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LOCAL MASORTI MOVEMENT PLEASE 'HELP US!'
by Mati Wagner, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 21, 2004
The Israeli Masorti (Conservative) Movement complained on Monday that it is in severe financial straits because its parent organization in the US is failing to support it.
"A medium-sized Conservative shul in the US has a larger budget than we do," said Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of the Masorti Movement in Israel, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
"We are chronically scratching the maximum overdraft limit of NIS 2 million provided by the bank," said Bandel. "We've had to delay payment of salaries three times recently."
Although the Conservative Movement is probably the single largest and most influential Jewish religious stream in the US, the Israeli Masorti Movement subsists on an annual budget of just $2.4m., 10 percent of which is funded locally.
Bandel says he makes five trips to the US every year to raise money, but the results are disappointing. "I try to explain to them that the future of Conservative Judaism relies on their support," he said.
In response to a query by the Post, Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the New York-based International Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement, explained US Conservative Jewry's apparent parsimony.
"I agree that it is amazing and I believe it is going to change in coming months," he said. "But you must understand that the Conservative Movement is special in the sense that it is not as internally focused as Reform and Orthodox Jewry.
"For us communal life is equivalent to a mitzva. No other religious movement is so involved in such a wide range of Jewish-related activities such as the Jewish Federation, Hadassah and various philanthropies.
"We are an extremely external-focused movement with many responsibilities. As a result we have a lot of financial obligations. But the [Conservative] rabbinate is keenly aware of the problem and plans to mobilize its congregation."
Bandel said that according to a recent survey of US Jewry, out of a total of 40% who defined themselves as "affiliated" 39% were Conservative.
Meyers said that there are 750 Conservative synagogues across the US. He agreed that "those with a membership of more than 400 families" have a larger budget than the entire Masorti Movement in Israel.
Bandel says 4,000 families pay annual dues. Another 4,000 celebrate bar and bat mitzvas and circumcisions, or participate in High Holy Day services.
He said that many more identify with the basic principles of the Masorti Movement. "But we don't have the funds to reach out to these people," he said.
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