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THE MASORTI CHOICE
Jerusalem Post, Oct. 24, 2004
Last week, for the first time after four grueling years of war, leaders of Conservative (Masorti) Jewry asked their congregations to insert a special Israel-related prayer. They could have long since designed a plea for the victims of Palestinian terrorism or beseeched God to deliver Israel from the precipice of civil war. Instead they asked God "to nullify the actions and words of those spewing hatred against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."
It's a laudable supplication, but the fact that the movement was stirred to action only now, and over this issue, gives it a rather partisan nature – which in turn seems to confirm the partisan orientation of the Masorti leadership here. And that overt orientation is a key factor in thwarting the movement's ambition to claim the allegiance of that large number of Israelis who are fed up with the toxic mix of politics and religion.
The movement's president, Rabbi Ehud Bandel, is a former Meretz activist; its rabbinical assembly director, Andrew Sacks, is a Rabbis for Human Rights advocate; a leading pulpit rabbi opposes the security fence because of the hardships it will cause Palestinians. If there are other Masorti leaders with more diverse affiliations, they are certainly not as prominent or active.
Last week in downtown Jerusalem, the movement dedicated a new center aimed at making the Masorti stream a more visible presence. As Rabbi James Lebeau, director of the United Synagogue Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, explains, "We're trying to make Conservative Judaism a viable option for non-Orthodox Israelis, and having a complex like this gives us more exposure."
Even putting politics aside, the movement faces a daunting challenge. Most Israelis are "nonpracticing Orthodox," secular, or entirely alienated from the rich heritage of Jewish civilization. Many are religiously illiterate. Others seek spiritual succor in places beyond Judaism.
Israelis who find state-funded Orthodoxy unappealing are often still unaware that there are other religious Jewish alternatives. That's ironic for the Masorti movement. Since, whatever their level of observance, many Israelis like to think of themselves as "masorti" or traditional, the Conservative approach should, theoretically, speak directly to such centrist traditionalism.
Tellingly, the movement did not develop as a breakaway from Orthodoxy, but as a reaction to the liberal drift of Reform. Of the three major streams in Judaism, the Conservative movement was the first to embrace political Zionism. Unlike Orthodoxy and Reform, it never harbored out-and-out anti-Zionist sentiment.
So why does a movement which combines tradition and Halacha, which has an "open and positive approach to the modern world," and which embraces both democracy and Zionism, have so hard a time convincing average Israelis to join its ranks?
The non-centrist politics with which some of its leaders are associated is part of the equation; Masorti's de-facto alignment with non-halachic Reform Judaism in challenging the religious status quo is another.
But the most significant reason the movement has failed to gain a legitimate foothold in Israel is the stranglehold Orthodoxy enjoys as the official state religion. Since Masorti rabbis cannot marry, bury, divorce, or convert people, the movement remains on the periphery of society.
Despite all this, the movement today boasts 53 congregations nationwide. And it is thanks to the Masorti movement that religious studies are being taught to youngsters at 140 secular schools. Regrettably, the parents of these youngsters have not generally been attracted to affiliate with the movement, but without "Tali" these students would receive no religious education at all.
At the same time, increasing numbers of boys and girls are experiencing meaningful bar and bat mitzvas in Masorti congregations. Many couples who go abroad to be married in civil ceremonies now have follow-up religious weddings conducted by Masorti rabbis.
The more unaffiliated – especially small-"c"-conservative Sephardi – sabras are exposed to the Masorti approach to such milestone occasions, the more they may be willing to accept the movement's non-Orthodox ideas about egalitarian prayer and mixed seating.
Lack of money and a highly inhospitable political environment notwithstanding, therefore, Masorti Judaism has already made positive inroads. And its reasonable halachic approach to conversion could also offer practical answers to that key conundrum.
Plainly, the movement has the potential to fill a societal need for halachic-based Judaism without coercion. Let its leaders make that their prime focus, rather than the kind of partisan politics that, however deeply felt, has, after all, soured so many Israelis on Orthodox Judaism.
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