In this month's edition:               

1. From the editor’s table
2. Masorti at the GA
3. News from NOAM
4. Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child director to receive Liebhaber prize
5. Marom joins forces with Hillel House
6. Rabbi Reuven Hammer featured in the Forward 50 list
7. Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child meets Garin Nahal
8. Contact information and subscriptions
   

From the editor's table

I have been involved in Jewish communal life, in Israel, Great Britain and Brazil, since as far back as I care to remember.  My parents brought me up to appreciate the importance of community, especially within the Jewish context.  However, it was not until I had the privilege to take part in the General Assembly of the North American United Jewish Communities, held last month in Jerusalem, that I learnt how strong this community can be.

It is this very strength, which many North American Jews take for granted, that can serve as an example for Israel.  I attended the Rabbinical Awards Luncheon, at which the UJC honored rabbis from all streams of Judaism; various panels included leading figures from the different denominations; delegates could participate in both egalitarian and Orthodox prayer services.  These are examples of how Jewish communal life should be run, with the strength that not only accepts diversity, but is derived from its very essence.

Here in Israel, there are still many sectors within our society that need to learn that true strength will only come from mutual respect and acceptance.  This is perhaps most apparent in our struggle for State acceptance of Masorti/Conservative Judaism, but also holds true in many other walks of life in Israel.

Mikie Goldstein
Resource Development Director

Masorti at the GA

The General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities, held in the middle of November, was perhaps the largest convention to take place in Jerusalem, this year.  It was heartwarming to see the hotels full, shops and cafes doing a brisk trade, scores of tourist buses plowing the city – even if it was only for one week.

For Israeli organizations, this was a chance to meet our North American sisters and brothers – an opportunity that we at Masorti had the pleasure of sharing.  Thanks to the generosity of the Jewish Theological Seminary , who had a stand in the exhibition area, we were able to fly the Masorti flag and disseminate material at the GA.  The JTS stand also served as a meeting point for people interested in Masorti and other branches of Conservative Judaism.

While normally the UJC tends to shy away from supposedly divisive issues that could damage unity, the subject of religious pluralism was raised at this year's GA.  In a session entitled, Traditional and Non-Traditional Paths to Deepening Jewish Spiritual Connection in Israel , the panel of speakers included, among others, Rabbi Dr. Einat Ramon, of the Masorti Movement, and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Orthodox chief rabbi of Efrat.  Rabbi Riskin claimed that the question of streams in Judaism was irrelevant to Israeli society.  However, Rabbi Ramon stated that more and more Israelis were demanding a more meaningful Judaism, representing an alternative to the monopoly of the Orthodox rabbinic establishment.

Another session, entitled Navigating the Road: Strategies for Diversifying Leadership , raised the need to expand community leadership and open doors to include "outsider" groups. Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of the  Masorti Movement , a participant of this panel, spoke of the obstacles and challenges facing Conservative Judaism in trying to establish itself in Israeli society.

On the penultimate evening of the convention, a large party was held at the Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater, in Tel Aviv's cultural neighborhood of Neve Tzedek.  This is just a stone's throw away from where the Movement is in the planning stages of building the  Jewish Cultural Center of the Masorti Movement in Tel Aviv .  During the evening, we handed out material and spoke to Movement friends about the project.

NOAM, the Masorti youth movement, began its present year of activities with the opening of a new chapter in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city.  The new chapter is being run by a member of one of the NOAM Garinei Nahal (IDF units), presently serving in Kibbutz Ketura, in the Arava.  Ketura is also the home of the new chairperson of the NOAM Council, Yonatan Musnikov, who was elected during the recent Leadership Weekend.

During Succot, over 400 NOAM members took part in the annual Succot hike, which this year marked 30 years since the death of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.  The hike took in various sites around the Negev, which Ben-Gurion fought to populate.  Alongside the NOAM members, many NOAM graduates and Garin members took part, both as staff and as regular hikers.

This year, Garin Keves is fulfilling its "national mission" – in which Garin members work on social action programs during, and as part of, their army service – in Haifa, with most of its members working for Sachlav (the Hebrew acronym for "emergency aid for youth in distress").  This organization locates street kids and other youth who have dropped out and endeavors to return them to the social circles of school, family and employment.  Due to the initial success of the Garin members, NOAM is now studying the possibility of integrating its graduates in this crucial work.  During the upcoming Hanukkah seminar for NOAM high-school members, they will spend their day of Tikkun Olam (social action) helping out at Sachlav.

Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child director to receive Liebhaber prize

Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child program director, Judith Edelman-Green, has been awarded the Marc and Henia Liebhaber Prize for Religious Tolerance 5764, for encouraging cooperation and religious tolerance in Israel.  The prize will be conferred upon Judith by the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies  during a special ceremony, later this month.  The Masorti Movement  congratulates Judith and lauds her and the rest of the staff for their tireless efforts in this singular Masorti program.

During a fundraising trip to the US last month, Judith told a New Jersey parlor meeting of an ultra-Orthodox father of a child with CP and developmental disabilities, who said, "The Masorti Movement is the first official body to welcome my son as a Jew, thank you." A mother of another child on the program declared, "All societal doors were closed. You opened them and made us welcome."

See also:
Bar mitzvas for special kids, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 10, 2003
Special rites of passage, Haaretz, Dec. 13, 2003

Marom joins forces with Hillel House

The opening of the academic year has also seen the beginning of a new joint venture between Marom, Masorti's students and young adults organization, and the local chapters of Hillel House at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , in Beer Sheva.  The venture includes joint programming by the two bodies and the employment of staff to run the events.

The first meeting in Jerusalem, attended by over 70 students, dealt with the subject of single parenthood in a diversified Jewish community.  The keynote speaker was Vicky Knafo, who recently entered into the limelight of Israeli politics by leading the fight of one-parent families against severe cuts in social security allowances.  After a 140-mile march from Mizpe Ramon to Jerusalem, she headed an encampment of one-parent families outside the Ministry of Finance, until this issue was resolved.  She spoke about the fight and of the difficulties of raising children single-handedly in Israel.

In Beer Sheva the joint venture will take the form a series of events to discuss the matzav  (situation) from various standpoints.  A pilot project is also taking shape at the Orthodox Bar-Ilan University, just outside Tel Aviv, where a group of students have expressed their wish to participate in pluralistic Jewish activity on their campus.  The first activities will be fortnightly study sessions, in an egalitarian atmosphere.

Rabbi Reuven Hammer featured in the Forward 50 list

In time for the GA, the Forward , North American Jewry's most widely circulated national newspaper, published its 2003 Forward 50 list of leading American Jewish figures.  These individuals are seen by the Forward as setting the Jewish agenda, and include politicians, rabbis, writers, artists, philanthropists and community activists.  While all are American, two are referred to as "transplanted Americans who are living in Israel."  The two, Rabbi Reuven Hammer and Prof. Steven M. Cohen, are both members of the Masorti Movement in Israel.

Rabbi Reuven Hammer, president of the Rabbinical Assembly , member of the Masorti Movement's Executive Board and chair of its Political Action committee, is acknowledged in the Religion section.  Rabbi Hammer is noted for maximizing his position in influencing "many fronts in American synagogue life and becoming arguably the most important religious leader in his movement."  The Forward cites Rabbi Hammer’s official movement prayer book commentary as a basis for inspiring a "generation of worshippers."  Rabbi Hammer is also mentioned for playing a "a key role" in the movement's debate on homosexuality by "asking the top Conservative lawmaking body to review its ban on ordaining gay rabbis and performing same-sex marriages."

Steven Cohen, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Samuel Mendel Melton Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, is cited in the Ideas section, along with colleague Gary Tobin, for their work on the 2000 National Jewish Population Survey.  Cohen was brought on to the survey team as a consultant, "to help salvage what threatened to become a new debacle."  Importantly, the 2000 survey proved that Cohen and Tobin were correct in questioning the 1990 survey's finding of high intermarriage rate, which was found to be much lower this time.  Cohen is an active member of the Moreshet Avraham Masorti Congregation in Jerusalem.

Also acknowledged in the Religion section is Judy Yudof, first woman president of the  United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism .

Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child meets Garin Nahal

This year, Garin Keves – one of the Garinei Nahal (IDF units) of NOAM – is performing its "national mission" – social action project, an integral part of their army service in the Haifa area (see article on NOAM).

One of the members of the Garin, Dror Yavor, has been volunteering with the Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child program since his high-school days, when he helped out in one-on-one tutoring.  This year, Dror is working full-time for the program, tutoring at various schools in the north.  This past year, while on active service, Dror arranged for groups from two schools participating in the program to visit the Bet Lid army base.  As part of their Tikkun Olam project, the children delivered food parcels to soldiers on the base.  Their kind acts were rewarded by a chance to don IDF uniform and a ride in an army jeep.