

Even if you’ve never signed another online petition in your life, please sign this one!

IRAC - Petition

Impressions of Limmud South Africa 2008

It’s almost a week since Limmud SA’s 2008 all-day session on Sunday, 31 August. I don’t think I’ve digested the whole experience yet, but I just wanted to capture some comments and impressions before they dissipate in the heat of other priorities.

I haven’t seen any official statistics yet, but the event was well attended; I would venture to say very well attended. I’m guessing that 2007’s attendance figures (as well as the estimates for 2008) were exceeded by a comfortable margin. There was also a “vibe”, a “buzz”, something that wouldn’t show up in the numbers.

In a previous post, I discussed the SA Orthodox rabbinate’s decision to boycott Limmud. I experienced Limmud as a festival, a celebration of Jewish culture and learning, exploration and discovery. Quite frankly, I can’t see how they could have added value, while their disapproving presence would have just soured the event for many. I look forward to their absence from next year’s event as well. (The boycott was the subject of one of the sessions, but quite frankly I wasn’t that interested.)

The standard of the sessions was exceptionally high. I only attended one lecture that disappointed somewhat (no names, no pack drill). I came away with a whole lot of new insights, like Gershom Gorenberg’s observation about the “division of duties” between the observant and the secular, with the former attending to ritual while the latter have adopted social justice as their “observance”. Needless to say, I believe the latter is the authentic Jewish way…

Now we just need some sort of “virtual presence” mode, so we can attend all the sessions, instead of having to choose between them. (That’s a joke.)

There was also a marvelous full-day track for kids. Unfortunately we’d already made other arrangements for our daughter, because I know the activities would have been right up her street. We’ll know for next time.

Talking about next time, reminder to self: take along a backpack or day pack to hold all the usual conference stuff, and still have both hands free (when exploring the shuq, for instance).

The event was run entirely by volunteers and was, to my mind, extremely well organized. I have no criticisms to make; just a couple of suggestions for the future that I hope to pass onto them for next year:

The ecological footprint of the event was probably relatively small. One thing I did notice, though (at both the refreshment stations and the cafeteria), was “genuine” garbage, leftover food and the plastic crockery/cutlery disappearing into the same garbage bags. If there was any intention of recycling, this would obviously make it a whole lot more difficult and unpleasant. I would suggest setting up (assisted?) stations where delegates can scrape leftovers into one receptacle and drop recyclables into another.

The final programme distributed on registration included times, speakers, subjects, rooms, etc., but just not the “track”, e.g. Art & Culture, Spirituality, Torah. This was only included in the Conference 2008 Handbook. Please could we have the track on the programme as well? Perhaps also include a version or release number on the programme, so delegates can ensure they’re referring to the latest.

One of the spinoffs of Limmud for me is that I’ve resolved to attend at least two Jewish cultural or educational events each month. They’re out there, usually free, usually of a high standard. You just have to make the effort to attend.

Kol Hakavod to everyone involved in either organizing or sponsoring this event. May it go from strength to strength in South Africa. We really need the break from the drabness, dourness and sameness that is increasingly characterizing Jewish society here.

p.s. I’ve sometimes wondered whether I’m imagining it, but this time I took careful note: Jews will stop anywhere, anytime and have a conversation! On the stairs, in a doorway, in the middle of passage, you name it. Fortunately we all managed to get to our destinations eventually…

Technorati Tags: Boycott Limmud, Jewish cultural educational events, Jewish pluralism, Limmud SA 2008, Limmud South Africa 2008, SA Jewish society, SA Orthodox rabbinate

Reform rabbis ordained in Holland for the first time

According to this recent JTA Breaking News item,

Reform [Liberal] rabbis were ordained in Holland for the first time.

The Robert A. Levisson Institute ordained its first five graduates Wednesday at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of the Liberal Jewish Congregation in The Hague.

…The new rabbis are all Holland residents who took part in the five-year, part-time rabbinical program while continuing in other careers.

Lilienthal … told JTA his dream was to encourage people from Holland who wished to pursue rabbinical studies but could not afford to do so abroad.

There are some 40,000 Jews in Holland today, and about 4,000 are members of Reform congregations, Lilienthal said.

As someone who believes that the progressive streams of Judaism are our best hope for salvaging something from Judaism for the benefit of Jews and humanity as a whole, I was very pleased to see that one more community is beginning to embrace Reform to some degree.

That these graduates took part in a “five-year, part-time rabbinical program while continuing in other careers” impresses me even more, and tells us something about the character of those who took part.

Should this additional load really be necessary, however? Shouldn’t the progressive community globally take more of an interest in the education and training of rabbinical candidates everywhere in the world? Doesn’t the progressive community command the resources to be able to provide full-time training of rabbinical candidates (in the language of the target community), preferably without burdening the students with massive study loans?

Perhaps the WUPJ should be granted a more generous budget - subsidised by its wealthier member communities (countries) – in order to sponsor programs to develop and support fledgling communities or, as in this case, fledgling spiritual leadership cadres.

In a previous post, I expressed my shock and disappointment with those Reform Jews who support Chabad financially, despite all the accounts of Chabad delegitimizing Reform and its adherents. Perhaps those benefactors could be persuaded to instead channel their financial support into initiatives such as this?

Please read the full (brief) item for more of the background. The story will also be covered in the WUPJ Newsletter in due course.

Technorati Tags: Dutch Reform (Liberal) Jewish community, Liberal Jewish Congregation The Hague, Progressive Judaism, Reform [Liberal] rabbis, Robert A. Levisson Institute, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)