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LIBERALS WORRY COALITION DEAL
WILL BOOST ORTHODOX MONOPOLOLY
by Ami Eden
Forward, August 13, 2004
As Israel's Labor Party negotiates to join Ariel Sharon's governing
coalition, Reform and Conservative leaders are urging the party to stand
firm against ultra-Orthodox demands over issues of religious pluralism and
civil marriage.
The president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, sent
a letter August 10 to Labor leader Shimon Peres asking that "no support be
given in this agreement to legislation that will ignite religious tensions
in the Jewish world, and that no actions be taken that will discriminate
against Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel or the Diaspora."
"At a moment when our attention as a people should be focused on
fighting terror and securing peace in Israel," Yoffie wrote, "surely it is
in the interest of the Jewish state to avoid taking any steps that would
divide us from one another or that would send a message to millions of
Reform and Conservative Jews that their Judaism is seen as inauthentic by
Israel's leaders."
Leaders of the Israeli branches of the Reform and Conservative
movements have delivered similar messages during the past week in meetings
with Labor lawmakers. Representatives of both synagogue movements say their
chief fear is that Prime Minister Sharon is prepared to jettison the
secularist Shinui Party in his effort to woo United Torah Judaism, an
ultra-Orthodox party that opposes fervently any recognition of the more
liberal religious streams.
Over the past 18 months, while Shinui has served as a partner in
Sharon's Likud-led coalition, Israel has enacted several church-state
reforms and begun formulating a plan to permit civil unions. But Torah
Judaism negotiators are reportedly demanding that the reforms be reversed,
and that any coalition agreement with Likud explicitly forbid government
discussion on introducing civil marriage or ending the ultra-Orthodox
population's blanket exemption from army service.
Reform and Conservative leaders say they find themselves in the
position of supporting Sharon's bid to construct a coalition to implement
his disengagement plan, while fearing their other interests will be
sacrificed in the process.
Particularly frustrating, they say, has been the
failure of Labor leaders to speak up during the coalition talks in support
of religious pluralism issues, or even the cause of civil unions, which is
seen as affecting the wider Israeli society, not only the relatively small
number of Reform and Conservative adherents.
In his letter to Peres, Yoffie wrote: "The Reform movement is fully
supportive of your desire to move the withdrawal plan forward; we are
sympathetic, as well, to the views that you have expressed urging the
withdrawal to be carried out in such a way that it enhances moderation in
the Palestinian community, encourages a renewal of negotiations, and
generally strengthens the peace process."
In an interview, Yoffie noted that Peres has eloquently supported
religious pluralism before Reform audiences, and he praised the Labor
Party's official platform on the issue. But while "they proclaim principles
that are very close to our own," Yoffie said, "on the implementation side
they are quite low on [Labor's] priority list."
He added: "The dramatic rise
of Shinui, and the price which that extracted from Labor has not led to any
re-evaluation. It is a source of disappointment and contrary to the party's
own self-interest."
Shinui, led by Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, rocked the political
landscape in 2003 by capturing 15 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and becoming
the country's third-largest party, behind Likud with 40 seats and Labor with
21.
Shinui's success was attributed widely to the failure of the two major
parties to address the unhappiness of Israel's nonobservant majority over
the perceived influence of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, parties. Some
analysts also said Shinui picked up a major share of Labor's traditional
base of middle-class Ashkenazic Jews.
Lapid, trumpeting the cause of secular Israelis, vowed that Shinui
would never join a coalition that included an ultra-Orthodox party. The
Cabinet that he joined included the National Religious Party, which is
considered Modern Orthodox rather than Haredi.
In the current coalition talks, Sharon could theoretically forge a
stable Likud-Labor-Shinui coalition with 76 Knesset seats. In practice, the
premier is under pressure from lawmakers in his own party to bring in at
least one religious faction in order to avoid forming an all-secular
government in which the Likud is the right flank.
Lapid has agreed in principle to stay in the coalition even if UTJ
joins, backing away from his long-standing vow not to sit with Haredim. At
press time, however, Torah Judaism's position on army deferrals and civil
marriage seemed likely to force Sharon to choose between the two parties.
With Sharon seen preparing to dump Shinui, Israel Reform and
Conservative leaders began meeting with Labor officials last week to urge
them to safeguard the church-state gains of the past 18 months. After one
such meeting last week, Labor lawmaker Ofer Pines-Paz sent his own letter to
Peres, urging the party to raise the issue in coalition talks, sources said.
But so far, according to Rabbi Gilad Kariv, an Israeli Reform
official, and Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of the Masorti or Israeli
Conservative movement, the liberal religious streams have made no headway
with Peres or any of Labor's other coalition negotiators.
For Reform and Conservative leaders, the key gains in the coalition
agreement were pledges to dismantle the Orthodox-controlled Religious
Affairs Ministry and the related network of local religious council, to
create a mechanism for civil unions and to repeal the Tal Bill, which
upholds ultra-Orthodox draft deferments. The ministry was dismantled, and
the combined government allocations to Orthodox institutions were slashed by
about one-third, Kariv said.
As for civil unions, a multiparty commission was established to
examine the issue, led by Likud lawmaker Roni Bar-On. Hundreds of thousands
of Israeli citizens, mostly from the former Soviet Union, currently are
unable to wed in a state-sanctioned ceremony in Israel since no option for
civil marriage exists and the Chief Rabbinate does not recognize their
Jewish status.
Just weeks ago, Kariv said, the Bar-On commission was close to
completing a plan for civic unions. Under the proposal, Israelis could
choose to be married by an Orthodox rabbi or enter into a civil union, with
identical legal and financial rights.
The Bar-On commission has stalled, however, since Sharon began his
coalition reshuffling efforts last month. Torah Judaism leaders reportedly
are insisting that both civil unions and draft deferments be taken off the
table.
Reform and Conservative leaders say they do not object to UTJ having
its way on draft deferments. Yoffie and Bandel both indicated that civil
marriage was the key issue on which they opposed concessions. Kariv also
cited the scrapping of the Religious Affairs Ministry and cutting funds to
Orthodox institutions.
"I prefer a situation where we get our equal allocation," Kariv said.
"But if this is not the situation, I prefer none of us" receive government
funds.
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