The Kiruv Imperative by Jonathan Udren

Israel The Kiruv Imperative By Jonathan Udren t first glance, Had (face-to-face) division is charged with opened up for us.” Nes,A a settlement of ninety-five fami- making the initial encounter. Its strate- As a result of the dramatic success in lies on the northern shore of the gy is simple: Yeshivah students go to Had Nes, six months ago Kehilot Kinneret, appears unremarkable. But secular communities where they knock Yisrael established a Beit Tarbut over the past two years something on doors and hope for a friendly Yehudi (house of Jewish culture—sim- rather remarkable has taken place in response. Once the initial contact is ilar to a JCC) in the settlement. The the secular Golan Heights community. made, community members “must fol- center, staffed by hesder-yeshivah grad- Since Kehilot Yisrael became involved low up,” asserts Kehilot Yisrael uates, now hosts daily classes and with Had Nes residents, some twenty Director Meir Schwartz. Amazingly, minyanim. families have begun attending Torah most do. “We don’t have to look for “We feel like our lives have been classes, sending their children to near- business,” says Menachem Persoff, returned to us. We are giving off a new by religious schools and enriching director of programs for the Israel light,” says Ben HaRosh, whose five their lives by keeping mitzvot. Center. “Once participants in our pro- children now attend religious schools. Kehilot Yisrael promotes positive grams have tasted the beauty of Kehilot Yisrael is one of three out- religious experiences in communities authentic Jewish practice, the word reach programs that the Israel Center throughout the Golan Heights, Jordan gets out. Then people come to us.” has founded over the past few years, Valley and Shomron through work- “We don’t just show up with a minyan each of which targets a specific sector shops, minyanim and one-on-one for Shabbat,” explains Schwartz. “We of Israeli society. Kehilot Yisrael centers interaction. One arm of the multi- work in conjunction with the communi- on families as well as on community faceted project sends small groups of ty.” building. Makom Balev, also known as yeshivah and seminary students to sec- Following a Panim-el-Panim experi- NCSY-in-Israel, offers spiritual nour- ular communities in remote areas to ence, the community of Had Nes ishment to 2,000 elementary and make Shabbat. Kehilot Yisrael, which expressed an interest in hosting a junior high school students from secu- is run and funded by the Orthodox Shabbat minyan. Over the course of sev- lar, traditional and religious homes. Union through the Seymour J. Abrams eral months, the once-barren beit knesset Makom Balev, which means a place in OU Jerusalem World Center, com- started being used for Shabbat services the heart, boasts thirty-eight chapters monly known as the Israel Center, is and even daily minyanim. in twenty-five towns across the coun- currently operating in seventeen com- “After a while we started to under- try. Lichyot B’yachad (to live together) munities. stand Shabbat and prayer,” says Ilan brings religious and irreligious young “You wouldn’t believe it,” says Ben HaRosh, a Had Nes resident who people and adults together to study Yitzhak Fund, president of the Israel became a ba’al teshuvah as a result of Torah. Meeting on a regular basis, the Center. “But there are communities in the program and is currently the edu- study partners also go on tiyulim (trips) Israel without even a single beit knesset.” cational coordinator of the Kehilot together. Kehilot Yisrael’s Panim-el-Panim Yisrael branch in the Golan Heights. The Israel Center’s focus on outreach “Slowly, [my wife and I] started keep- coincides with a recent shift within the Mr. Udren, a resident of Jerusalem, is a ing Shabbat, and [we] kashered our Religious Zionist world. “With the freelance journalist and editor. house. Suddenly, a whole new world ongoing intifada and the ever-widening Winter 5765/2004 JEWISH ACTION Ronnie Prinz, a teacher at the OU’s community center in Ramat HaSharon, In the Ramat meets with an HaSharon commu- nstein irreligious Israeli. nity center, the pas- er The community tel-colored walls cre- ed B center helps foster ate a warm, invit- ar bonds between ing space for learn- religious and ing or discussing hotos: J Judaism. P irreligious Israelis. rift between the Left and the Right and Israel Center is an independent, evident—despite the media reports of they see on TV, ” explains Schwartz. the Torah view of psychology and rela- director general of the Israel Center, the secular and the religious, achdut inclusive organization, steering clear widespread anti-religious sentiment, “Kehilot Yisrael aims at breaking down tionships as well as other user-friendly the Center is adhering to the mandate [unity] among dati’im [religious Jews] of any specific political agenda. there exists, at the grass-roots level, a these barriers. Until we eradicate these Jewish topics. of the Orthodox Union in America: to and chilonim [secular Jews] has become Some believe that the emphasis on great thirst for Torah and tradition.” negative images, we can’t even start “We try to provide intellectually stim- intensify and expand in-reach and out- a primary concern,” Persoff notes. In kiruv may be attributed to a growing “In business, when there is a great [doing kiruv].” ulating classes as well as a good example reach efforts to the Jewish community. fact, Rav Mordechai Elon, a prominent sense among Religious Zionists that demand, people step up to fill that of what a religious person is like,” says “If we can be mekarev an entire Jewish leader in the Religious Zionist camp the community has been way too need. That is what we are seeing Shmuel Sasson, the program director at community in Eretz Hakodesh, or even who heads Yeshivat HaKotel in the focused on the issue of settlements at today,” says Avi Rath, Mibereshit’s the Ramat HaSharon center. “People one Jewish soul,” says Rabbi Cohen, Old City and Mibereshit, a religious the expense of other mitzvot. director of education. spend so much time in front of a TV or “then all the effort and expense are outreach program, recently urged Others believe the shift in focus is Aside from providing classes, lec- in a chat room, both of which are ‘cold’ worthwhile.” Religious Zionists to make outreach tures and Shabbatonim, Mibereshit is ndeed, Panim-el-Panim vol- experiences. In here, we offer a lot of “As a pioneer in Jewish outreach in more of a priority. behind the popular Friday afternoon unteersI are not always greeted with a warmth.” the United States, it is only natural for “In the past, there television show Parshat Ha’Shavua. Set friendly face when they go door-to- the OU to expand its efforts and adapt were some Religious in chavruta style, the show features co- door. On Schwartz’s most recent trip, “Secular Israelis its phenomenally successful kiruv pro- hosts Rav Elon and Rath discussing twenty-two people opened the door grams to fit the needs of Israelis,” says Zionists who expressed Torah topics while breathing modern for the students, but only two let them are not ignorant of Fund. “This is not just an opportuni- discomfort with kiruv. meaning into ancient wisdom. inside. religious life. They are ty, it’s an obligation.” JA ntil about However, in light of “The political, economic and social “We never come looking for a fight, fiv“e years ago,U kiruv [outreach] in collapse of the country over the last but sometimes people get angry. They aware of it, and often Israel was, to a large degree, the the recent efforts by few years has left many feeling empty,” say, ‘I came to live in a secular area, have strong negative province of the Chareidi community,” For more information about Religious Zionist says Rath. “There is a great sense of and I don’t want to see a beit knesset feelings towards it.” Kehilot Yisrael, Makom Balev, says Fund. “In the past, there were disappointment in Israel’s secular soci- here,’” says Schwartz. some Religious Zionists who expressed rabbanim, kiruv has Lichyot B’yachad and other programs ety today. People are starting to search Aside from the Beit Tarbut Yehudi in at the OU Israel Center, go to discomfort with kiruv, preferring to The Beit Tarbut Yehudi also hosts been embraced by the for their roots and for meaning in Had Nes, Kehilot Yisrael established http://www.ou.org/israel/ic/about see Religious Zionism as a bridge events for each of the holidays. For Religious Zionist their lives, and we are helping them two other centers: one in Jordan Valley .htm. between the religious and secular com- discover what it means to be a Jew.” and one in Ramat HaSharon, just example, the Yom Ha’atzmaut seder munities rather than as an active force mainstream.” that took place this year brought in But even though there is a rising north of Tel Aviv. Though the majority Or contact: for outreach. However, in light of the over seventy participants. The seder interest in religious observance, there of Kehilot Yisrael’s work is done in tel: 972-2-5667787 recent efforts by Rav Elon, Rav not only included Biblical texts and is still strong anti-religious sentiment outlying areas, the center in Ramat fax: 972-2-5617432 Shlomo Aviner and other like-minded due to a rising interest in religion prayers for Israel, but also secular amongst many Israelis. HaSharon seeks to reach people from e-mail: [email protected] Religious Zionist rabbanim, kiruv has been among secular Israelis.

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