• From the Editor's Desk
• High Hopes for New Government
• High Court Rules Ministry Allocations Discriminatory
• Noam Chanukah Leadership Seminar
• Marom Winter Activities
• Touching Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ceremony
• Schechter Graduates
• Find Your Roots at Shorashim
• Contact information
• Subscriptions and distribution

From the Editor's Desk

At these distressing, times, with the disaster in Southeast Asia, it may seem as if religious freedom in Israel is a secondary issue, but the opposite is true. Israel's new government includes an ultra-Orthodox party, which is opposed to liberal and pluralistic approaches to Judaism. However, hope should be seen in the fact that a man who identified himself as a proud Conservative Jew will be the new Interior Minister, as you can see below.

For all those interested, Women Study Days are taking place on February 9, 13 and 22. If you wish to participate, please contact Diane Friedgut.

I would like to send a refuah shleima to Rabbi Simcha Roth, of Kehillat Torat Haim in Herzliya, and to David Marcus, the chairman of Kehillat Hod Vehadar in Kfar Saba.

Joe Brown
Resource Development Director

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High Hopes for New Government

Ophir Pines-Paz, the MK who came first in the Labor Party ballot, is soon to be appointed the Interior Minister in the new Likud-Labor government. Pines-Paz, former member of Kehillat Yaar Ramot  is a major supporter of civil, Reform and Conservative marriages as a member of the Forum for Free Choice in Marriage. Rabbi Ehud Bandel, President of the Masorti Movement in Israel said that "we are very happy that we will have someone sympathetic to the religious pluralism cause at the ministry.

Isaac Herzog, second place on the ballot who chose the Construction and Housing portfolio, was instrumental as Cabinet Secretary under Prime Minister Ehud Barak in securing an agreement between the Masorti Movement and the government regarding the Masorti Kotel at Robinson's Arch. The Masorti Movement realizes that the present government was established mainly to push ahead with the disengagement plan, but remains hopeful that religious pluralism is also advanced.

See also Masorti Movement Applauds Pines-Paz Appointment, Jerusalem Post 12.26.04

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High Court Rules Ministry of Education Allocations were Discriminatory

After a four-year struggle, the Supreme Court recently ruled on the issue of the Ministry of Education allocations to associations that deal with Jewish culture. Fifteen pluralistic organizations, including the Masorti Movement in Israel, joined the Panim Coalition in an appeal against the discrimination of the Ministry of Education, which has gone on for many years.

According to the information supplied to the Court, secular and pluralistic associations received only one-half of a percent of the allocations of the office, whereas the rest of the funds went to Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox associations The Court rejected the request of the appellants for affirmative action in this subject, claiming that "there is no escape from striking out the past and we must set out on a new path."

Regarding recognition of Reform and Conservative rabbis for the purpose of giving lessons on Judaism, the Court refrained from entering what it termed the "ideological feud", and proposed a practical answer that anyone who has an undergraduate degree will be recognized for the purpose of allocating funds.

According to the High Court demands, the Ministry of Education will advertise new criteria for determining allocations, and these will be applied retroactively to the year 2002 and onwards.

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Noam Chanukah Leadership Seminar

Last month, more than 120 young Israelis of NOAM, Masorti's Youth Movement took part in the annual Chanukah Leadership Seminar. Held at Kibbutz Hanaton, Israel's first Masorti (Conservative) Kibbutz, this four-day, intensive seminar focused on the principles of NOAM and the Masorti Movement as well as various Tikkun Olam (social action) projects.

The seminar culminated with a Tikkun Olam program in Haifa at SACHLAV, a shelter and recreation center for youth at-risk, where NOAM youth, Masorti soldiers and the children of SACHLAV participated in a Chanukah candlelighting and party. Each year, members of the Masorti Army Volunteer Corps live together on a kibbutz in a development town and become active in the local Masorti congregation where they combine their army service with community work.

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Marom Winter Activities

Marom continues to forge ahead, with three main events. The first was a Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner at Kehillat Moreshet Israel and the Fuchsberg Center, which brought together 60 students from the Schechter Institute, the Conservative Yeshiva , and other Marom activists. The second was Hanukkah candle lighting at Merkaz Hamagshimim of Hadassah in downtown Jerusalem.

This activity brought together the more Israeli-oriented Marom members and the more Anglo-oriented young olim from the Merkaz. Participants shared Jewish experiences in Israel and abroad, and discussed their interaction with Israeli society. The evening ended with the participants watching "The 16th Lamb", a classical children's musical in Hebrew (Hakeves Hashisha-Asar ).

The third activity was a joint effort of Marom, Hillel House and Mavoi Satum at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba. The movie "Mekudeshet", which presents the severe problems women who have been denied a divorce face was screened.

This was followed by a panel discussion with Att. Ruth Govrin, who presented the legal aspects of this issue, and Tania Zion of Mavoi Satum who presented the halakhic aspects, including solutions such as prenuptial agreements. Rabbi Gil Nativ, of Kehillat Eshel Avraham, also spoke of halakhic solutions for these women.

Around 170 people participated in the event, heralding a great success for Marom.

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Touching Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ceremony for Park Avenue Synagogue and Special Children

On December 23, a group of 127 members of New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue participated in a special Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony, held in Kehillat Moreshet Avraham in Jerusalem 10 of their Bar Mitzvah-age children helped a group of special-needs Israeli children hold their own Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

Cloaked in white tallitot, the 13-year-olds from New York City helped wind tefilin straps around the arms of the Israelis and read aloud from the Torah. The Israeli teenagers led the service in prayers. Later, members of the Park Avenue Synagogue and the Israeli families hoisted the special needs children into chairs amid a chorus of singing and cheering.

"The faces of those children in those chairs is a memory I will always have," Amy A.B.Bressman, chairman of the synagogue'board, said. "We were very moved," said Orna Schwartz, an Israeli woman whose daughter participated in the ceremony.

"Exposing congregants to the ordinary and the extraordinary is what the trip was about", Paul Corwin, a synagogue member and lawyer who organized the synagogue's trip to Israel, said. "You don't get people to just go to Israel, you get them to engage in Israel," he said, adding that other synagogues have begun to turn to them for advice on building congregants' interest in Israel.

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Schechter Graduates

On December 6, the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary held its 17th Ordination Ceremony, ordaining six new rabbis for leadership positions. These new Rabbis are: Floriane Chinsky, who will be working at Kehillat Yaar Ramot in Jerusalem; Michael Kogan, who will work in Dusseldorf, Germany; Lionel Levy, who works at Kehillat Modiin and Kehillat Hod Vehadar in Kfar Saba; Idit Lev who runs Yaltha, the group of Masorti women rabbis and women rabbinical students. Uri Ayalon of Kehillat Yotzer Or; and Yonatan Rudnick, who works as a Chaplain at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

See also For Conservative Movement new guard, it's all about community

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Find Your Roots at Shorashim

Shorashim, a Masorti community settlement in the Western Galilee, is welcoming new families into its egalitarian, pluralistic community. Shorashim, 5 minutes from Carmiel and 40 minutes from Haifa, comprises 55 families, half of whom are native-born Israelis, and the other half are olim from North America, England, South America, and other countries. We invite you to consider building your home in our new neighborhood, overlooking a sea of olive trees and the Mediterranean Sea.

Started in 1980 as a collective settlement and privatized in 1992, Shorashim is proud of its high-quality community life. Shorashim runs an excellent day care and nursery school through kindergarten program (the latter is part of the Tali network). Most school-aged children attend the nearby Misgav Regional Community School and our children are active in NOAM.

Holidays are observed communally, with both traditional worship and appropriate social and cultural events. The regional community center provides an assortment of activities for all ages. In addition, nearby Carmiel's excellent cultural center brings the best of Israel's culture to our doorstep.

Religious services are led on a volunteer basis by the members of the community every Friday evening, alternate Shabbat mornings, and on all holidays. All religious services are egalitarian, with men and women participating fully in all aspects of synagogue ritual. Each individual family is free to define to what extent it observes tradition and the community imposes no restrictions.

For further details, contact Sigalit Ur, Tami Rosenstein , or Renee Rothberg

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Contact information

e-masorti is produced by the Development Department of the Masorti Movement in Israel.
13 Ben Yehuda Street, PO Box 7559, Jerusalem 91074 ISRAEL Web: www.masorti.org
Telephone: +972 (2) 624 6510 Fax: +972 (2) 624 6869 E-mail: development@masorti.org

Donations

Israel and all other countries: to the offices in Jerusalem (above).

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