THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE I st tute of Human Relat ans 165 East 56 5t eet New Yo k NY 10022 Plaza 1-4000

December 1982

Dear Friend

The Status of Religious Pluralism in Israel is a subject of deep and con­ tinual concern

We believe that you will be inter­ ested therefore in the report by the Israel office of the Amer1can Jewish Committee of a major symposium on the subJect of re11gious pluralism held in Israel at which participants also con­ sidered whether and how American Jew­ ish experience might find application in Israel

At the same time our apologies You will find a number of typographical errors in this report There are not many printers in Israel alss who can handle the English language with full competence Yet though this remains a problem that plagues the Israel Print­ ing Office universities and others we Simply should not have permitted it to happen

We send this report therefore in full cognizance of its faults but also in the belief that the subject is im~ portant enough that we hope you will pardon its errors

\ Foreign Affairs Department

82-550-50 •

The Status of Religious Pluralism . in Israel

The American Jewisb Committee 9 Ethiopia I \

I ~I I I

The Status of RebgIous Plurahsm m Israel

,

/ The help of the Israel InterfaIth COmmIttee I) In plannIng and collatIng thIS publIcatIon IS gratefully acknowledged I I L The Amencan Jewish Committee 9 Etlnopla Street Jerusalem Israel

( _----4" TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PROGRAM OF THE SYMPOSIUM lV RELIGION IN ISRAEL - BETWEEN STATUS QUO AND PLURALISM 1 S Zalman Abramov M K Chalrman

The Const~tut~onal Legal and Pol~t~cal Aspects of Rel~g~ous Plural~sm ~n Israel 1 Just1ce ZV1 Berenson

The Soc~al Educat~onal and Cultural Aspects of Rel~g~ous Plural~sm ~n Israel 5 Moshe Kerem Professor Ze ev Falk 7

D1SCUSS10n 9 RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN THE UNITED STATES 23 Rabbl Moshe Tutnauer Chalrman Professor Charles Llebman 23 t Professor Mlchael Kleln 25 1 D1SCUSS10n 26 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 33 Mordechal Bar-On Chalrman Mordechal Wlrshubskl M K 33 Rabbl Jack Cohen 36

D1SCUSS10n 38

On Plural~sm ~n Israel 40 Rabbl Moshe Halm Weller A Personal SUmmlng-Up 42 Joseph Bentwlch WHO IS A JEW - TRACING A PAINFUL CONTROVERSY 45 S Zalman Abramov M K IS THERE A DISPUTE BETWEEN RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR JUDAISM 50 Professor Ephralm Urbach AGAINST EXACERBATING RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION 57 Mordechal Wlrshubskl M K Statute EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MOVEMENTS OF THE JEWISH RELIGION 59 ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND FREEDOM FROM RELIGION 61 Ylfat Nevo SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER STUDY 64 INTRODUCTION

1 Once the maJor~ty has acqu~red ~ts status through power the problems of ~ts ma~ntenance ar~se AlaIn Locke

1 c The problem of rel1g1ous plural1sm 1n Israel lS that lt lS a problem To explore that problem and to publlcly a1r proposed Solut10ns lS a natural lnterest for the Amerlcan Jewlsh Comrnltte Arnerlca S ploneer human relatl0ns organ1zatlon that ass1gns pr10r1ty to Keep1ng" Israel strong and free

The concept of rellg10us llberty lS essentlally secular secular 1n or1g1n I and requlrlng a secular pollceman Glven these terms the malntenance of I( rel1glous 11berty requ1res that each trad1tlon understand ltS obllgat10n 1n a plural1st1c soc1ety The r1ght of any group to pract1ce 1tS own fa1th wlthout lnterference 15 comparatlvely easy to guarantee 1n a democratlc soc1ety It lS also poss1ble for the dom1nant group to extend that rlght r to other groups d1fferlng 1n bel1ef and pract1ce Th1S 1S what eXlsts In Israel at the present tlme The hardest part 1t turns out lS for the dom1nant group to extend those r1ghts to d1ssldents 1n ltS own ranks ThlS phenomenon 15 not unlque to Israel the experience of the Purltans 1n the Un1ted States lS an example The problems of rel1g10us equal~ty wlthln a glven falth profess10n w1thout preference wlthout compuls10n wlthout external pressure to make unwlillng conceSSlon are sjen as a recurrlng problem 1n Jewlsh rellglous experience {

The ldea of explorlng rellglous plurallsm 1n Israel! SOclety arose out of a SyrnPOSlum conducted by the Arner1can Jewlsh Cornrn1ttee S Israel Off1ce In assoclatlon w1th the Museum of the Jewlsh D1aspora and based on the Spr1ng 1980 lssue of AJC s Tefutsot Israel devoted to current trends In Jew1sh rel1glous 11fe The d1SCUSS10n that ensued was so sp,r,ted that a deeper enqu1ry seemed approprlate Th1S was glven further 1mpetus when a 11ttle b1t later at least two chlef rabbls of metropolltan clt1es publlshed announcements In the press on the eve of the Hlgh Holy Days forb1dd1ng the falthful from worsh1pplng In non-Orthodox synagogues and forb1dd1ng them to have anythlng to do wlth them Nor was th1S the flrst tlme such an announcement was made

There emerged a pl~n to hold a natlonal consultatlon on the subJect of re11g1ous plura~slm 1n Israel and to conslder what experIences In Amerl an JewIsh lIfe conslderlngs ltS voluntary and pluralIstIc nature mIght flnd appllcatl0n In Israel ! - 11 - ) - 111 - , w1de d~vers~ty of thoughtful people ~nclud~ng Un~vers~ty professors of The process of undertak~ng such a consultat~on was ~n~t~ated w~th an re11g1on Rabb~s ~n the orthodox conservat~ve and reform denom1nat~ons ~nterv~ew w~th former Knesset Member S Zalman Abramov a noted expert I I members of Knesset a former Justice of the Supreme Court commun~ty leaders ~n the f~eld and author of the now class~c Perpetual D~lemma Armed w~th I authors hlstor~ans pol~t~c~ans and graduate students of comparat1ve h~s adv~ce s~x representat~ve commun~ty leaders met for half a day to rel~g~on develop a proposed out-l~ne for the proJected nat~onal consultat~on The I I focus of that meet~ng was to explore how best to determ~ne the ex~stence From the open~ng challenge by Just~ce ZV1 Berenson that the r~ght to of rel~g~ous plural~sm ~n Israel If ~t ex~sts to what extent from the r freedom of rel~g~on ~s not fully guaranteed to Jews ~n Israel the all­ p01nt of V1ew of the law the soc1ety and the lnd~v~dual Th~s same focus day consultat~on resulted ~n so much provocat~ve d~scuss10n w~th so many was appl~ed to the quest~on of re11g1ous plural~sm ~n the Amer1can Jew~sh ~deas and proposals demand~ng further cons~derat~on that the ed1tor~al commun~ty and what one mlght learn from ~t Techn1ques of soc~al change board of Petahlm dec~ded to devote one ent~re ~ssue to a full but ed~ted were also brought up w~th cons1derat~on g~ven to the relat1ve roles that , transcr1pt of the proceed~ngs (Issue No 35-36 September 19B1) A 25-page law educat~on po11t~cal act~on and hasbara (~nterpretat1on) m1ght play Eng11sh summary of that ~ssue appeared two months later Those w~sh1ng 1n promot1ng greater respect for rel~g~ous d~vers1ty cop~es of the Hebrew text or the Engl~sh summary should address the~r 1nqu1r1es to Petah~m POB 7295 Jerusalem Israel A fuller transcr~pt Only after th1s preparat~on were we ready to announce plans for th~s \ sympos1um Its declared and pub11c purpose was to convene a selected ( of these proceed1ngs appear ~n these pages Further to g~ve the matter fuller treatment at the adv~ce of Mr Abraham Karl~kow D~rector of AJC s group of concerned and lnfluent~al ~nd~v1duals from all walks of l~fe 1nclud1ng orthodox conservatlve reform and secular to d1scuss 1f Fore~gn Affa~rs Department add~t~ona1 art~c1es were selected to be ~ncluded 1n th~s brochure and we record here our thanks for perm~ss10n what and how to promote re11g~ous plura11sm ~n Israel and what can be to repr~nt them They are learned from the exper~ence of the Amer1can Jewlsh commun~ty In part~­ cular the goal was to see how the 1ssue can be addressed from the legal Who 1S a Jew -- Trac~ng a Pa~nful Controversy by S Zalman Abramov MK leg1slat~ve educat10nal and pol~t1cal aspects (F1rst pr1nted ~n Hebrew ~n HaAretz August 15 1981)

Impl~c~t ~n th1s was an assumpt10n that ~t ~s ~mposs~ble at least at Is There a D~spute between Re1~g~ous and Secular Juda~sm? by the present toconV1nce the controll~ng author1t1es to accept re11g~ous Professor Ephra1m Urbach plura11sm 1n the Jew1sh rel~glous l~fe ~n the Israel soc1ety S1nce the • July 1972) purpose of the SymPOS1um was not to prov~de a platform for a debate (From The Journal of the Movement for Torah Judalsm Vol 6 between the rullng establ~shment and the conservat1ve and reform congre­ gat10ns 1n Israel 1t was dec1ded not to 1nv1te representat1ves of the Aga~nst Exacerbat1ng Rellg~ous D1scr~~nat~on by I r Mordecha1 W~rshubsk~ M K rel~g1ous estab11shment However 1nfluent1al and knowledgable orthodox Jews were successfully and I must add eas~ly recru~ted to part1c~pate T 1n our dellberat10ns Statute Equal R~ghts for Movements of the Jew~sh Rel~g~on

Rel~g~on by Y~fat Nevo Before comm1tt1ng ~tself to a def1n1t~ve plan for the sympos~um AJC s On Freedom of Rel~g~on and Freedom from pr~nted ~n ~n March 12 1981) Israel Off~ce d1d one more th~ng to seek out a partner to sponsor the (F1rst Hebrew HaAretz sympos~um We cons1dered th~s deslrable not only because of a long-stand~ng operat~onal pr~nc1ple that cooperat10n 1S a soc1al good ~n ~ts own r1ght we wanted also to share the task of th~nk1ng plann~ng and execut1ng w~th an ldent~f1able group rooted In Israel~ so~l Here we struck f~re ~n sol~c1t1ng and promptly rece~v~ng the agreement of the ed~tor~al board of Petahlm a quarterly Journal of Jew~sh thought devoted to promot~ng the d1scuss~on of the values of Juda1sm and the1r real~zat1on ~n our t~me T The Journal s celebrated ed~tor Mr Joseph S Bentw~ch agreed act~vely Dr M Bernard Resn1koff to part1c1pate ~n the proceed~ngs and the ed1tor~al board des~gnated as D1rector, AJC Israel Off1ce ~ts representat1ve Mr Joseph Emmanuel I record here my deep thanks for thelr valuable help

Thereafter a call was 1ssued for a nat10nal sympos~um on rel~g~ous plural~sm 1n Israel and ~n the Amer1can Jew1sh commun1ty to take place February 1 19B1 1n the academ~c sett1ng of the Van Leer Jerusalem Foundat10n A copy of the SymPOSlum program follows Part1c1pants ~n the program 1tself as well as the s~xty-odd selected personal~t1es who were 1n attendance represented a - 1V -

PROGRAM OF THE SYMPOSIUM 1 RELIGION IN ISRAEL - BETWEEN STATUS QUO AND PLURALISM

Cha~rman ! Mr S Zalman Abramov, M K 12 30 - 1 30 Lunch and 1ntroductory remarks by Dr M Bernard Resn1koff } and Mr Y Bentw1ch Ed1tor Petah~m \ It 1S always surpr1s1ng to hear an appeal for plura11sm 1n Israel for perhaps no other country 1n the world 1S so plura11st1c It 1S doubtful 1 30 - 3 30 RELIGION IN ISRAEL - BETWEEN STATUS QUO AND PLURALISM whether any other soc1ety can cla1m such a d1vers1ty of outlook and be11ef so many shades of op1n10n 11festyle and mental att1tude Cha1rman Mr S Zalman Abramov Member of Knesset Cha1rman World Jew1sh Congress Israel Off1ce But Israe11 soc1ety 1S also rather pecu11ar For notw1thstand1ng 1tS w1de­ spread plura11sm 1n 1tS sp1r1tual and cultural 11fe 1t man1fests a crude Speaker The Const1tut10nal Legal and Pol~t1cal Aspects of Rel~g~ous Plural~sm ~n Israel d1v1s10n 1nto two apparently well-conso11dated 1f notmono11th1c blocs Just1ce ZV1 Berenson former Supreme Court Just1ce the re11g10us and the secular Among the successes of the re11g10us estab- 11shment 1n Israel 1S the attachment of the secular label to all Jews Speaker The Soc~al Educat10nal and Cultural Aspects ( who are not Orthodox Th1S label11ng has been of great tact1cal value to Mr Moshe Kerem former Pr1nc1pal of Oran1m Teachers the re11g10us estab11shment for once a c1t1zen has been called secular Sem1nary there 1S no longer any need to d1scuss anyth1ng w1th h1m Remarks Professor Ze ev Falk Department of Law Hebrew Un1vers1ty of Jerusalem To clar1fy some of the 1ssues 1nherent 1n th1s s1tuat10n 1S the purpose of our d1scuss10n today

3 30 - 4 00 Coffee Break The Const~tut~onal Legal and Pol~t~cal Aspects of Rel~g~ous 4 00 - 5 30 RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN THE UNITED STATES Pluralism in Israel

Rabb1 Moshe Tutnauer D1rector Just~ce Zv~ Berenson Former Supreme Court Just~ce Movement for Conservat1ve Juda1sm 1n Israel In terms of nat10nhood the State of Israel 1S the state of the Jew1sh Speaker Professor Charles L1ebman Department of Law people Estab11shed by Jews 1t 1S the rea11zat10n of the1r dreams over Bar-Ilan Un1vers1ty the generat10ns through years of eX11e and d1spers10n among the nat10ns Remarks Professor M1chael Kle1n Dean of the world Hebrew Un10n College Jerusalem Israel belongs not only to the Jews who now 11ve there but also to all Jews and 1t 1S open to every member of the Jew1sh people who w1shes to 5 30 - 5 45 Coffee Break 1mm1grate and to res1de 1n the state

5 45 - 7 30 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In th1S context and the context of the populat10n reg1ster who 1S a Jew 1S a we1ghty quest10n The Knesset after 1ntense pub11c debate has de­ Cha1rman Mr Mordecha1 Bar-On f1ned a Jew accord1ng to cr1ter1a drawn from the pr1nc1ples of Juda1sm Member of Ed1tor1al Board of Petah~m and as someone born to a Jew1sh mother or a convert to Juda1sm who no longer Member of Van Leer Jerusalem Foundat10n belongs to another fa1th Th1s def1n1t10n st111 does not sat1sfy some re11g10us groups who are determ1ned to narrow 1t even more to adm1t only Conclud1ng Remarks Mordecha1 W1rshubsky Member of Knesset those converted accord1ng to halacha Wh1Ch means 1n Israel halacha acceptable to Orthodox c1rcles Rabb1 Dr Jack Cohen D1rector H111el Hebrew Un1vers1ty of Jerusalem - 2 - - 3 -

Indlvldual freedom of rellgl0n lS not speclflcally mentl0ned but accordlng It should be noted that th~s legal def~n~t~on ~s determlnant only wlth to a declsl0n of the Israel Supreme Court lt lS subsumed under freedom of regard to lmmlgratl0n to Israel and to res~dent reglstratlon Other matters I such as marrlage and dlvorce come under the )urlsdlctl0n of Israel s COnSClence a broad concept whlch embraces all matters of falth and outlook rabblnlcal courts WhlCh are free to rule on a person s Jewlshness accordlng In addltl0n our Proclamatl0n of Independence expllcltly ensures freedom to thelr own crlterla that ls~presumably the halacha acceptable to of rellglon and conSClence to all cltlzens of the state regardless of themselves -- WhlCh means that only an Orthodox rabbl can perform a proper creed race or sex converSl0n to Judalsm and the rabblnate and rabblnlcal courts In Israel generally cons 1St excluslvely of the Orthodox I Under the Brltlsh Mandatory Government the Palestlne Order-In-Councl1 had super lor and prlvl1eged status and functl0ned as a klnd of baslc law It Nevertheless as Davld Ben-Gurl0n frequently declared the State of Israel r blocked legls1atl0n that would restrlct freedom of conSClence and worshlp In any form or that would In any way dlscrlmlnate among the country s lS based on law not on halacha In fact the )urlsdlctl0n of the rabblnlcal I, courts and other rellgl0us trlbunals -- Moslem Chrlstlan and Druze -- was lnhabltants on the baS1S of natl0nallty rellg10n or language Slnce the vested In them by the Knesset the state s legls1ature the rellgl0us courts I establlshment of the State the Knesset lS the soverelgn body whose laws have authorlty only In the areas and In the manner determlned by the secular f are not subord1nate to any other legal code so that the Order-In-Councl1 lawmaker Therefore one cannot malntaln that rellglon ln Israel lS entlrely ( has lost ltS spec1al status and untl1 today nothlng has replaced 1t as separated from the state True Israel lS not bUllt on a rellgl0us founda­ a watchdog of C1V1l rlghts We have only the Proclamat10n of Independence tl0n letalonp on the foundatl0n of the Jewlsh rellgl0n but tbe natl0n s of the State of Israel Wh1Ch as 1S well known lS not a const1tutl0n and polltlcal framework lS secular and democratlc and ltS cltlzens way of does not even have the force of ord1nary law ~ts prlnc~ples have malnly 11fe lS determlned by laws enacted by a secular body the Knesset All the declarat~ve value Thelr sole legal lmportance attaches to the fact that same several rellglous matters are part of the warp and woof of 11fe ln when the court must rule on a law lt wl11 always favor an lnterpretatl0n the state cons~stent wlth Proclamatlon pr~nclples an 1nterpretatl0n WhlCh fully ensures freedom of conSClence and rellgl0n -- but no more than that Flrst Jew1sh and other re11g1ous courts somet1mes exerC1se excluslve )urlsdlctlon over matters of personal status -- for example In marrlage In short notw1thstandlng the lmportance of the fundamental rlght of anddlvorce among Jews who are cltlzens or resldents of the state Israel1 cltlzens to freedom of conSClence lncludlng freedom of rel~glon ~t has no flrm basls In law At any tlme the Knesset can expand or llIDlt Second the very eXlstence of rellglous polltlcal partles whose banners th1S r~ght -- and as we shall see has done so In pract1ce no less than proclalm that thelr goal lS to base the natl0n s 11fe on halacha leaves ~n pr1nclple th~s rlght 1S not entlrely guaranteed and has been reduced no doubt that matters of state and rellglon are closely co~nected Under the to no small degree In some areas But that these Ilmltatlons should have preval1lng clrcumstances In polltlCS where a government coalltl0n In the fallen most heavl1y on the Jewlsh populatl0n lS the oddest outcome one Knesset cannot posslbly be formed wltbout one or another rellglous party could have lIDaglned the rellgl0us partles power to Wln conceSS10ns and dlctate to the secular ma)Orlty lS out of proportl0n to thelr real strength In the publlC arena The Moslems the recognlzed Chr1stlan communlt~es and the Druze all have thelr own rel~g~ous courts wlth appropr1ate )ur1sd~ct~on In matters of What does thlS mean to rellgl0us plurallsmlnISrael? If we use the term In personal status and each court Judges ltS members accordlng to ltS own the accepted sense as a multlpllclty of rel~glons then we are one of the laws of personal status We have not heard from members of non-Jew1sh most plurallstlc natlons ln the world In addltl0n to the adherents to the commun1tles as we have from Jewlsh cltlzens and resldents of lnternal three maln rellgl0ns I have mentl0ned -- Judalsm Islam and Chrlstlanlty problems result1ng from Israel s grantlng of )ur1sdlctlon to thelr rel~glous there are Druze BahalS Samarltans BuddhlStS and so on who 11ve here courts And each rellg~on functlons wlth no restrlctl0ns whatsoever wlth total freedom to conduct and to engage In rellgl0us worshlp To repeat lnsofar as lt eXlsts regulatl0n of rellg10us matters 1n our publlC and pr~vate 11ves lS based on secular laws enacted by the Knesset The BaS1S ln Law not on the Jew1sh halacha as understood by Orthodox Jewry and there 1S a certa1n degree of coerC10n espec1ally of people who are or declare them­ Paragraph 83 of the Palestlne Order-In-Councl10f 1922 stl11 part of the selves to be non-rel1g10us law of the State of Israel ensures such freedom But before exam1n1ng the element of coerC10n I want to stress that thlS All persons ~n Palest~ne shall enJoy full l~berty of sltuat10n 1S normal and satlsfactory 1n a number of areas For example consc~ence and the free exerCIse of theIr forms of )t arrangements for all forms of prayer and publ1C worsh1p of the var10US fa1ths worshIp subJect only to the ma~ntenance of publIc order and commun1tles the rel1g10us commun1tles governance of the1r lnternal affalrs the safeguard1ng of sltes sacred to the varlOUS fa1ths and the and morals Each rellg~ous commun~ty shall enJoy autonomy t for the ~nternal affaIrs of the communIty subJect to ensur1ng of free access for purposes of prayer and communl0n and the pre­ the provls~ons of any OrdInance or Order Issued by the ventlon of desecrat10n are all guaranteed by the State of Israel and scrupulously honored -- prov1ded of course there 1S no vl01atl0n of HIgh Co~ssloner I publlC order and morallty as establlshed by the laws of the state - 4 - - 5 - Who 1S a Jew? The Soc1al Educat10nal and Cultural Aspects of Rel1g1ous I have sa1d that 1n tre cor text of 1mm1grat10n and reg1strat10n of res1dents Plural1sm in Israel the legal def1n1t10n of Jew1sh 1ncludes any person born to a Jew1sh mother or who has converted to Juda1SID and 1S not a member of another re11g10n -­ Moshe Kerem Member K1bbutz Gesher Haz1v Former Pr1nc1pal w1th no ment10n that the converS10n must be accord1ng to halacha 1n the of Oran1m Teachers' Sem1nary Orthodox sense But 1n matters under the Jur1sd1ct10n of the re11g10us courts there 1S no def1n1t10n whatever of Jew1sh so that 1t 1S subJect to the I do not cons1der myself re11g10us 1n the accepted sense nor am I aff111ated sole and f1nal dec1s10n of the rabb1n1cal court 1tself And S1nce our w1th any of the three groups 1n the Jew1sh re11g10n -- Orthodox Conservat1ve rabb1n1cal courts are exclus1vely Orthodox a Jew can only be someone born or Reform The movement I stem from be11eved 1n rat10nal opt1m1st1c secular1sm to a Jew1sh mother or who converted accord~ng to halacha as they understand wh1ch ma1nta1ned that determ1ned act10n and 1deolog1cal zeal would lead to a ~t and who does not belong to another fa1th It follows that a Jew converted better soc1ety that we could not make such a soc1ety wh11e bound to the abroad but not by an Orthodox rabb1n1cal court 1S not recogn1zed as a Jew preva111ng re11g10n We felt 1t was constr1ct1ng that we were forced to 1n Israel to be so recogn1zed by the Israe11 rabb1n1cal court th1s person rebel aga1nst 1t 1n order to come here And 1t may very well be that w1thout must aga1n undergo converS10n accord1ng to the halacha 1t rules acceptable our zeal our secular ant1-re11g1ous-estab11shment zeal to create another rea11ty we would not have succeeded 1n accomp11sh1ng everyth1ng that 1S Re11g10us freedom 1ncludes the r1ght not to belong to any re11g10n or to now so n1cely presented 1n the P111ar of F1re telev1s10n program change one s re11g10n as one chooses and th1s r1ght 1n facts eX1sts 1n Israel The sole 11m1tat10n set by law be1ng that converS10ns must be recogn1zed by But w1th the passage of t1me 1t became clear to us that the soc1ety we had whatever re11g10us commun1ty the convert J01ns But here aga1n we come up created by v1rtue of opt1m1st1c rat10na11sm had undergone (accord1ng to aga1nst the problem that the leaders of the re11g10us Jew1sh commun1ty 1n Max Weber s theory) a passage from 1tS char1smat1c per10d to one of 1nst1- Israel are the Ch1ef Rabb1s who w111 not recogn1ze a converS10n 1f 1t was tut10na11zat10n and from that to a per10d of barren bureaucracy And today not performed accord1ng to the1r V1ew of halacha Thus we f1nd that many a great many of the values we cher1shed appear unattract1ve and un1IDportant Jews or converts to Judalsm who conslder themselves to be Jewlsh 1n every to the young way are not accepted as Jews 1n the Jew1sh State Half a year ago I part1c1pated along w1th several professors 1n a d1alogue The chlef 11mltatl0ns 1n matters of personal status concern marrlage and at Harvard The latest copy of the Journal Shdemot lay open before them to d1vorce Accord1ng to the law passed by the Knesset 1n 1953 sole Jur1s­ the lead art1cle dea11ngI w1th the many young people who were leav1ng the dIctIon over these matters 15 vested 1n the rabbInIcal courts wIth the k1bbutz1m One non-Jew1sh professor sa1d to me I assume that a k1bbutz result that every Jew 1n Israel whether a c1t1zen or only a res1dent 1S has three d1mens10ns of belong1ng F1rst there 1S a personal d1mens10n ob11ged to marry or d1vorce accord1ng to halacha and through ceremon1es that 1S the degree to wh1ch a person can f1nd h1mself rea11ze h1s own recogn1zed by 1t potent1al h1s des1res Second there 1S thecommun~ty d1mens10n or the degree to wh1ch people are attracted to the qua11ty of commun1ty 11fe and Conservat1ve and Reform Juda1sm more w1despread 1n the D1aspora than 1n can f1nd themselves w1th1n 1t But S1nce I am a be11ev1ng Chr1st1an I would Israel are not recogn1zed at all as commun1t1es 1n the State For purposes say that these two factors are not enough w1thout a th1rd 1deal1st1c of ImmIgratIon and regIstratIon they are accepted as JewIsh on condItIon d1mens10n the degree to wh1ch the k1bbutz serves as a k1nd of V1S10n for that they meet the cr1ter1a of the Law of Return but to marry and d1vorce the people who 11ve there a goal above and beyond the1r own eX1stence It they must meet the cr1ter1a of the Israe11 rabb1n1cal court that 1S must 15 my Impress10n that you once had such a V1S1on Z10n1sm w1th 1tS have been born of Jew1sh mothers or converted 1n keep1ng w1th halacha as communal and soc1al 1deals and that as they grow weaker people leave def1ned by the Orthodox What has happened 1S that you have been overtaken by the cr1S1S pervad1ng all of Western soc1ety It 1S natural that many young people are leav1ng Is 1t poss1ble to alter a s1tuat10n -- wh1ch many people f.nd 1nsufferable Welcome to the club -- 1n wh1ch any non-Jew 1n the State of Israel the Jew1sh State may be 1 recognIzed by hIS relIgIous communIty wIthout preJudIce or dIscrImInatIon I do not accept that V1ew altogether I be11eve our s1tuat10n although whereas Jews do suffer such preJudlce and dIscrImInatIon? There IS one hardly sat1sfactory 18 better than Amer1ca s and we cannot allow our­ poss1b111ty for change a pract1cal po11t1cal poss1b111ty dny secular pdrLy selves what Amer1ca may be able to The rat10nal 1deology wh1ch was a k1nd WInnIng a maJorIty In the Knesset of guarantee of progress has turned 1nto a man1pulat1ve pragmat1sm wh1ch has underm1ned our ent1re program 1n the eyes of the young people we want to educate and the way of 11fe necessary to 1mplement 1t

The professor went on to ask What exc1tes your youngsters 1n today s k1bbutz movement? What do you say to them? Tell me 1n a few short sentences what you present to them to k1ndle the1r enthus1am -- beyond the cont1nu1ng po11t1cal man1pulat10n of the status quo wh1ch seems no longer to attract them What soc1al V1S10n can the State of Israel offer that w111 k1ndle the1r sense of purpose? / - 7 - - 6 -

The condItIon for makIng thIS attempt IS pluralIsm relIgIous pluralIsm -­ I bel1eve the answers to those quest10ns are connected w1th our subJect here not Just to accomodate Conservatlve and Reform Jews 1n Israel Of course we Perhaps we can beg1n wIth the negat1ve slde How to k1ndle young people In the kIbbutz movement would lIke them to come and have told them that 1S a complex problem but I know what turns them off If I am the secretary theIr status would be totally changed If they had kIbbutzIm here PrIncIpally of a k1bbutz and must counsel a glrl who wants to convert to Juda1sm 1n order we want plurallsrn to 1mbue our own educatlon wlth ernotlon excltement and to marry a k1bbutzn1k I have to tell her to l1e to the off1cIai 1nst1tut10ns wonder to free ourselves of manIpulatIve polItICS and perhaps even fInd of the state Who tells me to do that? The representat1ve of the state I the answer to what excItes them? We sorely need such qualItIes In our own mean there 1S a gentlemen s agreement between myself as secretary of the teach1ng We need relIgIous pluralIsm In Israel maInly to contInue to develop k1bbutz and the off1c1al w1th whom I am try1ng to solve the problem The our orIgInal Ideas -- In my case the Jewlshness of the kIbbutz and more ent1re state 1S run th1s way 1nclud1ng me as part of 1t Is th1S educat10nal? broadly the Jewlshness of the non-Orthodox sectors of the populatIon And Can th1s sltuat10n exc1te the young? Or perhaps does 1t cool them off? ConservatIve and Reform Jews have somethIng to learn about thIS from us not only we from them We speak w1th eleventh-graders 1n the k1bbutz movement and pose thIS quest10n A Cathol1c fam1ly wants to be accepted by the k1bbutz and agrees to do any­ I do not know what the Labor Movement would decIde for Instance If It had th1ng 1t asks -- turn over the1r money work 1n the f1elds and 1n the to make coalItIon calculatIons Maybe some matters are really too Important k1tchen do army serV1ce and so on They want only one th1ng to cont1nue to leave to the polItIcIans who by theIr very nature must compromIse But to be observant Cathol1cS If you were a member of the k1bbutz general there has to be a body of people who say that some thIngs are connected to assembly how would you vote and why? fundamental values whIch are practIcally absolute r

We get all k1nds of answers Some boys say What 1S Juda1sm? Juda1sm 1S We must provIde the people a varIety of opportunlt1es of pathways to faIth Rabb1 Goren That 1S not me So why 1S 1t 1mportant that th1S fam1ly be and the state must support them all On that there can be no compromIse I Jew1sh? But I remember an eleventh-grader at a k1bbutz on the Lebanese 1 don t know how much tIme IS needed for the country undoubtedly has other border whIch had been attacked by terrorIsts two weeks before our d1Scusslon ! urgent problems to deal wIth But there IS no doubt that the JudaIsm that After the prelImInary questIons we probed more deeply and asked Do you I emerges must be some comblnatlon of our own values and those of classlcal th1nk your kIbbutz could cont1nue to hold out If 1t were an ordInary commune JudaIsm adapted to local and current condItIons It WIll be our own sItuated anywhere? If It could why stay here? Why not reestablIsh 1t In orIgInal creatIon I do not accept the Idea that JudaIsm lithe sum total some other country some place more secure? And the reply to our questlon t of a certaIn generatIon s SolutIons to the problems of the contInued eXIstence about a CatholIc famIly was It s ImpossIble to accept them as members of the JewIsh people nor do I a kIbbutz member belIeve that the kIbbutz because the Klbbutz 15 a Jewlsh creatlon Impllclt 1n thlS answer 15 a I IS the sum total of SolutIons one generatIon found for problems concern1ng deflnlt10n of Juda1sm dIfferent from and 1n my op1nlon truer than the the contInued eXIstence of the kIbbutz Every generatIon has the rIght to accepted one The quest10n then IS how to clarIfy th1S def1nltlon of ! change thIngs but certaIn basIc prlnc1ples are IndIspensable There must JudaIsm so that It contInues to stIr the enthusIasm of the young the1r be some compromIse however and those who oppose It -- be they tradItIonalIst enthusIasm for the realIty In WhIch they 11ve I extrem1sts or so-called antI-tradItIonal 1St secular fanatIcs -- are opposed to the aIm Itself for It cannot be reached WIthout compromIse In the On Secular EducatIon fInal analysIs one test of Z10nlsm WIll be how well the polItIcal power derIVIng from JewIsh sovere1gnty can respond to the fundamental values of I remember a remark by the late Abraham Joshua Heschel Whoever teaches Judalsm Jewlsh hlstory wlthout conveYlng ltS wonder and awe 15 an unscrupulous teacher I belIeve that what has happened to secular educatIon In the State of Israel IS that we have stopped teach1ng the marvels of our past Professor Ze ev Falk Sen10r Lecturer Faculty of Law and present We have taught the archeology the anthropology the comparat1ve Hebrew Un1vers1ty of Jerusalem hIstory and many other thIngs about Jew1sh eXIstence but not ItS courage and marvelousness It 15 now clear that our reflnded secular ratlonallsm Before dIscussIng pluralIsm I should lIke to say a few words about termI­ 15 not enough wlthout the sense of wonder It cannot succeed and we must nology The EnglIsh term pluralIsm needs a Hebrew expressIon and I fhlnk agaIn take 1t Into account In formal and Informal educatIon we should choose a word that does not lffiltate ltS rneanlng In other cultures even that of the UnIted States but reflects our own sItuat10n I thInk that I am not speak1ng of God but of wonder and awe of the marvelous and of for us many-faceted IS better than pluralIstIc the need to teach our youngsters to search for It Jew1sh IdentIty IS a combInatIon of cognItIon and emotIon whIch must somehow be bUIlt Into our We must also deflne another far-from-clear term rel1g10us I doubt way of lIfe We must produce forms that reflect the vItalIty and Intense whether all those who speak of the need for pluralIsm regard themselves excItement as the very phenomenon of JudaISm forms deSIgned to create the as rellglous and we can dlSCUbS plurallsm only after we have clarifled Jewlshness we dreamed of -- a mlxture of rellg10usness and secularlsm I am what we have In common our consensus for wlth no common ground dISCUSSIon speakIng more of an orIentatIon to JewIsh faIth than the actual contents becomes all-out warfare It seems to me that we are close to such a SItuatIon of belIef tOday and that 1t makes the task of reachIng a SolutIon much more compl1- cated - 8 - - 9 -

The argument for tolerance may be based on one of two assurnpt10ns Most I prefer the th1rd solut10n for I be11eve we need a rabb1n1cal court and commonly 1t 1S based on relat1v1sm the V1ew that there 1S no absolute a rabb1nate that represents all sect10ns of the populat10n Of course the truth but such an argument w111 not W1n support for tolerance and 1mplementat10n would have to proceed hand-1n-hand w1th d1scuss10n and the plura11sm among those who are conv1nced that they have the exclus1ve sett1ng of standards but a common language m1ght be found at least by unassa11able truth The relat1v1st argument may sat1sfy the soc1ety s the maJor1ty of the pub11c through d1scuss10n 1nvolved 1n work1ng out those small coter1e of 1ntellectuals who are profess10nally comm1tted to standards However unless the proposal took 1nto account the spec1al skept1c1sm even w1th regard to themselves It cannot answer the needs sens1b111t1es regard1ng convers10nd1vorce and 111eg1t1macy 1t would be of a nat10n certa1nly not of a nat10n that must )ust1fy 1tS separate 1ncomplete and certa1n to be reJected eX1stence least of all the needs of Juda1sm F1nally our status quo was after all the foundat10n on wh1ch the State of The second course the one I be11eve we must adopt 1S to base plura11sm Israel was estab11shed the Z10n1st movement funct10ned and notw1thstand1ng on power whose archetype 1S the Lord H1mself If 1t were poss1ble to many centr1fugal forces the State somehow cont1nues to th1s very day cornb1ne tolerance w1th be11ef 1n a s1ngle exculs1ve truth wh1ch I possess Before we act to alter th1s s1tuat10n we must be very careful not to endanger we could escape from th1S V1C10US c1rcle Is 1t poss1ble? That 1S the what 1S and make sure the same cooperat10n among advocates of d1fferent quest10n here V1ews w111 carryon 1nto the future

It seems to me that any proposal must take 1nto account the needs and fee11ngs of all part1es We cannot speak of rel1g10us plura11srn w1thout Dr P1nhas Rosenblutt Lecturer Bar-Ilan Un1vers1ty Former D1rector referr1ng to the Jew1sh nature of the State of Israel to the mean1ng of of Rel1g1ous Sector of M1kve Israel Agr1cultural School Juda1sm 1n Israel to personal att1tudes towards 11leg1t1macy ~o the def1n1t10n of a Jew Aga1n 1t 1S not my own att1tude that matters but Under eX1st1ng c1rcumstances I favor a plura11st1c Juda1sm Juda1sm 1S not the degree to wh1ch my proposal w111 sat1sfy the needs and sens1b111t1es a rel1g10n ma1nly for ~nd~v~duals but for commun1ty so the quest10n here of all parts of the pub11c 1S not about metaphys1cal truth or fa1th 1n the accepted sense but about halacha and a way of 11fe As you know the anC1ent Sanhedr1n a supreme How to Ach1eve Equa11ty leg1s1at1ve and )ud1c1al body respons1ble for matters of state was made up of seventy men a number accord1ng to Nahrnan1des d1v1nely chosen because When we speak of equa11ty or d1scr1m1nat10n we must rea11ze that these 1t 1ncluded all op1n10ns (Numbers 11 16) terms have no mean1ng unless we state spec1f1cally what they refer to For the world 1S f111ed w1th 1nequa11ty there 1S no equa11ty between truth and However ever S1nce the Ernanc1pat10n our own s1tuat10n has been totally falsehood between two 1deas and two ph110soph1es Equa11ty eX1sts as a d1fferent Before that Juda1srn always 1ncluded a var1ety of op,n10ns and slogan only 1n several spec1f1c areas among themequa11ty of c1t1zens trends but what they had 1n common was f1de11ty to the halacha F1de11ty before the law equa11tY1n such dec1s10n-rnak1ng processes as elect10ns and depends on w111 on educat10n and hab1ts But far-reach1ng changes have so on The quest10n here 1S whether equa11ty between movements and 1deolog1es occurred S1nce the Ernanc1pat10n and the great ma)Or1ty of the Jew1sh people 1S poss1ble and the answer 1t seems to me can be reached only by th,s have ceased to conduct the1r 11ves accord1ng to the halacha In Israel and slow d1ff1cult route of e11m1nat10n For example I bel1eve there 1S no 1n the D1aspora the character of Jew1sh pub11c I1fe has changed has been 1mped1ment to the 1ntroduct10n of equa11ty 1nto matters of rel1g10us worsh1p empt1ed of content That 1S why for 1nstance Rabb1 Dav1d Hoffman one of and no )Ust1f1cat10n for 1nequa11ty between synagogues 1n matters of the great halakh~c author1t1es of the generat10n before our own and head of f1nanc1al support bur1al serV1ces the rabb1 s status the stand1ng of the Orthodox rabb1n1cal college of Ber11n ruled that a Jew who desecrated the commun1ty and so on On the other hand I feel we are far from be1ng the Sabbath 1n pub11c m1ght nevertheless be called up to read the Torah 1n a pos1t10n to propose changes 1n matters of converS10n and d,vorce but Rabb1 Hoffman was aware of a change 1n a halakh~c concept and felt that the I th1nk the res1stance to the performance of marr1age ceremon1es by non­ Sabbath-desecrat1ng Jew should be placed 1n the halakh1c category of an Orthodox rabb1s can be overcome 1nfant who was abducted and ra1sed by non-Jews

In my V1ew we must cons1der each and every proposal spec1f1cally a bas1c The Need for M1n1murn Standards law proposed to the Knesset to ensure equal r1ghts for the d1fferent trends 1n Juda1sm But every proposal should take 1nto account the ensu1ng relat10n­ Some re11g10us groups regard Israel as a state of Torah and halacha -- wh1ch sh1p w1th the rabb1n1cal courts We have several alternat1ves One 1S to 1S totally contrary to the rea11ty The result 1S a hypocr1sy that forces return to cond1t10ns s1m11ar to those before the estab11shrnent of the state people to deny the1r essent1al nature and to 11e The publ1c doma1n 1S when the author1ty of the re11g10us estab11shrnent was 11m1ted to those who secular even more than 1n the Un1ted States where the const1tut10nal chose to accept 1t Another would be to establ1sh parallel rabb1n1cal courts separat10n of church and state 1S carefully guarded Nevertheless no off1c1al for the var10US trends 1n Juda1sm The problem then would be to set m1n1murn ceremony 1n the U S 1S dev01d of some re11g10us act and that SU1tS the w1l1 standards -- w1thout wh1ch there would be chaos -- on the bas1s of pr1nc1ples of the rna)Or1ty -- a ma)Or1ty w111 that does not eX1st here recogn1zed by all A th1rd would be to set up a s1ngle compos1te body con­ s1st1ng of representat1ves of all the trends wh1ch aga1n would have to be supported by consensus and standards acceptable to all - 10 - - 11 -

Ne1ther can educat10n 1n Israel be un1form In my work as d1rector of the Yesterday however I almost lost h~art I was 1nv1ted to a SymPOS1um re11g10us sector at M1kve Israel -- the only place 1n the country where along w1th a rabb1 from Petah T1kva who Simply sald to me S1r we w111 two fully-developed schools one secular and one re11g10us eX1st s1de by remove you from the Jew1sh Commun1ty I am 1n favor of the proposed law s1de -- I managed to f1nd a common agreed-upon m1n1mum wh1ch recogn1zes g1v1ng recogn1tlon to the non-Orthodox movements Why? Because then we the d1fferences It was not easy but ne1ther were we s1mply br1dg1ng w111 know exactly where each of us stands But I have come to the con­ d~fferences of op~nl0n some of us were acceptlng new restrlctl0ns on our clus10n that we must be ne1ther deterred nor dlsmayed by taunts 11ke 1f way of 11fe such as publ1c observance of the Sabbath kashrut and so on you dec1de to become a separate re11g10us communlty that does not fr1ghten Therefore the State of Israel cannot by leg1s1atlon 1mpose a re11g10us us Therefore I once adv1sed our members Let s say yes to them that way of 11fe upon 1tS 1nhab1tants certa1nly not upon Jews ln the D1aspora we do want to be a separate re11g10us sect 11ke the Kara1tes We want them It can only determ1ne off1clal days of rest and 1ssue elementary d1rect1ves to recogn1ze our r1ght to conduct separate courts to conduct our own on laws of mar1tal status over wh1ch the rabb1nate has author1ty re11g10us 11fe Let us see then who w111 choose Orthodoxy rather than Progress1ve or Conservat1ve Juda1sm A step 11ke that reqUires dar1ng but We must also accept plural1sm 1n marl tal law and set a commOn mlnlrnum I be11eve the t1me for 1t has come standard for all the rel1g10us trends In contrast to thelr past att1tudes many Jews 1n the Reform movement no longer try to deny Jew1sh trad1tl0n 1n order to adapt to the1r surround1ngs noW they seek a way back to the Rabb1 Jack Cohen, B na1 Br1th H1llel Foundat1on halacha We should negot1ate w1th the representat1ves of the dlfferent trends to estab11sh a m1n1mum common standard that d1sregards organ1zat10nal Can what we are seeklng to do be accomp11shed by the Knesset wh1ch 1S not barr1ers It may be poss1ble for example to f1nd a b1nd1ng common denom­ a Jew1sh body 1n the full sense of the term? Can we delegate to a body 1n lnator on the lssue of rnarrlage or even cOnverSlon WhlCh 15 less complex wh1ch non-Jews part1c1pate the author1ty to dec1de who 1S and who 1S not a than the lssue of d1vorce In that sp1r1t Rabb1 A Kook orda1ned the late I Jew? Rabb1 Kurt W11helm of the Movement for Progress1ve Juda1sm w1th author1ty t to conduct marrlages 1n Jerusalem And although some 1nfluent1al Orthodox \ As I see 1t 1f we want to Solve th1s problem we have no alternat1ve but leaders have declared unequ1vocally that 1t would be better not to have to ask whether the halakhlc concept10n of author1ty 1n the Jew1sh commun1ty prayers at all than to estab11sh Reform synagogues certa1nly one must can be va11d 1f the overwhelm1ng ma)Or1ty 1n the nat10n has already lost not oppose prayer serV1ces by the var10US rellg10us trends 1n Israel We the menta11ty upon wh1ch halacha 1S based? W1thout a clear answer to th1s should encourage the establ1shment of all synagogues quest10n further d1scussl0n 1S fut11e so I am ask1ng the part1c1pants for the1r op1n10ns It appears that most re11g10usly-observant part1c1pants 1n th1s d1scuss10n have accepted the eX1stence of the dlfferent trends although they have suggested sett1ng 11m1ts on the1r author1ty and would 11ke more clar1f1- Dr Amnon Hadar1, Ed1tor FORUM publ1shed by the ~Jorld Z10n1st catl0n concernlng thlS matter Organ1zat10n

In d,scuss1ng plura11sm we must adm1t that there 1S a Jew1sh d11emma N1SS1m El1ad Cha1rman Movement for Progress1ve Juda1sm 1n Israel Juda1sm 1S 1ntolerant and author1tar1an so the modern Jew 1S caught 1n perpetual tens10n between want1ng to be democrat1c 11beral and tolerant I am a man of great fa1th and I am certa1n that the wellspr1ngs of Juda1sm on the one hand and on the other want1ng to be a Jew who nourishes h1s w111 eventually preva11 over all the d1ff1cultles confront1ng our generat10n Juda1sm from the sources of trad1t10n Th1s 1S a modern problem notw1th­ stand1ng the anC1ent proverb both these and those are the words of the I once compla1ned to some members of the Orthodox establlshment about the1r liVing God At that t1me the d1fference was between two fact10ns 1n one 1nfluence on youth Instead of br1ng1ng the a11enated closer to Juda1sm school of sages all of whose members 11ved accordlng to halacha Later on I sa1d you are a11enatlng those already 1nvolved because you offer no th1s same school handed down the very 1ntolerant ru11ng that the Karaltes solut10ns to the problems of th1s generation That 1S why I found my place were not Jews And there were many lnstances when one Jewlsh factlon 1n the Movement for Progress1ve Juda1sm wh1ch I feel is str1v1ng to prov1de betrayed another to the Russ1an Czar s off1c1als That hardly speaks for answers to the needs of a developlng and chang1ng soc1ety a trad1t10n of plura11sm

I was happy to hear what professor Falk had to say I know that the problem S1nce Juda1sm was not at all plura11st1c 1n the past I propose another of Jewishness 1S very complex I am prepared to follow the path of moderat1on more t1mely def1n1t10n Whatever Jews do that lS Juda1sm Just as the and I should 11ke to be able to Sit down to talk w1th h1m because we have a Juda1sm of the Second Temple was what Jews of that t1me d1d and the Judalsm very substantial common bond And I th1nk the Movement for Progress1ve of the M1ddle Ages what Jews d1d then so Juda1sm ln the State of Israel 1S Judalsrn has an answer to questlons of ldeallsm andsplrltual renewal of what the ma)Or1ty of Jews here are d01ng today If you want to know what Israe11 soc1ety Judalsm 15 1n fact not 1n deflnltlon by norrnatlve crlterla go out and see what the people are d01ng The fact 1S that even secular Jews conduct some sort of Passover Seder but do not put on phylacterles Conduct1ng the Seder 1S an act of free w111 but phylacter1es are belng forced on people some­ t1mes 1n traln stat10ns aqa1nst the1r w1ll That 1S today s Juda1sm - 12 - - 13 -

1 d at least that In JudaIsm the emphasIs Even the orthodox wIll acknow e ge d the State of Israel? A tIny mInorIty Here I agree wlth Dr Jack Cohen who argues that the state lS unable to d d What then do Jews 0 In lS on the ee and the ma]Or1ty carryon wlth occaslonal less-than- solve thlS problem The state can create unlty 1n state affalrs but not are strlctly observant th 1D reilglon All It can do there 15 to glve the varlOUS rellglons uDlfarm punctl1l0US observance The sum total of all tne rellg10uS act~vlty e legal footlng that lS make the communlty of Progresslve Judalsm equal to rna orlty s and the mlnorlty s produces a klnd of Judalsm WhlC ~~ ~~akh~c the Greek Orthodox or Lat1n or Assyr1an communlty That would mean flnal r~ctlce plurallsm Plurallsm lS nelther a de Jure endorsement ~uthorltY nor an asplratl0n to vlslonary latter-day tolerance It 15 a dls1ntegrat10n of the very unlty we wlsh to create What would happen then lf a Jew wlshed to convert from Reform Judalsm to Juda1sm of another k1nd? socl010glcal sltuatlon of de facto mutual acceptance So th,S alternat1ve would not solve anythlng It would only Intenslfy the oval to thlS klnd of tolerance lS problem Whether or not the Knesse t gIves ltS appr the Knesset s problem but fal1ure to endorse what lS happenlng anyway wl11 be a permanent blot on ltS escutcheon It lS true that today under our non­ The Labor Party has now come up wlth another grand proposal to Invest halakh~c government there are thleves and murderers but It was also true 1D Reform rabbls too w1th the authorlty to perform marrlages But what would the tradltlonal Jewlsh Vl11age communltles of Eastern Europe and even ln the 1 result? Orthodox Jews would malnta1n that such marrlages were not valld We Holy Land durlng the tlme of the Second Temple Such thlngs have always can of course lntroduce c1v1l marr1age but th~t would not be recogn1t10n 1 eXlsted of all trends ln Judalsm only a shlft of the problem of unlty to the legal plane Let me conclude wlth a personal story I was a member of a klbbutz when my f oldest boy Oren was approachlng thlrteen When my father asked me what klnd In sum every re11g1on 1S a un1forrn norrnat1ve system that cannot accept of Bar-Mltzvah my son would have I replled that lnaddltlon to the ]Olnt group plurallsm And here we come to the case of the glrl whom the klbbutz secretary ceremony Your grandson my son would llke to be called up to read the had to adVlse to 11e when she wanted to convert to Judalsm Yes that lS the Torah whlch was not accepted practlce ln the klbbutz at the tlme Lcoklng prlce one has to pay I am certalnly aware that th,S lS an Od,0US state of at me dubl0usly my father asked how I lntended to arrange such a thlng affalrs and I also know about the problems created by the fact that un1form Oren wlll be called up to the Torah at a synagogue ln the nearby town of converSlon lS the only way to safeguard the unlty of the natlon The pr1ce Naharlya I answered He has already begun to prepare for It My father lS very hlgh and I understand those who do not want to pay lt but the shook hlS head ln dlsapproval I don t thlnk you should go through wlth lt 1nC1Slve questlon 15 whether decentrallzatlon w11l be a solutlon or w111 It w11l only produce a SpIlt ln the boy s conSClousness a dlchotomy between we have to go'on wlth today s pragmatlc lf unattract1ve procedures be1ng a Jew and belng a klbbutznlk Then what do you propose we no? I asked Why not let Oren read from the Torah at the klbbutz ltself he suggested But how? There lS no Torah scroll ln the klbbutz Then I Avraharr Aderet Member Klbbutz Ayelet Hashahar wlll donate one my father sald That show lt was and the ceremony took place as planned How does th,S I should llke to say somethlng about the agenda In my op,n,on we were off anecdote bear on our dlScusslon? It lilustrates what I have been saylng that the mark ln maklng plural1sm the pOlnt of departure for our d,Scusslon We popular rellgl0n borrows somethlng from here and somethlng from there must deal w1th some bas1c prlmary questlons before we d,SCUSS the problem creatlng a new snycretlc lntegratlon WhlCh sanctlfles the new and reJuvenates of plurallsm ln Judalsm the Dlaspora and the State of Israel ThlS pre- the old Thereln l,es ltS strength 11mlnary lnqulry lS 1mportant because lt can help us f1nd the common ground of those gathered here on several questlons of the form and dlrectl0n for Professor Y1tzchak Englard Faculty of Law Hebrew Unlverslty Juda1sm of Jerusalem What was Judalsm s role ln the non-OrthodoxZlonlst utop1a? What attempts were Untrammeled plurallsm means anarchy everythlng dlslntegrates But lf I under­ made at the varlOUS stages of Zlonlst fulfll1ment to create a new Jew1sh 11fe stand correctly what most of the partlclpants have been saylng that lS not style? How was Jewlsh ldentlty expressed ln the l,ves of lndlvlduals and of thelr lntentlon What they are advocatlng 15 that wlthln a unlfled framework soclety? How dld the Zlonlst revolutl0n affect the way people related to the there be certaln varlatlons It emerges then that the plurallsm they seek Blble and other Jew1sh sources? What about the efforts to glve new forms to lS nothlng but a dlfferent kInd of unlty Not even Progresslve Judalsm maln­ the Sabbath and the fest1vals ln the unfoldlng Jew1sh soclety ln Eretz Israel? [ I~ talDS that Judalsm 15 lndlscrlrnlnately all-lncluSlve It too draws boundarles even though the l,nes dIffer from those of halakhlc JudaIsm We must thoroughly examlne these and other questlons before we proceed to d,SCUSS plural1sm -- that lS 1tS formal framework -- from the standpo1nt of the state constltul0n and the relatlons of the dlfferent Jewlsh trends w,th,n lt For one may rlghtly ask why we have met here Are we a meetlng that wl11 lssue a declaratl0n on the need to change the law concernlng who lS a Jew? If that were so we could qUlckly reach agreement Those gathered here wl11 certa1nly agree on the necesslty eo change eXlstlng law ln th,S matter I but our ma1n problem 1S not how we can reach such a(consensus but what we would do the day after the law had changed Between ourselves lS 1t only II ~I I I - 14 - - 15 -

the law that stands 1n the way of non-Orthodox Jew1sh act1v1t1es? Are the Jewlsh soclety? We must com~ to grips w1th these lssues wlthout delay eX1st1ng law and the rabb1n1cal estab11shment wh1ch 1S dependent on the Ch1ef certalnly before we deal wlth the lmportant formal issue of how we can Rabb1nate solely to blame for our meager educat10nal sp1r1tualand Jew1sh­ flesh out and flrmly secure our alMS and asp,ratlons wlth1n the fr~ework communal actlv1t~es? Let us admIt It the reason why there are so few JewIsh of law and publlC 11fe ln the State of Israel actlvltles In non-Orthodox JewIsh communItIes IS fIrst and foremost our own Internal w~akness a lack of creatIve InItIatIve among Jews who dIsagree w1th the rabb1n1cal estab11shment True the law can encourage and ass1st Menahern Harturn Edltor of TORAT HAYYIM

I such act1v1ty but the law alone 1S not to blame I I was dlsturbed by the word plurallsm and am no happler now wlth the II Moshe Kerem has sa1d that we must reveal the wonder and marvel of Juda1sm eplthets rellglous and secular Rellglous plurallsm already eXlsts ln to our youth But w1ll revea11ng the wonder and marvel solve the problem? Israel and 1t lncludes three trends Jews who feel that all of the halacha Does the power and attract10n of Judaism stem from its be1ng full of wonder? obllgates them others who be11eve that none of lt does and in between Is the reluctance of the young to be 1nvolved 1n Juda1sm expla1ned by our those who accept only certaln parts and malntaln that lt should be changed fa11ure to show them th1s wonder and marvel ? Juda1sm 1S a way of l1fe accord1ngly based on pr1nclples sp1r1tual values and a develop1ng trad1tlon and what have we to say about them today? These are the questions we must deal w1th In the past Judalsm embraced numerous vlewpolnts but it was always agreed before we beg1n to exam1ne the law that practlce had to be unlform but today there are Jews who belleve that dIversIty IS permItted In relIgIOUS practIce as well In my VIew one reason Some time ago wh11e leaf1ng through the protocols of the ear11est Z10nlst why we at thlS meetlng have not dlscovered common groundls that we have congresses I was shocked by the sp1r1tual hollowness of what the moderators turned Judalsm 1nto a rellg10n that is 1nto Sabbath observance dietary were say1ng In those protocols the early Zlon1st movement appears to be laws phylacterles and so on We have completely overlooked what Hlilel an organ1zat10n cut off from the creat1ve and 1dea11st1cworldof generat10ns the Elder consldered to be the essence of Torah namely the rellgl0us pre­ of Jews who were allenated from thelryearn1ngsand dreams An aberratlon cepts bear1ng on man s relat10ns wlth hlS fellow man Juda1sm 1S not to be forgetfulness? Or a symptom of a deep-rooted def1c1ency the fru1ts of wh1ch equated With marrlage and dlvorce kashrut and Shabbat 1t lS first and we reap today? Is there not a connect10n between that def1clency 1n ear11er foremost the obllgatlons of a Jew to hiS neighbor Z10n1sm and many phenomena ln our creatlve and intellectual Jew1sh Ilfe today? These matters call for study and reflectlon If we accept thlS understandlng of Judalsm we may be able to f1nd a basls for cooperat10n We could collectlvely devote ourselves to examln1ng Jewlsh It seems to me that our COplOUS repetitiOUS talk of the need for plura11st1c sources to flnd what behavlor lS demanded of man ln hlS relatlons w1th Judaism ln Israel 1S an attempt to cover upour sp1rltual helplessness Is soc1ety wlth the state wlth hlS natlon and hlS country We could select 1t the lackof a law sanctl0n1ng plurallsm that prevents our educatlng the ldeas and guldellnes from these sources and translate them 1nto the language young as we please or organIZIng communItIes or prayIng our way WIth our of everyday Ilfe We mlght achleve unltyw1th regard to pract1ce and reta1n own prayer books? Does anyone keep us from educat1ng the youth movements plurallsm 1n the realm of bellef and ldeas accord1ng to the Juda1sm we flnd congenlal? Who can prevent our g1vlng Jewlshllfe a dlfferentform fromwhat Orthodoxy accepts our creatlng a new For generatlons the tendency was to look for the strlcter ruling 1n matters trad1tl0n 1n several areas of Jew1sh Ilfe for holldays and weekdays? Dwelling of halacha because lt was belleved that strlngency ensured that no element among my people ln the klbbutz movement I Vlew w1th anxlety the decllne ln of tradltlon would be lost But why should we not seek more lenient halakh~c the new holldays we created out of the rea11ty of llfe ln thlS country I decls10ns and yet ln no way 1mpalr our loyalty to halacha? Slnce all the see how they are be1ng emptled of content how from year to year they arouse precepts and regulatlons of Juda1sm (except ln SlX instances) are based on less and less response among klbbutz members desplte the vltal need for a the len1ent dec1s10ns and lnterpretatlons by the school of Hillel there lS drop of splrltual exper1ence in the sea of profaneness that engulfs us And I no need to choose between the schools of H1l1el and Shammal Whoever wants you ask yourself What lS happenlng to us? How sad that our new festlvals to follow the strlcter rule is free to do so but when we are shaplng the wlther and dlsappear' Were they not rooted truly and flrmly ln the reallty life of a communlty and a state 1n the sprllt of the halacha we are obliged of our new llves in th1s land? ThiS sltuatlon too calls for frank resolute to seek and adopt the more moderateru11ngs self-crltlclsm and careful study Therefore the chief responslbll1tlY of the observant Jew is to be true to These are my thoughts -- and the questlons on our agenda It has become the halacha and at the same time foster plurallsm and relate wlth brotherly clear to me that we must flrst learn more about the course followed by non­ affect10n to all the people of Israel Orthodox Jewry towards Zlon1st goals How dld the founders of the Zlonlst movement vlsual,ze the shape and dlrectlon of Jewlsh Ilfe in an lndependent Jewlsh state? What can we learn from the experlence of several generatlons of men and women ln th1s country who devoted themselves to mak1ng a JeWish way of Ilfe outs1de the Orthodox mold? What answers have we for the eXlstent1al splrltual and cultural perplexltlesthatplague the Jewlsh lndlvldual and - 17 - - 16 -

Dr Cohen posed an excellent quest10n but Juda1sm has never dec1ded 1t Professor Ephra1m Urbach Cha1rman Inst1tute of Jew1sh Stud1es Dest1ny has decreed that the one and only element that d1st1ngu1shes Israel Hebrew Un1vers1ty of Jerusalem from other nat10ns and Juda1sm from other creeds 1S the halacha noth1ng else We shure theolog1cal eth1cal and moral values w1th the fa1thful of Hav1ng f1rst part1C1pated 1n such d1scuss1ons more than th1rty years ago all re11g1ous commun1t1es among the nat10ns but 1t 1S the halacha that perhaps I have noth1ng new to add I want to state only that the un1fY1ng sets us apart element 1n the Zlonlst movement was Z10nlsm and not Judalsm ThlS lssue , was an lnnovatlon of Z10nlsm before that tlme non-rellg1ous Jews (the The Problems of Plura11sm term secular was never used then) or those who d1d not 1dent1fy ~1th ," , re11g1ous Jewry had noth1ng 1n common w1th other Jews W1th1n the framework We 11ve w1th a twofold tragedy F1rst so-called secular Jewry has not yet of Z10n1sm and the Z1on1st 1dea a partnersh1p was formed between observant found 1tS way to Juda1sm It w111 prove useless for the Knesset to dec1de and non-observant Jews but 1t was not Juda1sm that un1ted them 1t d1v1ded I that the d1fferent movements are equal and as a fr1endly gesture I adv1se them The b1g argument among observant Jews was whether or not to J01n the : I var10US trends not to seek 1tS seal of approval The Knesset 1S not a body Z10nlsts that sanct10ns theolog1cal re11g10us and halakh~c V1ews Ben Gur10n was r1ght when he sa1d that Israel 1S a state of law It leg1s1ates 1n many I have cop1ed out several sentences from Ahad Ha am wh1ch relate spec1f1cally areas but not on 1ssues of be11ef and 1deology nor 1n the area of halacha to re11g1on One of the great shortconungs of our educat~onal system ~n When the state does act 1n these matters 1t 1S for purely po11t1cal reasons Eretz Israel he wr1tes ~s the lack of a proper understand~ng of ~ts re­ l~g~ous element The reason for ~t ~s that the maJor~ty of Z~on~sts rejected Second the problem of re11g1ous Jewry -- I am not speak1ng of those the Jew~sh framework of the ghetto and cons~dered rel~g~ous trad~t~on to be Orthodox Jews who reJect the state -- 1S to conduct the nat10n and them­ a h~ndrance What was lack~ng was the necessary gradual trans~t~on to ensure selves as observant Jews w1th1n the bounds of the halacha reasonable progress from slavery to freedom occas~onally that freedom turned ~nto l,cense In th1s passage Ahad Ha am foresaw what was actually to Plura11sm (now a k1nd of mag1c word) 1S not Just1f1ed under all c1rcumstances happen later It creates 1tS own problems for one cannot always respond to a good and des1rable cause w1thout preJud1c1ng another that 1S no less good and no less When I arr1ved here 1n 1938 my f1rst Job was at the non-re11g10us Hebrew des1rable Actually our Sages may have been referr1ng to th1s truth when Secondary School of Rehav1a 1n Jerusalem At that school we cons1dered they sa1d that wherever there ~s Just~ce there ~s no char~ty ~f there re11g10us Jewry and the Jew1sh fa1th to be completely obsolete the remnants ~s char~ty there ~s no Just~ce And about peace and Just1ce they sa1d of Orthodoxy surv1v1ng 1n the Mea She ar1m quarter of Jerusalem and elsewhere where there ~s Just~ce there ~s no peace and where there ,s peace there were consldered to be so many museum pleces not I1vlng expresslons of ~s no ]Ustlce Jewlsh communal eXlstence We must 11ve w1th these problems In some s1tuat10ns the law must penetrate Allow me to recall another exper1ence th1s t1me dur1ng the 1960s I fre­ the mounta1n and 1n others we need comprom1se that 1S Just1ce and char1ty quently v1s1ted k1bbutz1m and one even1ng I lectured at E1n Hashofet The Just1ce and peace The boundar1es between them depend on the goodw111 of next day I gave a sold1er from the k1bbutz a 11ft back to h1s army base people who must execute the dec1s1ons I be11eve that such personal goodw111 You know he told me unt11 I J01ned the army and met re11g1ous Jews I eX1sts 1n all sectors of Israel s pub11c 11fe and must be encouraged -- but be11eved a re11g10us Jew was some odd be1ng from another planet I had been w1thout self-delus1on or any 1ntent to 1ntroduce extraneous matters through taught S1nce k1ndergarten to regard the Orthodox type of Jew as a very strange plura11sm creature

A very great gulf separated the secular from the re11g10us When the State Dr M1chael Cor1nald1 Attorney Lecturer on Law Tel AV1V of Israel was estab11shed 1t had endless problems to deal w1th and solve Un1vers1ty But let us not dece1ve ourselves When Ben Gur10n and h1s COlleagues agreed As 1S well known the Kara1tes conduct a separate court w1th nO legal stand1ng that all marr1ages 1n Israel would be conducted accord1ng to the halacha -- a s1tuat10n clearly estab11shed by the Supreme court In rea11ty however It was not a conceSSlon or submlss10n to rellglous Jewry but a declslon the estab11shment does recogn1ze the Kara1te court by prov1d1ng budget for taken on non-re11g10us nat10nal-Z10n1st grounds spec1al r1ghts or sympathy ltS Judges reglsterlng the dlvorces It grants and so on When an lssue 19 for Orthodox Jewry were not the 1ssue The truth 1S as Moshe Kerem has brought to the H1gh Court of Just1ce the estab11shment comes and says It sa1d that Z10n1sm 1S now t1red enervated and more aware of the problem 1S a pragmat1c solut10n Why do the Kara1tes need off1c1al status? We recog­ of lts Judalsm and there 15 a measure of progress 1n our belng aware of It n1ze them The M1n1stry of the Inter10r reg1sters the1r dec1s1ons What we Re11g1ous Z1on1sts whom I cons1der to be apart from ord1nary Orthodox Jews have here 1S a false and hypocr1t1cal S1tuat10n wh1ch must be uprooted once have the1r own problem wh1ch 1S how to resolve the complex1t1es of modern and for all If the state recogn1zes the Kara1tes the1r commun1ty should be 11fe how to conduct a twent1eth-century state along the 11nes set by the g1ven full recogn1t1on and allowed to 11ve 1n 1tS own way accord1ng to 1tS halacha I' own fa1th - 19 - - 18 -

It 1S true that about ten students d1d not part~c~pate and left qu~etly Moreover there ~s plural~sm w~th~n the halacha for example the d~sagree­ and unobtrus~vely The remarkable th~ng however was that four of the s~x ment between the schools of H~llel and Sharnrna~ over forb~dden marr~ages accompany~ng teachers left they were not prepared to )01n thatO,nstruct~ve the M~shna spec~f~cally states that members of the two schools ~ntermarr~ed experIence r (M Yebamoth 1 4 Both these and those are the words of the l~v~ng God ) So there ~s ~ndeed plural~sm ~n the halacha and we must f~nd the common OUr educat10nal real~ty wh~ch began w~th cutt1ng off earlocks and cont1nues denom~nator of all the movements w~th~n th~s framework I bel~eve that w~th cutt~ng every relat10nsh~p to trad~t~on troubles me greatly 1t ~s the rabb~n~cal wr~t of d~vorce and a su~table ketuba would be acceptable not r~ght that all general schools should be automat~cally secular How ~s to Conservat~ve and Reform Jews and therefore agreeable to all s~des ~t that ch1ldren from a trad~t10nal fam~ly ~n a development town can study ~n two very d1fferent educat~onal frameworks some ~n re11g10us and the others 1n secular schools? I know that ~n the current pol~t~cal cl~mate ZV1 Zameret Pr1nc1pal Danz1ger ComprehenS1ve H1gh School ~t ~s a dream to suppose we can do away w~th separate rel~g10us and general K1ryat Shemona educat10nal trends but I want to go on dream~ng espec~ally about trad~t~onal ne1ghborhoods And unt~l the system of separate educat~onal trends ~s d~s­ I have been pr~nc~pal of the K~ryat Shemona H~gh School for the past four cont~nued I hope that w~th the help of those gathered here trad1t~onal years In the town plural~sm ~s read~ly ev~dent the res~dents usually schools -- Wh1Ch have begun to rece~ve leg1t1macy from the M1n~stry of make no dlstlnctl0n between rellg10us and secular The dlvlslon Imported Educat~on -- w~ll be strengthened Those schools should produce a d~fferent from an early Z~on~st Congress wh~ch has f~ltered through the pol~t~cal att1tude towards rel1g10n and trad~t10n w~ll ~nculcate tradIt~onal values part~es today does not ex~st ~n half the populat~on of the State of Israel and themes cons~stent w~th the att~tudes of so many people 1n Israel I have learned how art~f~c~al ~t ~s ~n my work ~n the development towns

In my many talks w~th my students about the~r att~tudes towards rel~g~on and Just1ce ZV1 Berenson trad~t~on I used to ask them among other th~ngs a s~mple quest~on Would you descr~be yourself as rel~g~ous or secular? And most of them repl~ed I have been follow~ng th,S d1Scuss~on w~th great Interest but no one has I am trad~t~onal In the~r da~ly l~ves they expressed th~s att~tude ~n addressed the aspect of the subJect I dealt w~th earlIer namely the legal many ways -- ~n Shabbat observances fest~vals fam~ly celebrat~ons mourn- realIty Perhaps ~t was to be expected because as Professor Kl~nghoffer 1ng and so on But we are forcIng on many students an educatIonal and suggested to me I descr~bed a legal sltuatlon someth~ng that does not lend cultural or~entat~on that does not correspond to the~r att~tudes We g~ve Itself to argument The only quest~on ~s whether the s~tuat~on ~s good or I' them a purely secular educat~on d~fferent ~n essence from what they get at bad whether ~t can be altered how and so on Therefore I have no comment I horne The_schools we force upon them are empty of all Jew~sh trad~t~on on the legal aspect of our theme ~ndeed we are scornful of any pos~t~ve att~tude they show to ~t The maJor~ty of the teach~ng staff corne from homes to wh~ch rel~g~on ~s fore~gn and the ExclUSIVIty versus Tolerance content of the~r teach~ng ~s devo~d of all fa~th 1 But I should lIke to read several sentences I wrote on another occaSIon Here ~s an example of the educat~onal ~nJust~ce I have ment~oned and the but wh~ch bear on the present dlScuss~on and debate d~fference ~n mood between teachers and students I recently took a tr~p w~th my eleventh grade students on a Nat~onal Serv~ce day devoted to the Every rel~g~on ~s ~n essence and by nature exclus~v~stlc subJect of Jew~sh cont~nu~ty ~n the Gal~lee We v~s~ted the synagogue at and Jealously concerned WIth ~ts ~nstItutIonal well-be~ng Pek~~n and had a very ~nterest~ng conversat~on w~th the Z~nat~ fam~ly and that of ~ts adherents No rellg~on ~s suffIc~ently tolerant wh~ch deeply moved the students who felt a strong ~ndent~f~cat~on w~th them of other creeds and all regard them as forms of Idolatry When to my great surpr~se the students suddenly suggested that as an ex­ In some cases the Intolerance ~s pass~ve but In others press~on of cont~nu~ty they m~ght conduct a prayer serv~ce ~n the Pek~~n It 15 actlve and aggresslve there were the Iel~g~ous wars synagogue I must adm~t I d~dn t know how to react I had grown up ~n a of the Prophet Mohammed and the forced ~mpos~t~on of h~s work~ng class ne~ghborhood ~n a m1ddle-s1zed town and my educat~on had been fa~th on the peoples he conquered the ~gnonun~ous Crusades somewhat s~m~lar to that of the k~bbutzn~k Professor Urbach ment~oned so wh~ch perpetrated massacres of the Jews of Europe the I stood somewhat as~de very tense I had no ~dea that a group of some one sangu~nary rel~g~on-~nsplred Hundred Years War among the hundred students could so easIly organIze the Impresslve afternoon prayer nat~ons of Europe ~n the 16th and 17th centur~es -- all of serVIce I wItnessed There were not enough prayer books to go around but wh~ch test~fy to the destruct~ve power of rel~g~ous ~ntolerance most of the youngsters knew the prayers by heart and several boys rose w~th­ nothw~thstand~ng that rel~g~on ~s $upposed to brIng salvatIon out hes1tat10n to conduct the serv~ce W1th complete ease the boys )o~ned peace and tranqu~l~ty to the world the g1rls and they prayed together No part~t10n

i - 20 - - 21 -

S~nce the dawn of mank~nd there has been no end to the We must educate the young ln that dlrectlon and lt lS over what baslc values bloodlett~ng -- persecut~on massacres local wars ~nter­ wlth thelr varlatlons -- to lnculcate that we are dlvlded But there lS natlonal confl~cts -- all due ~n the ma~n to the fanat~c~s~ an unmlstakable framework of thlngs we want to do both for bellevers and and lntolerance t~at nearly always accompany rel~glous non-bel levers 1n the ordlnary sense of these terms fa~th Each creed belleves that lt alone possesses dlv~ne ~ truth as we can see even today In the unremltt~ng host~l~t~es A flnal questlon Someone sald I was speaklng about truth theologlcal between Cathol~cs and Protestants ~n northern Ireland truth not a way of llfe Obvl0usly I have not been understood correctly Both Chr~st~anlty and Islam the two great rel~glons based I belleve that secular Zlonlsm at whose center the klbbutz movement felt on bel~ef ~n one God and one prophet were fragmented ~n lself to be was concerned wlth a way of 11fe and not only theologlcal or the course of tlme spl~tt~ng up lnto numerous sects and rellglous truth I dlscussed what people must do every day accordlng to denomlnat~ons no less host~le to each other than are totally very practlcal commandments And lf we are to speak of the halacha we can argue over whether or not klbbutz 11fe lS a 11fe of halacha -- though not dlfferent rel~glons the same halacha -- but llfe ln a klbbutz lS a commltment to a pattern of And now I should 11ke to read a sentence that deserves speclal emphasls dally conduct based on set prlnclples

We are fortunate then that by comparlson Juda~sm desp~te Our attltude lS that baslc Judalsm obllges us to do somethlng not merely ltS dlfferent currents has malntalned ~ts un~queness and to belleve and you wll1 be saved Therefore lf we want to try to bUlld part~cularlty and the Jewlsh people ~ts un~ty over the a 11fe of halacha 1n that sense then we wll1 1n a certa1n measure contlnue centur~es And only through mutual understandlng and tolerance the tradltlonal halakh~c halacha And there wll1 be new halakhot dlctated w~ll we be able to ~nsure that unlty In the future by the reallty of Israell soverelgnty after 2 000 years of eXlle

Such mutual understandlng and tolerance must also be fostered among the On thlS lssue one must not ln my oplnl0n compromlse wlth the Orthodox or varl0US falths ln Israel so that they may malntaln to the fullest thelr anyone else for otherwlse there wll1 be no lnternal myth to hold the rlght to freedom of bellef freedom of conSClence and freedom of rellglous publlC together We are speaklng here of very expllclt matters -- for worshlp Partlcularly lf we are to 11ve here ln true peace and brotherhood lnstance why should I stay In Israel? And I am speaklng of the seventy the members of each falth must have no small measure of respect under­ to elghty percent of the populatl0n who cannot be lncluded ln a rellglous standlng and tolerance for the convlctl0ns and Vlews underlYlng the framework I am not saylng that the weakness of a blndlng myth lS the respectlve ways of 11fe of thelr fellows Wlthout that the best laws sale reason why so many people emlgrate from Israel but we cannot 19nore not even a constltutl0n wll1 help the statlstlcal correlatl0ns ln all the studles deallng wlth emlgratl0n

Moshe Kerem Professor Ze'ev Falk ; r In my oplnlon we have here an artlflclal attempt to lmpose an Amerlcan I understand that the legal lssue lS the slmpler aspect of the problem Our reallty on the Israell scene We have been speaklng of a socl010glcal falth baslc concern 15 on the splrltual plane a communlty dlvlslon of Amerlcan Jewry lnto the three maln groups But to my understandlng Israell soclety lS structured qUlte dlfferently The What ought to unlte and move us toward plurallsm lS the awareness that we are dlV1Sl0ns between the publlC and the soclal are not the same nor do the ln the grlp of a severe crlS1S that can be overcome only by the comblned dlfferences among Z10nlst partles ln Israel correspond to those In Amerlca force of us all -- ln a klna of ldeal competltlon where each contrlbutes The same applles to rellglous dlstrlbutlon Both Israel and the ,AmerlCan a personal effort The perceptl0n that our separate efforts are llffilted that Dlaspora must outgrow thlS tendency to Vlew one communlty as a carbon copy no slngle person can salve everythlng that we need each ather lf we are to of the other and begln to thlnk about speclflcally Israell characterlstlcs hold our ground can provlde a pos1tlve baS1S for plural1sm Plural1sm lS about our real problems and not seek exact parallel concerns on the not the grant1ng of rlghts by leglslators or anyone else 1t 1S the reallza­ I tl0n that each of our separate efforts can be only part1ally effect1ve that I other slde \ no one person can offer a total Solut10n At the beglnnlng of thlS SymPOSlum I sald that what bothered me was that the ma]Orlty of Jews I1vlng 1n Zlon were nelther Conservatlve nor~Reform The d1scusslan here may serve to make each of us as we return to our nor orthodox At one tlme the ma]Orlty were secular Zlonlsts but no longer respectlve act1v1ty and work see ourselves 1n some measure as part of a today as I see lt they are nothlng at all That lS our subJect And I broader framework It seemS to me that we must try much harder than we have do not agree wlth Amnon Hadarl that Judalsm lS only what Jews do Zlonlsm done that we must be less concerned w1th our ldeologles that we must was a movement to bUlld not only a state but a new and renewed Jewlsh people lnstead face up to real1ty and ~ctual needs the assumptl0n was that Jewry was deflClent lrnpalred 1n need of restoratlon The task of restorlng the people to full health lS not yet complete to complete lt we must acknowledge that Judalsm lS not only what It does but also what we want lt to do - 22 - - 23 -

To return to the quest10n of relIgIOUS pluralIsm I thInk we must fIrst deal WIth some very grave essent1al questIons and only then make proposals RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN ThE UNITED STATES to the Knesset It IS premature to present thIS or that proposal I am not sayIng we do not need the laws I defInItely belIeve we should fIght for Chal.rman Rabbl. Moshe Tutnauer government funds for anyone who w1shes to engage In spr1tltual or rel1g10us actIVIty It may be possIble to get these funds WIthout enactIng a law but If not government allocatIons should be the same as for all other persons ~rofessor Charles Ll.ebman Department of Law Bar-Ilan Unl.versl.ty and groups These matters are lInked One cannot speak of pluralIsm WIthout mentIonIng I am not here as an Orthodox Jew hut as a researcher In relIgIOUS themes part1cularly the rel1g10us behaVIor of AmerIcan Jewry what unItes us (Professor Englard was rIght about that) And we must draw a lIne somewhere Naturally the Orthodox w1ll want to draw It at marrIage There 15 a WIdespread VIew In Israel that grantIng recognItIon to ConservatIve accordIng to Orthodox practIce All that can be left open to dISCUSSIon and Reform JudaIsm WIll not only dIVIde the JeWIsh commun1ty 1nto sub­ but the demarcatIon lIne must be fIxed for WIthout some common ground and communItIes (WhIch formally WIll certaInly occur) but also actually prescr1bed llm1ts there can be no plural1sm fragment the JeWIsh people I do not belIeve thIS VIew IS JustIfIed It dId not happen to AmerIcan Jewry Orthodox Jewry there knows very well how to maneuver w,th,n eX1st1ng halakh~c lImIts when compelled by the SItuatIon to recogn1ze ConservatIve and Reform JudaIsm The Orthodox 1n the state of Israel WIll have greater d1fflcultles but I rely on them to fInd a way

A second myth IS that recogn1zlng ConservatIve and Reform JudaIsm w1Il lead to aSSlmllatl0n There 15 no eVldence for It 1n fact the opposlte 18 true ASSlmllatl0n among Jews 1n the Unlted States as a whole 15 the most wlde­ spread 1n those cornrnunltles where Consevatlve and Reform Judalsm hardly eXlst My 1mpresslon 1S that Conservat1ve and Reform JudaIsm have actually curbed asslm1latl0n that If Orthodox JudaIsm had been the only chOIce avaIlable to Amer1can Jews the sltuat10n would be far worse than It IS The truth 1S that the Orthodox opt1on IS reJected by the maJorIty of the Jew1sh peole even where the alternatlve 15 complete secularlsm and even aSSlmllatlon

The thIrd myth IS that Orthodox Jews WIll never comprom1se on the Issue of grantIng r1ghts to ConservatIve and Reform Jews The truth IS that under proper condlt1ons the publ1C very qu1ckly learns to lIve w1th real1ty grows accustomed to new sltuatl0ns and accepts them The classlc example 15 whIte-black relatIons In the AmerIcan South It was cla1med aga1n and agaIn that because wh1tes had bel1eved for centurIes that blacks were 1nferwr 1t made so sense to forcefully Impose equal rIghts laws Grant1ng blacks equal r1ghts It was argued would only lead to rIots and other protests To be sure even after the laws were enacted and equal r1ghts formally granted the problems dId not d1sappear but the very process of mak1ng new laws produced 1mportant changes In patterns of th1nklng and fee11ng In many wh1te people The s1tuat1on today 1S vastly 1mproved Blacks 1n the South have equal rIghts and they know they have them wh1ch was hardly the case before the laws were passed

Because we are deallng wlth relIgIous matters It 15 certaInly rIght to take Into consIderatIon such values as JustIce and decency moralIty and con­ SCIence we should not be concerned only wIth polItIcal realIty I~ any case we cannot know In advance the reactIons ~otan attempt to obtaIn equal rIghts for the non-Orthodox trends Obv10usly 1t~$ould, requ1re an educat10nal effort as well hut one should not refraIn from tryIng merely because we fear fa1lure Indeed from the po1nt of V1ew of decency and Just1ce the results of faIlure may be less serIOUS than what we have now

I~ - 24 - - 25 -

I now turn to my second theme Can one speak meanlngfully of rellgl0us It lS more correct to speak of people who observe the rellgl0us precepts plurallsm among Orthodox Conservatlve and Reform Jews? and those who dlsregard them To brlng Judalsm of thlS klnd lnto the State of Israel would be on the one hand a dlsaster and on the other super­ On Rellglous Plurallsm fluous Agaln I am not speaklng of the constltutlonal lssue I am convlnced that equal rlghts should be granted non-Orthodox Jews but I belleve lt Several speakers have sald that plurallsm IS posslble only when there IS would be a splrltual cr1IDe to 1IDport Amerlcan-made non-Orthodox Judalsm some basls for cooperatl0n But the obverse IS that rellglous plurallsm -- lnto the State of Israel as dlstlngulshed from constltutl0nal ;tatus -- IS posslble only If essentlal rellglous dlfferences eXlst Rellglous plurallsm among Orthodox Conserva­ It lS true that the'great maJorlty of Amerlcan Jews are not Orthodox but tlve and Reform IS posslble If thelr dlfferences are dlfferences In rellglous that lS not because they are somethlng else They are not Orthodox ln the outlook or posltlon and I have my doubts about whether that IS the eXlstlng J sense that they do not have the Jewlsh commltment that Orthodoxy demands sltuatlon In the Unlted States and have found no rellg10us alternatlve That lS not to say no alternatlve eXlsts on the contrary I ldentlfy wlth one But these alternatlves have Reform IS a famlllar term In the soclology of rellgl0n nearly Identlcal not found expressl0n ln the communal llfe of Conservatlve and Reform Judalsm to the term purltanlsm Reform as consldered by rellg10us research 15 and I do not want to 1IDport somethlng less Jewlsh than what eXlsts a movement to purlfy rellgl0n and IS generally assoclated wlth modernlzatl0n although not In the sense of adJustlng rellgl0n to modernlty It IS rather Therefore I putthesequestl0ns to non-Orthodox Jewry In Israel What lS the use of ratl0nal means to flrst and foremost purlfy rellglon Itself of Judalsm'for you? What lS Jewlsh commltment? Have you a rellg10us contrlbutl0n accretl0ns over the course of tlme WhlCh are not true to the orlglnal falth to make to Jewlsh soclety? Or is your message conflned to rellgl0us per­ as the reformers understand It There IS an abundant llterature on thlS mlSSlveness and adaptatl0n to the splrlt of the t1IDes? subJect wlth partlcular emphasls on Chrlstlanlty and Islam

What are the baS1C features of reform movements as socl01og1StS and anthro­ Professor M1chael Kle1n, Dean, Hebrew Un10n College, Jerusalem pOlOglStS see them? Flrst they oppose addltlons and customs WhlCh althougt not grounded In the genulne orlglnal tradltl0n adhered to the mother rellgl( As a Reform Jew I agree wlth much of what Professor Llebman has sald We Second there IS fundamentallsm In rellg10us exegesls Thlrd a slmpllstlc too think Reform Judalsm has not led to asslmllatlon and we agree that approach to rellgl0us falth IS usually expressed In slmpllclty of llfestyle there lS no need to 1IDport rellglons lnto Israel And lt seems to me that For example a contemporary model of a purltanlcal movement In Judalsm can anyone who has observed the Reform and Conservatlve movements ln thlS country be found among the followers of Rabbl Kook wll1 dlscern thelr profound dlfferences from the1r Amerlcan counterparts

But what about the Reform and Conservatlve trends? There IS some doubt that However 21 obJect to Professor L1ebman s den1al of these movements leg1t1macy the Jewlsh Reform movement perhaps even the Conservatlve movement began a F1rst of all I do not accept the play on words ln h1s def1nltl0n of Reform rellgl0us trend hoplng to brlng somethlng new to Judalsm The attltudes of The fact that recent stud1es def1ne rellg10us reform as a return to pur1tan1sm thelr splrltual creators towards Orthodoxy were dlfferent Petuchovsky for and fundamental1sm lS 1rrelevant I regard Iran as an example of Islamlc I example referred to the founders of the Reform movement as God-lntoxlcated 'rel1g1ous reform Our reform of Juda1sm preceded both the new def1n1t1on I But today the Reform movement llke ItS Conservatlve counterpart IS baslcall~ and that klnd of movement by more than one hundred years lf you wlll our adaptatlonal one can deflne ItS practlcal motto as adaptatl0n to modern movements may properly be called Progress1ve Judalsm or Llberal JudaIsm I I, reallty wlth a llttle Y~dd~shke~t added I do not belleve the founders of Although reform among Chr1st1an and Moslem sects meant a return to funda­ I Reform and Conservatlve Judalsm Intended that thlS should happen but they mentallsm 1n Juda1sm lt meant progress towards Ilberal1sm and equal1ty And dld not reckon wlth soclal dynamlcs I must emphat1cally state that Jewlsh Reform lS ne1ther a negat10n of ortho­ doxy nor an easy way out for people who cannot or wll1 not ab1de by all the The rellglous stance of Amerlcan Jews who deflne themselves as non-Orthodox rel1g10us precepts of Juda1sm On the contrary Reform Judalsm lncorporates IS that we do not have to keep the Sabbath we do not have to keep the 1IDportant pos1t1ve alms and has a worthy contr1but1on to make to contemporary dletary laws we do not have to observe the laws of famlly purlty It IS Judalsm not clear from the behavl0r and outlook of the vast maJorlty of Conservatlve and Reform Jews what they actually have to do That IS to say when we speak F1rst there lS the matter of equal~ty We asplre to complete equal1ty between of the mass of Amerlcan Jewry (I am purposely dlsregardlng a number of women and men 1n worshlp and 1n rel1g1ous 11fe Accord1ng to our outlook lt thlnkers) It IS dlfflcult to oppose Orthodoxy to Conservatlve and Reform 1S unthlnkable that women should be cons1dered unqual1f1ed to serve as Wlt­ Judalsm to dlSCUSS plurallsm of outlook or plurallsm of rellgl0us practlce nesses In our op1n1on one should approach these questl0ns h1stor1cally and cr1tlcally Wlth an awareness of developments 1n the halakh~c 11terature 1n ~ early t1mes Webel1eveth1s development must be cont1nued 1n the 11ght of t constantly chang1ng Clrcumstances that the same appl1es to a tolerant or egal1tar1an att1tude towards non-Jews In addlt10n Reform has lntroduced 1IDportant changes 1n ~he prayer book In all these matters non-Orthodox l movements 1n Juda1sm have def1n1tely made a pos1t1ve contr1butl0n I 1 - 26 - - 27 -

We have been told to come to Israel 1n your masses and then we shall grant Mordecha1 Bar-On Former member Z1on1st Execut1ve and Head, you r1ghts Or 1t 1S sa1d that only when Reform and Conservat1ve Jews Youth and Hechalutz Department 1mm1grate to Israel w111 they have the r1ght to make demands Or a comprom1se has been suggested the r1ght to conduct bur1al r1tes perhaps also marr1age ceremon1es as well as grants from the M1n1stry of Rel1g10us Affa1rs -- all I th1nk Professor L1ebman was ser10usly 1n error 1n h1s h1stor1cal d1st1nc­ on condltlon that we agree that the Orthodox retaln control over canverSlon t10ns I am not an expert on Islam 1n Southeast AS1a but I am somewhat and dlvorce knowledgeable about European Reformat10ns and I th1nk h1s V1ew of them 1S wrong At f1rst the European Reformat10n donned the garb of pur1tan1sm and We reJect th1s offer out-of-hand because 1t 1S ent1rely 11leg1t1mate Our only afterwards d1d 1t tend towards adaptat10n If we ask what happened 1n case should be d1scussed on the bas1s of pr1nc1ple not pol1t1cal comprom1se the Reformat10n and the Counter-Reformat10n 1n Europe the answer 1S that We must dec1de whether Israel 1S a democrat1c or heaven forb1d an 1ntolerant both were great movements a1med at adapt1ng Chr1st1an1ty to modern t1mes theocrat1c soc1ety Certa1nly we are for mass 1mm1grat10n of non-Orthodox exactly what Professor L1ebman cla1med happens 1n Reform Juda1sm The1r Jews but there 1S no relat10n between numer1cal ~trength and the bas1c early fundamental1sm does not alter the fact that the1r ch1ef contr1but10n r1ghts enJoyed by every c1t1zen 1n a democrat1c state or funct10n 1n the h1story of Europe or 1n the annals of Chr1st1an1ty was adaptat10n to modern t1IDes One add1t10nal comment about Mr Zameret s students 1n K1ryat Shemona most of whom canslder themselves tradltlonal I belleve that most Jews 1n Israel What d1d Mart1n Luther do for example? He d1d not restore the Church to some are not 1n fact non-Orthodox but trad1t10nal The maJor1ty part1c1pate anc1ent Chr1st1an1ty He d1d not revert to the Church Fathers True there 1n the Passover Seder 11ght candles on Hanukkah celebrate Pur1m and perhaps were some August1n1an and other elements here and there 1n h1s doctr1ne even 11ght Sabbath candles rec1te the k1ddush and so on In other words but the ch1ef thrust of h1s act1v1ty was to sever Chr1st1an1ty from 1tS most of them observe the commandments 1f not wlth metlculollS attentlon to dependence on Rome a dependence that had pers1sted for a thousand years deta11 Second Professor L1ebman s V1ew 1S after all class1cally Orthodox Ortho­ There 1S def1nltely a propens1ty among the Israel1 people towards rel1g10n doxy bel1eves the Conservat1ve movement 1S 1n the process of break1ng away and trad1t10n and perhaps we Reform Jews are not d01ng enough to br1ng but 1t 1S both poss1ble and necessary to look at these phenomena 1n an those people closer we should be expla1nlng to them the k1nsh1p between us ent1rely d1fferent way There may be a potent1ally greater number of Reform Jews here than we are accustoned to belleve S1nce at one t1IDe the only alternat1ve for dropouts from Orthodoxy was barrenness and anarchy the quest10n 1S what other alternat1ve was there for non-Orthodox Jews who were pulled back from the br1nk by Reform or Conserva­ Rabb1 Moshe Tutnauer Dean Dav1d Yell1n College 1n Jerusalem t1ve Juda1sm? It 1S no d1aster 1f non-Orthodox Jews come here for by creat1ng a s1tuat10n wh1ch offers a degree more Jew1sh sp1r1t and substance If I understood hlm correctly professor Llebrnan advanced two maln ldeas we may succeed 1n br1ng1ng back the broad masses who today are dev01d of that the Reform and Conservatlve movements are not dangerous because they all Jew1sh values do no harm They eX1st but do not make trouble so why not g1ve them a chance 1n the country? If they br1ng no benef1ts ne1ther w111 they do damage Dr Israel Lev1ne Professor Hebrew Un1vers1ty of Jerusalem Dr Kle1n w1shed to add that Reform Juda1sm had made 1mportant contr1but10ns to Jew1sh thought and att1tudes 1n such matters as equal1ty of the sexes Let us cons1der f1rst the quest10n of 1mportat1ons past and present Although prayer and so on 1t 1S certa1nly not des1rable that a glven communal sp1r1tual ent1ty constantly borrow from another there are cases 1n wh1ch such borrowing As someone who comes from the Conservatlve Jew1sh Theolog1cal Sem1nary I has proved benef1c1al Examples abound 1n Jew1sh h1story of one commun1ty s am pleased to note that for some t1me now the Head of the School of Educat10n s1gn1f1cantly nurtur1ng another We hear a great deal about the contr1but10n at the Hebrew Un1vers1ty 1n Jerusalem has been a graduate of that Sem1nary of the Land of Israel to the D1aspora dur1ng the Second Temple per10d but SO 1S the Head of the B1ble Department SO 1S the Head of the Un1vers1ty s the 1nfluence 1n the other d1rect10n 1S less well known For example there Inst1tute of Contemporary Jewry If one can speak of an el1te that has 1S no doubt that Ezra and Nehemiah brought to the Holy Land a r1ch cultural contr1buted s1gn1f1cantly to the shap1ng of such academ1c trends 1n Israel re11g10us trad1t10n as well as 1nst1tut10ns wh1ch had h1therto been unknown as the study of B1ble at the Hebrew Un1vers1ty and the study of contemporary 1n the countr}' It appears the same th1ng happened at the t1me of H111el Juda1sm these ,nd,v1duals belong to 1t Other Conservat,ve Jews have g1ven not to speak of the long 11ne of Babylon1an scholars who 1mm1grated to the a great deal to the country 1n other f1elds My God 1 What 1S wrong w1th Land of Israel and added so much to local sp1r1tual 11fe at the t1me of the glv1ng such people an opportun1ty to come to Israel and try to make a M1shna and Talmud Nearly everyth1ng we have 1n the country today sp1r1tually contrlbutl0n? and culturally has 1tS roots 1n the 11fe of our people 1n the D1aspora - 28 - - 29 -

In the Amer1can trad1t10n Jew1sh and non-Jew1sh there are several Professor Ephra1m Urbach 1mportant pos1t1ve values that Israel m1ght well adopt a sense of 1n­ volvement 1n and respons1b111ty for a democrat1c reg1me an att1tude I agree W1th MDrdecha1 Bar-On about rel1g1ous reform One can say that of tolerance good manners concern for the quallty of the enVlronment Professor L1ebman s def1n1t1on represents the Jew1sh cDunter-refDrmat1on a V1ew of Juda1sm as a develop1ng plural1st1c trad1t1on a stress on and Orthodox adaptat10n wh1ch 1ndeed eX1sts It 1S not Orthodoxy but educat10n to trad1t10n that 1S not forced and dogmat1c Jew1sh educat10n neD-OrthDdoxy outs1de the realm of accepted Orthodoxy From that pD1nt that comes to gr1ps w1th contemporary problems and challenges These of V1ew Progress1ve Juda1sm eX1sts for him as well I respect h1s V1ew qua11t1es are lack1ng 1n our soc1ety We are st111 d1v1ded 1nto two as I do Professor Kle1n s and can say that I w1sh there were many more camps -- one that feels and occas1onally says adamantly that 1t has a Professor Kle1n s 1n Israel 1n h1s case one must favor the lmported monopoly on truth and the other wh1ch has no sense of belong1ng no product AlthDugh few 1n number -- one 1n Jerusalem and several elsewhere t1es to Jew1sh trad1t10n Most of our young people face a gap1ng sp1r1tual 1n the cDuntry -- Reform 1nst1tut1ons have brought us many bless1ngs and v01d and unt11 now noth1ng sU1table has been found to f111 1t 1nfluenced us 1n a cha1n react10n

Several of the values I have ment10ned have found some express10n here A few years ago when I was 1n the Un1ted States v1s1t1ng the Hebrew Un10n For example a trad1t1ona11st school 1n Jerusalem the f1rst of several CDllege I came upon young peDple speak1ng Hebrew they had been 1n Jerusalem develop1ng around the country wh1ch try to apply them 1n an educat10nal There was a spec1al kosher table and the meal they prepared 1n my honor framework had about 35 pup1ls four years ago and nDW has abDut 350 most was str1ctly 1n keep1ng W1th d1etary laws Such th1ngs wDuld nDt have of them ch1ldren Df Israel1-born parents It was partly 1n1t1ated by happened I bel1eve w1thDut the lmportat1Dn of a Reform 1nst1tut1Dn to 1mm1grants whD had arr1ved from the West In the army tDD many people Jerusalem And 1f there 1S plural1sm 1t manifests 1tself 1n those ways who had been actlve and successful 1n rellglon and 1n Z10nlsm are elther It expresses perhaps the s1ngular cDntr1but1on the State of Israel can 1mm1grants Dr have spent some t1me abroad make to lower1ng the barr1ers separat1ng the var1DUS trends 1n Juda1sm

W1despread 1nd1fference tD the values and cDntent of trad1t1on and the The tendency we d1scern 1n the general trad1t10nal1st publ1c 1S not un1fDrm problem Df soc1al-rel1g1Dus pDlar1zat1on have been among the factDrs and the trad1t1Dnal1sm Df the ch1ldren of K1ryat Shemona has 11ttle 1n underlY1ng 1ncreased em1grat1Dn and 1ntens1f1ed mutual enm1ty and estrange­ common w1th the def1n1ng character1st1cs of the Movement fDr PrDgress1ve ment These problems are among the greatest challenges we face and 1f we Juda1sm The res1dents Df K1ryat Shemona dD nDt seek relat1ve non-halakh~c are to succeed 1n the struggle we must draw on all our resources and CDnverS10n but a cDmmun1ty of Jews who still cleave to trad1t10nal Juda1sm potent1al nor do they share the mental att1tude necessary for cDnfrontat10n w1th other fa1ths and members of other rel1g1Dns They are a d1fferent k1nd of people whD regard the halacha not as L1thuan1an-bDrn and ultra-Orthodox Me1r Eya11, Member K1bbutz Y1fat, Former Cha1rman Pedagog1cal Jews do but as a law for example wh1ch perm1ts them bDth to gD to the Secretar1at M1n1stry of Educat10n synagogue and to travel on the Sabbath That 1S a d1fferent k1nd of trad1t10nal1sm One must certa1nly commend a trad1tonal1st school of the The phenDmenon we have recently w1tnessed -- the renewed quest1on1ng of k1nd ment10ned by Dr Lev1ne fDr 1t responds to authent1c needs of a certa1n Jew1sh 1dent1ty by teachers parents and many youngsters -- 1S not dealt publ1c 11v1ng 1n the country but I wDuld nDt 1nvolve legal r1ghts 1n the w1th 1n the educat1Dnal system One may say that the rel1g1ous estab11sh­ d1Scuss1Dn That 1ssue belongs to a d1fferent area of d1scourse ment as 1t 1S today dr1ves young people away from Juda1sm Not everywhere but the present rel1g1Dus estab11shment contr1butes largely to the sp1r1tual estrangement of our youth Rabb1 Moshe Zemer Rabb1, Kedem Synagogue, Tel AV1V and Cha1rman, Conference of Progess1ve Rabb1s 1n Israel Today there 1S a k1nd Df Juda1sm wh1ch 1S able to 1ntegrate Jew1sh and wDrld culture nDt Dnly through study but 1n the act Df da11y 11v1ng Th1S I must d1spute professor L1ebman s supposedly sC1ent1f1c assert10n that the Juda1sm knows hDw to 1ntegrate spec1f1c Jew1sh pract1ces 1ntD the very non-Orthodox movements and trends 1n the Un1ted States and the1r members fabr1c of 11fe as 1S eV1denced by 1tS 1dea of sett1ng up a trad1t10nal1st are merely nay-sayers On the contrary they are aff1rm1ng matters of schoDl or trad1t10nal1st classes Th1s was 1mpDss1ble 1n the past when an pr1nc1ple for example on the status of women wh1ch the Movement for Pro­ 1ntens1ve battle was waged aga1nst th1s concept dur1ng the 1ncumbency Df my gress1ve Juda1sm regards as completely equal to that of men Our movement own party I am certa1n that 1f before the establ1shment of the State 1S deal1ng part1cularly w1th the d1ff1cult problems of mar1tal law and has schools had been set up wh1ch ne1ther d1sappo1nted from the standpo1nt Df found poss1b111t1es for a solut10n w1th1n the halacha Jew1sh trad1t10n nor adDpted the approach Df accepted re11g1Dus educat10n the character Df the State and Df Jew1sh educat10n would have develDped But anDther d1mens1on 1S very much absent from off1c1al re11g10n 1n Israel d1fferently Luck1ly the present M1n1ster of Educat1Dn and Culture has and that 1S the sp~r~t of Juda1sm W1tness the thunder1ng s1lence of the a greater understand1ng now than he had when he was a member of the DPPDs1t1Dn rel1g10us establ1shment on such moral 1ssues as soc1al 1nequal1ty and publ1c corrupt10n which have become the monopoly of the secular part1es Indeed such matters are not only the prerogat1ve Df prophecy but also f1nd deta1led express10n 1n the halacha - 30 - - 31 -

Today the sltuatlon 15 polarIzed When there IS no avaIlable alternatIve Another canard the worst of all lS the assertlon that the halacha has some people say all or noth,ng whlch lS the preva1llng Israell att1tude followed a conS1stent and autonomous 11ne of development that soclo10gy Many who defIne themselves as nonrelIgIous or secular are merely unaware of lS 1rrelevant that the phl1osophy of the nat10ns (non-Jews) exerted no the eXIstence of more than one trend In JudaIsm one they can JOIn and lnfluence Even the most superf1clal examlnatlon wl11 prove that the 1dent1fy w1th It seems to me that some of the thlngs sald here mlsrepresent OppOSIte 1S true the truth In Progress1ve Judalsm WhlCh not only adapts to ron temporary 11fe but trles to come to gr1ps wlth changlng reallty in the hlstorlcal It may be that we evaluate the harm done by Orthodoxy wlthout havlng any­ manner of the halacha wh1ch also dld not stagnate I bel1eve that non­ thlng to offer to replace 1t But the questlon of an alternatlve ralses Orthodox JudaIsm can contrIbute to Orthodoxy here In Israel as a competItIve ltself for th,S 1S the f,rst t1me Slnce the destructlon of the Second and proddlng factor for change Just as 1t alds modern Orthodoxy ln the Temple that the opportun1ty has ar1sen to reunlte the four components of Unlted States Juda1sm -- except race wh1ch 1S a lost cause (Who today can detern1ne the genetlc makeup of our people 2 000 years ago?) Anyone who 1ns1sts on cllnglng A member of the Knesset once saId that a Jew In Israel who 15 a vegetarIan exclus~vely to one component lS off target and gets along w1th h,S w1fe wl11 never need direct contact w1th a rabbl But one of the great contrIbutIons of Dlaspora JudaIsm 15 to have made the Now 1n the 11ght of the Dlaspora experlence a new element has been added rabbI a SpIrItual adVIser who maIntaIns close tIes With the familles of personal ldentlflcatlon wlth the fact of Israel We have persevered because hIS congregatIon and accompanIes them throughout theIr lIves These are we have been able to adapt ourselves to the env1ronment wh1le cultlvat1ng prInCIples WhICh non-Orthodox JudaIsm can contrIbute to the advance and a fundamental slngularlty For the f,rst tlme we have an opportunlty to change of JeWIsh rellgl0n ln Israel and to maklng the Jew~sh tradltl0n dIvest ourselves of the need for protectIve coloratlon and we dare not more appeallng let the chance SllP away

Sa ad1ah Gelb Member K1bbutz ~far Blum Professor Charles L1ebman

We have a pract1cal and lntellectual problem By fa1llng to d1stlngulsh I admlt I represent a cQunter-reforrnatlon The questlon ~s not the conse­ between rel1g1ous bellef and pract1ce on the one hand and cler~callsm on quences of reform whlch we cannot know but what 11es behlnd the reforms the other we are obscur1ng an essentlal dlfference Although the answer cannot be proven I have some general ,dea of what under­ lles a cholce of att1tudes For example Perhaps I am nalve but the There are four components 1n our development as a people -- race rellg10n dlfference between Conservat1ve Judalsm and Rabbl Goren whose halakh~c natlonal1ty and culture -- and these components were separated only when rullngs were regarded as moderate ten to f,fteen years ago lS that he we were eXlled from our land and the problem of surv1val became a pr1mary genulnely bel1eved they were true to halacha He slncerely felt he was concern Slnce then we have been subJect to the blologlcal law of protectlve fa1thful to the ,ntent of our Sages and that hlS dec~slons were part and coloratl0n and so have adapted ourselves to our surroundlngs In the M1ddle parcel of the Torah handed down to Moses on Slna1 The dlfference between Ages we became a rel1g10n 1n order to conform to the background as we the two att1tudes 1S cruc1al It 15 a d1fference between a genu1nely rel~glous dld ln the Unlted States WhlCh dld not countenance any natl0nallsm that personal1ty and a vlewpolnt that rellg10usly speakIng 15 not serIOUS even would compete w1th the meltlng-pot process In Poland we were a natl0nal though 1t lS far less dangerous than Rabb1 Goren s mlnorlty In German we were the bearers of a unIversal culture In the world at large we were an ethnlc mInorIty There seems to be almost toal agreement here that full rlghts should be granted non-Orthodox movements But as long as we belleve that the State of When we returned to Israel the confUSIon set In for there was no one to Israel lS not merely a state ln whlch Jews l,ve but where Judalsm must whom we had to adJust Those who came here carrled thelr old worlds wlth flnd pollt1cal express10n a Jewlsh rel,g10us establ1shment lS Justlfled them and then suddenly the osslfled rellgl0n of the Mlddle Ages cla1med • The State of Israel has obllgatlons to Jews and Judalsm that lt does not predomInance and exclUSIveness have to other falths and members of other rellglous communltles If that lS true the state lS obllged to determlne who lS a Jew and what constltutes The practlcal palrlng of Orthodoxy wlth the establlshment has done lnestlmable Judalsm Preclsely because I do not repudlate a non-halakh~c deflnltl0n or damage an extremlst domlneer1ng mlnorlty has made the term rel1glous Solut10n I conSIder It proper to lnqulre ser10usly Into the nature of non­ abhorrent Orthodoxy has succeeded ln spreaa1ng and 1mplantlng a number of Orthodox trends ThIS 1nquIry must center not on the wrItlngs of the move­ lles -- for example that marrlages performed by Progresslve rabbls would ments leaders but rather on the frults of thelr actlvlty -- that IS on dlv1de the natlon Yes there lS dlvlslveness and there are rIfts here the rellg10us slgnlflcance of belonglng to or be1ng ldent1fled wlth a but those marrlages are not the reason why and ten percent of the natlon ConservatIve or Reform congregatlon I do not questIon the contrlbutlons wlll not subdue nlnety percent Another example It was sald that rellglous to the State of Israel by non-Orthodox Jewry I accept everythlng that has educatlon lnsures a Jewlsh way of 11fe If only 1t were so' Anyone who has been sald -- that lt lS good that a Hebrew Unlon College eX1sts here and worked wlth Jewlsh youth ln Israel and the Dlaspora knows that there lS no so on I welcome the 1dea of provldlng tradItIonal non-orthodox educat10n substance to th1S claIm as an alternat1ve to rellg10us and secular educatIon There 15 no argulng - 32 - - 33 -

w1th the 1mperat1ve to allow freedom of worsh'p I 1 th CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ~ a so agree at Orthodox Jewry has 1nv1ted d1sda1n for rel1g10n 1n parts of Israel1 soc1ety (although we should not exaggerate 1t) Why engage 1n stat1st1cal contests over whether Cha1rman Orthodox or non-Orthodox Juda1mn d1d more sp1r1tually for secular Jews? We Mordecha1 Bar-On are not always grat1f1ed by the form that the return to Juda1sm has taken 1n certa1n cases 1t has not 1ncluded a return to Z10n1sm But that 1S not the ma1n 1ssue here Th1S meet1ng was 1ntended to be not only a general summary but also an attempt to answer a quest10n Can we here advance th1s debate by one step? In the f1nal analys1s the cr1ter10n 1S whether Conservat1ve and Reform Jews What shall we do w1th what we have heard? Should we take further steps? 1n the Un1ted States have anyth1ng to contr1bute to the essence of Juda1sm In other words what next? My content10n was that non-Orthodox trends 1n the Un1ted States are mass movements w1th membersh1ps several times that of the Orthodox but dev01d of rel1g10us s1gn1f1cance I am not d1scuss1ng th1s or that researcher Mordecha1 W1rshubsk1 M K th1s or that theolog1an or th1s or that ph1losopher And of course I do not cla1m that there have been no Reform or Conservat1ve rabb1s who endear For me the focal p01nt of th1s d1Scuss10n 1S the proposed law wh1ch my ~~da1sm to the members of the1r congregat10ns But the movements as such party and G1deon Hausner presented to the Knesset The a1m 1S to grant e 1deology and behav10r wh1ch 1n pract1ce molds them are not capable equal status and r1ghts to the var10US movements 1n the Jew1sh rel1g10n 1n my op1n10n of contr1but1ng to rel1g10us comm1tment In other words and to 1nsure the pr1nc1ple 1n a bas1c law when I w1sh success to the non-Orthodox trends 1n the State of Israel 1t 1S cond1t10nal upon the1r ab1l1ty to prov1de rel1g10us alternat1ves to When the fog and smoke d1ss1pate after th1s engross1ng debate one bas1c Orthodoxy and not merely to content themselves W1th saY1ng no to trad1t10n fact wlll remaln There are Reform and ConservatIve movements that have no real status 1n the State of Israel When we took our law to the Knesset for debate we asked the members where 1n the free world a Jew1sh rabb1 was den1ed the r1ght to marry members of h1s commun1ty 1n a rel1g10us ceremony or to conduct bur1al r1tes or to fulf1l1 any of the funct10ns of a rabb1 accord1ng to the precepts and customs of h1s fa1th The only such place 1n the enl1ghtened world 1S the State of Israel I can 1mag1ne how world Jewry would protest 1f 1n France England the Un1ted States or elsewhere the Conservatlve or Reform movements were not permItted to hold prayer serV1ces and ma1nta1n communal rel1g10us l1fe What an outcry there would be throughout the Jew1sh world' In the State of Israel ch1efly for polItIcal reasons freedom for those JewIsh movements does not eXIst

The baSIC questIon 15 Are we a democratIc state or not? If we concede that we are not a democracy many th1ngs follow But 1f we ma1nta1n that we are a democratIc state then freedom of relIgIOUS observance and organ1z1ng for the purpose of worsh1p must be among the facts of 11fe or the lawbooks or both W1th us 1t 1S ne1ther

I have heard that we must S1t and th1nk and d1SCUSS and search for solut10ns We are th1rty-two years late The State of Israel 1S enter1ng 1tS th1rty­ th1rd year and not only has 1t no const1tut10n but we do not have the bas1c r1ght to engage 1n worsh1p w,th,n a Jew1sh framework as bel1ev1ng persons w1sh to do Whether th,s 1S a correct and good creed 1S not what concerns me the questIon 15 whether If a person 1n Israel WIshes to lIve accord1ng to h1s fa1th he may do so

The answer 1S that he most certa1nly may not and the law we have proposed 15 meant to correct that SItuatIon Professor Falk sald we must conSIder the sens1bll1t1es of all part1es but I th1nk he was ch1efly cons1der1ng hIS own I am defInItely In favor of tak1ng h1S sens1b11ItiPS Into account but there are other commun1t1es and other fa1ths other forms of Jew1sh worsh1p and other Jews whose sens1b111t1es are not cons1dered at all by the laws of the state of Israel - 34 - - 35 -

But I can say as a leglslator Just as we sald 1n 1953 for purely pol~tlcal In th~s country the feel~ngs taken ~nto account are always sad to say reasons that matters of marrlage anddlvorce among Jews wl11 be dealt w1th those of the rellg~ous camp never those of the secular populat~on If we by rabblnlcal courts accordlng to halacha And In the same way I can lay took stock we would d1scover that rellg~ous leg1s1at~on over the years down dlrectlves whlch w111 11mlt wlthln the framework of the law the has eroded the r~ghts of the lnd~v1dual and the 11bertles that I as a spheres of actlvlty of the varlOUS cornmunltles -- Reform Conservatlve and secular ~nd~v~dual would wlsh to see as part of our way of l~fe No con­ Orthodox -- but allow each to llve w~th~n ltS purvlew wlthout my dlctat~ng slderatlon has been glven people llke me to lt In any way I bel~eve such a course lS completely legltlmate and for that purpose wen have secular legls1ators Once they have determlned Professor Falk sa~d that the status quo today represents the broadest the 11m~ts they are no longer lnvolved Freedom eXlsts and everyone can consensus If ~t does 1t 1S because of pollt~cal coerc~on That consensus do as he sees flt or as convlctlon dlrects , I however ~s belng 1ncreaslngly worn away w~th the establlshment of the State of Israel the Proclamatl0n of Independence the true consensus But today leglslators are do~ng somethlng regrettable They have delegated I was slgned by all partles from Agudat Israel to the Communlsts and lt to a slngle authorlty -- the Chlef Rabblnate WhlCh lS entlrely Orthodox -­ III determlned the baslc freedom of Israel s lnhabltants To thlS day that the sole and exclus1ve power to determlne llfe patterns and behavloral norms I I document lS not part of the law of the Jewlsh state Wh1Ch In fact for all Jews ~n the State of Israel That In my oplnlon contradlcts both contravenes the Proclamat~on to no small extent Israel s Proclamatlon of Independence and the secular prlnclples underlYlng 'II, the state s approach to baslc lssues I Seek1ng Consensus w1th Integr1ty ) The Reallty In the Knesset I Is ~t posslble now to speak of consensus and the status quo ln the same { \1 breath? After the lncept10n of statehood the consensus was abrogated and A word about pol1tlCS In the flnal analysls we must reallze what we are ceased to eXlst and the status quo lS a perversl0n of the consensus at the deallng wlth here Is the sltuat~on In Israel the result of a natlonwlde I tlme of the establlshment of the State when the Proclamatl0n of Indepen­ pleblsclte WhlCh reflects a genulne consensus of the people? Or are the [ I dence saw the 11ght of day polltlcal expedlenc~es under whlch we 11ve a part of the polltlcal system? I I am nelther an ldeolog~st nor a Jew~sh theologlan I am a pollt~clan The I If we counted all the rellg~ous members of the Knesset ~nclud~ng those In legls1atlve act of lntroduclng norms lnto our llves lS the only th~ng I the non-rellg10us partles we would f~nd 21 or a s~xth of the leg~slat~ve can do I belleve that the lnlt1atl0n of such leglslat~on lS part of the body of the sovere~gn State of Israel Can we honestly say that these process of relnforclng democracy In th1S country Dlalogue and debate may partles because of a pollt~~al system and a system of electlons sanct~on serve to enrlch our thlnklng but they wl11 not do much for consolldatlng a s~tuat~on ~n whlch there ~s no constltut~on and no law guaranteelng equal thlS freedom r~ghts? Can we honestly say that we accepted thlS state of affa~rs because ~t was the wl1l of the people and because we thought thlS was how lt ought It has been sald that there lS hypocr~sy In the eX1stlng law I thlnk that to be? Or do we know we are In our present sltuatlon because of pollt~cal one of the most hypocr~tlcal assertl0ns lS that rel1g10n In Israel lS a expedlency and pol~t~cal pressure? unlfYlng force A great many debates In the Knesset and among the people as well asvl01atlonsof C1Vll law are due to the sltuatl0n of rel~g10n and It may very well be that ~f one party won an absolute maJor~ty ~t could POlltlCS w1thln the state Hypocr~sy? One of the partlclpants here spoke lnstltute another klnd of reg~me and change thlngs But we are dlscuss~ng of havlng had to teach a young woman to lle when she w1shed to convert to values and falth and 19nor~ng one of the most ~portant aspects of ex~st~ng Judalsm Tens of thousands of resldents of the State of Israel vl0late the leg~slat~on namely the curta~lment of ~ndlvldual freedom We have never law every Shabbat when they attend football matches or a mOVle Can thlS put th~s lssue to the real test of try~ng to f~nd what the Israel~ publlc state of affalrs stlmulate 1nterest In rellg10n? Is that the posltlve value wants whlch I belleve to be a grave moral offense rellglon was meant to lmpart? I thlnk that whoever speaks of hypocr1sy Wlth regard to the present law -- llmlted though 1t lS to a speclf1c subJect And the gu~lt lles ch~efly wlth the secular partles One cannot demand that and ~gnores the terrlble hypocr1sy that permeates the confllct between a rel~glOUs party wh~ch ex~sts essentlally to attaln rellg~ous goals and rellgl0n and pOl~tlCS 1S obllVl0US to the fundamental problems of the to ~ns~nuate the halacha ~nto our l~ves change ~ts alms for then lt would eXlstence of the state of Israel no longer be a rel~g~ous party The secular part~es however WhlCh for 1'1 th~rty-two years have been partners to our sltuat~on for reasons of pol~t~cal I I do not want a law passed by the Knesset that would determ~ne or 11m~t the expedlency -- and not always necess~ty -- have serlously slnned aga~nst the I' halacha I as a secular person who does not regard the halacha as a norm of cause of natlonal un~ty For there ~s a deep and ugly polarlzatlon between llfe am opposed to hav1ng a secular law that wOdld 11mlt the halacha or the rellglous and the secularsectl0n~ of the populat~on The polltlcal determ~ne the areas of ltS Jur1sdlct~on But I certalnly can propose to a partles have not understood lt and for short-s~ghted pol~tlcal reasons secular legls1ature -- whose asslstance rel1g10us clrcles have greatly have let th~s sltuat~on deterlorate Because they thought lt was ~n thelr enJoyed over the years -- the areas Wh1Ch the should be applled ~n halacha lnterest they chose to encourage vl0lat~ons of the law -- marrlages In and those 1n WhlCh lt should not I do not want to 1nterpret 1t to broaden Mex~co and elsewhere attendance at football matches on the Sabbath -- or restrlct 1t I am not competent nor have I the moral author1ty to do so II - 37 - / I - 36 - that true freedom was won at Harvard andlts attalnrnent was fortultous the ~nstead of honestly confront~ng the problem And thus they have produced result of a h1storlcal development whlch had made ~t necessary to offer a negat~ve ulage of rel~g~on presented ~t as a non-pos~t~ve norm of demo­ students professl0nal and bus1ness tra~nlng It was only thus tnat the crat~c l~fe and of the rule of law ~n the State un~vers~ty curr~culum could be d~v~ded ~nto the dlsclpl~nes we know today Students who wanted to study theology after completlng the regular l~beral Therefore lf thlS even~ng succeeds ~n promot~ng understand~ng and the arts program were accepted for a second and thlrd degree In the School of real~zat~on that we do not want to underm~ne e~ther natl0nal un~ty or our relatl0ns wlth world Jewry -- and ~n th~s regard I have been amply and Theology All others contlnued for a second degree In flelds that equlpped happ~ly reassured -- lt wll1 be a step towards enabllng one to l~ve ~n them for 11fe ~n the here-and-now That academlc separat~on eventually led to a dlstlnctl0n between the theologlcal and the sc~entlf~c orlentatlons the State of Israel ~n closer harmony w~th the pr~nc~ples of the Proclamat~on and as a consequence freedom of thought was achleved at Harvard of Independence and other bas~c laws of Israel If understandlng has been achleved here, there lS hope that ~t may lead to more decent relat~ons In other words the evolutl0n of rel1g10us 11berty In the Unlted States was between the dlfferent rellgl0us trends and between secular and rel~g~ous Jewry a protacted process not the ~mmedlate product of some flrst pr1nclple Here I see an analogue to our s~tuatlon today The concept of freedom of thought and expressl0n lS forelgn to orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judalsm But are Whatever the future pol~t~cal constellatlon ~n the state w~ll be I hope we wll1 have the courage not merely to speak and thlnk but to act and set we obllged to run the course of repeated sectarlan clashes before we learn the lesson? Or can we 11ve by the pr~nc1ple of freedom lnscrlbed In Israel s lnto our lawbooks a plece of leg~slatlon WhlCh had ~t been absent ~n other states would have been brought to the attentl0n of the Unlted Natl0ns Proclamat10n of Independence? \

When we founded the state In 1948 we dld not set lt on halakh~c foundatl0ns Members of secular pollt~cal part~es can get along very well wlthout 1 What klnd of state would we have ~f we serl0usly trled as we are sometlIDes , rel~g~ous trends But preclsely because I recogn~ze the need for pract~cal asked to do to conduct the affalrs of Jews 1n Israel str~ctly accord~ng to the genulne democracy ~n the State of Israel I feel that rel~g10us plural~sm I' halacha? We must honestly ask ourselves that quest~on of prlnclple Wlthout I must be embodled ~n law and strongly censure all the part~es wh~ch for an answer that permlts a 10glcal and method1cal shaplng of our nat~onal I' th~rty years refused to face up to the ~ssue For the flrst tlIDe ~n three decades our proposal has been brought before the Knesset and I now hear future and w1thout cons~derat~on for how the people l~ve we shall not succeed ~n sustalnlng a soclety based on love of Israel and devot10n to that the Labor party ~s turn~ng over a new leaf and present~ng proposals­ to lmprove the s~tuat~on I do not know ~f they wll1 follow up and really the pr1nclple of freedom see these proposals through the Knesset but I am proud that th~s sens~tlve and cr~t~cal problem has attracted enough publ~c attent~on to make scholars ApplY1ng the Arnerlcan Experlence l~ke those gathered here devote nearly an entlre day to grappllng wlth lt What can we learn from the h1story of plurallsm and rellg10us freedom In the I hope thlS marks the beg~nn~ng of a posltlve concern Unlted States? We must remember that all the adrnlrable thlngs the rellg10us movements br1ng from the Unlted States were not or1g1nally rooted In The Rabb1 Jack Cohen sOlI of Juda~sm they evolved from the h~stor~cal experlence of the Arner1can Jew1sh cornmunlty How much of that 1S worth 1mportlng lnto Israel conslderlng

Although ~t would be presumptuous to try to sum up today s exchanges ~t the dlfferent h1storles of the two soc1etles? seems to me that the d~st~nctl0n between rellgl0us plural~sm and freedom In the Un1ted States 1t appears that plurallsm led to the prlnclple of ~n the Unlted States on the one hand and plural~sm ~n Israel on the other freedom and not the other way around It 1S true that as soon as freedom has not been descr~bed suff~clently emerged as a natl0nal 1dea WhlCh became part and parcel of reallty plurallsm grew as well We lnIsrael must be ready for a SlIDllar development for the The story may be apocryphal but once the Pres~dency of Yeshlvah Unlverslty moment we wholeheartedly adopt freedom we too w111 be confronted wlth pro­ 1n New York C~ty was offered to Rabb~ Y~tzhak Breuer who had corne from Germany He refused the post because the Unlverslty motto was Torah and gress1vely greater plurallsm Many people are fr1ghtened by that prospect fear1ng 1t may result In anarchy But plural1sm has helped deflne the content SClence thus demonstratlng h~s ~ntellectual honesty and confrontlng that of freedom as a comb1natlon of ldeal and pract1ce The dlrectlon of freedom Orthodox ~nstltutl0n w~th the dlff~culty of brldglng the two worlds Compare lS toward llIDlt1ng the power of the publ1C sector over the ~ndlv1dual and that story w~th the account of freedom of thought and express~on ~n the Un~ted I toward lncreaslng the areas of lnd~vldual cholce It ra1ses quest10ns about Statesaccord~ng to the famous h~stor~an Percy M~ller The motto of Harvard I , asslgnrnent of responslbliltles -- WhlCh fall to a democratlc state and whlch un1verslty contalns the word ver~tas -- truth Mliler notes that the truth properly do not? ,- referred to had l~ttle ~n common wlth real truth for to the founders of the unlverslty ver~tas meant the absolute truth of the Chrlstlan fa~th the truth of Jesus It was only at the end of a very long process \ - 38 - - 39 -

and Rabb1 Isaac N1SSlm and told them that 1n the great controversy between Slnce the sp1r1tual cl1mate of anenl1ghted free soc1ety 15 the product the rabb1s and the Karaltes h1story dec1ded 1n the rabb1s favor because of 1nd1v1dual and group pract1ce an 1ncreas1ng burden 15 placed on only remnants of the Kara1tes have rema1ned Was 1t posslble perhap~ 1n educat10n Rather than rely totally on the law we must depend more and an act of magnanlmlty and vlsion somehow to absorb them ~nto Judalsrn? more on understand1ng taste persuas10n and naturally on educat10n I Rabb1 Unterman sa1d 1t was 1mposs1ble for one does not br1ng Moscow and If that 15 so we 1n the democrat1c Jew1sh state must declde whether all I Lenlngrad closer by destroY1ng the m1lestones between them our laws must be leglslated ln the Knesset We cannot shlrk the respon- j slblilty of determlnlng what concerns belong to the Knesset not an But w1th modern technlques I replled 1t was poss1ble to shorten routes exclus1vely Jewlsh body -- and what 15 properly the concern of a yet-to­ and bU1ld brldges actually to reduce d,stances between c1t1es (Rabb1 be-born organlzed Jewlsh commun1ty N1SSlm gave us no encouragement elther) I reallzed then that even 1n the problem of the Kara1tes -- far narrower than the absorptlon of our outcast Clearly then I belleve lt 15 absolutely absurd for the Knesset to Reform and Conservat,ve brothers -- the harsh decree that a small group leg1slate on the lssue of who 15 a Jew All the pol1tlcal games around can never be reulnted wlth the Jewlsh people 15 suspended over our heads th1S matter to Wh1Ch we have grown so accustomed Slnce the establ1shment That was what Rabbl Sa ad1a Gaon dec1ded at the he1ght of the controversy of the state are not good for Israel and not good for the Jew1sh people centur1es ago What would he say today? We the Jews of the State of Israel have not yet found a sUltable way to get along together We had hoped that the Knesset of the state of Israel I do not expect the Orthodox1 establ1shment to recelve other movements w1th and the people of Israel were one and the same but we were wrong and we open arms -- It cannot But the state can and must and we cannot absolve l,ve w1th that contrad1ct1on It from faclng facts There are non-Orthodox congregatlons wlth thelr own rabb1s they demand a llfe for thenselves accordlng to the1r customs and These quest10ns force us to treat the challenges of freedom more ser10usly we cannot say they are not Jews Are we to create a non-Orthodox Jewish sect although we pave barely begun to formulate them IUC1dly Th1S SymPOS1um or a Conservatlve Jewlsh sect? It 15 unthlnkable has been a beglnning May lt lead to further dlalogue and publlc dellbera­

t10n True there 15 a dlfference (and 1n th1S case Professor Lelbman 1S correct) between a rabb1 who comes to 1nterpret the halacha perhaps reaches con­ cluslons llke those of Rabb1 Goren f1fteen years ago and someone who says Gldeon Hausner M K __ w1th 1ntegr1ty w1thout h1dlng beh1nd formulas -- that 1n th,S matter I ~ I am not bound by the halacha But It W1Il not help to say that there are It lS not true that thlS debate lS gOlng on only ln the Knesset sltuat10ns 1n wh1ch the halacha 1tself sanct10ns uproot1ng an 1n]Unct10n of the Torah The Orthodox WIll not perm1t the Conservat,ve or Reform RabbInates to I do not see great benef1t 1n meet1ngs of th,S k1nd where non-Orthodox representat1ves try to conVlnce the Orthodox that Reform and Conservatlve uproot a law of the Torah even If It 1S wrltten somewhere that under certa1n Judalsm are respectable that eV1dence for the1r leg1tlmacy can be adduced cond1tIons 1t 1S a duty to do so from the halacha and that they have precedents ln the annals of Juda1sm As for the state the argument must be that a vIs1ble realIty eX1sts There At best we hear patronlzlng expresslons of sympathy 11ke those of Professor L1ebman who feels the non-establ1shment trends are nelther are congregat10ns there are rabbIs we InvIted them to Immlgrate and they I' are Jews We must permlt them to 11ve accordIng to theIr understandIng and I harmful nor threaten1ng rl,l needs to observe Juda1sm as they understand 1t Unllke Knesset Member W1rshubskl I do not belong to the secular camp I am But Professor Falk asks what w1II happen to the large maIn trend of ~ part of the rel1g1ous-trad1t1onal segment of the populat1on wh1ch seeks a Orthodox Jewry? They wlil not marry wIth the others If the wrlt of d,vorce I Solutlon to ltS problems wlthln the halakh~c framework But to my regret does not meet the exact requ1rements of the halacha I after numerous experlences I have come to the conclus1on that the Oppos1t1on on th,S lssue lS between the non-Orthodox groups and the state not I adm1t that at the moment I have no Solutlon to th,S d1fflcult problem Orthodoxy of dally Ilfe When a couple arrlves here from a country 1n the free world no one there has checked whether the man or the woman was prev10usly dIvorced It does no good to pOlnt to all sorts of precedents ln Juda1sm In our or 1f the d1vorce proceedIngs were carrIed out 1n accordance wIth the halacha generat10n such arguments carry no we1ght as I learned from experlence We have among us today I 000 or 2 000 famllIes for whom th,S 1S a open A few years ago the H1gh Court of Justlce handed down a dec1s1on that the questIon Nevertheless no one has saId We want all Irnn1grants from the Karalte court ln Israel was not authorlzed to declde d,vorce cases because UnIted States or from any other country WhICh grants CIVIl dIvorces to Israell law d1d not perm1t 1t There were no more than 10 000 Kara1tes prove that they have never been d1vorced and 1f they have been to prove ln Israel and throughout the world the last surVlvors who stlll clung to the d,vorce was granted by a rabbln1cal court spec1f1cally an Orthodox the teachlngs of Anan ln the1r later lnterpretatlons A commlttee headed by rabbInIcal court No one asks and the chIldren of these ImmIgrants are the late Just1ce yoel Sllberg was appolnted to flnd a Solut1on to the consIdered Jews 1n every way no one InvestIgates whether they are or not problem and as was hlS tendency he sought compromlse and mutual under­ standlng We went to the Chlef Rabb1S of the t1me Rabbl Isser Yehuda Unterman - 40 - - 41 -

In other words we somehow learn to l~ve w~th the facts created by the The class1cal b~bl~cal text relat~ng to our problem 1S Numbers 27 15-17 ~ngather~ng of the ex~les to the State of Israel not to speak of the Moses asks the Lord the God of the Sp2rJts of all flesh to set a man emlgratlon from the SOvlet Unlon It 15 true that In the case of rtllSSlan over the congregatJon who may go out before them and who may come In Jews a rabb~n~c-halakhJc solut1on was found -- and thank God for that before them who may lead them out and who may brJng them In -- and so on Otherw~se what would have been the fate of 150 000 ~mm~grants? The M~drash expand~ng on the unusual term for the D~v~ne the God of the spJrJts of all flesh suggests that Moses prayer was SovereJgn of I have no formula to propose I ma~nta~n that the rabb~s must br1ng the~r the unJverse, thou knowest the mJnds of all men and how the mJnd of one man full powers of ~mag~nat~on to bear on f~nd~ng a halakh2c solut~on to th~s dJffers from that of another AppoJnt over them a leader who WJll be able problem Adm~ttedly the Knesset w~ll not be called upon to solve ~t nor to bear WJth the dJfferJng mJnds of everyone of Thy chJldren

do I ask that the rabb~s accept our halakhJc proposals I do demand how­ T I I ever that the state recogn~ze that there JS a problem It can no longer The Babylon~an Talmud (Berakhot S8a) touches on the same theme be ~gnored/ because ~t ~s no longer a theoret~cal or ph~losoph~cal ~ssue One who observes the populous hosts of Israel must say It 18 a new reallty In Israel There are many dozens of rabbls many Blessed JS the WJse Knower of Secrets for theJr mJnds thousands of people for whom we must prov1de a pract~~al solut10n (the Israel1tes ) dJffer one from the other and there are no two faces alJke So th~s problem ~s the respons~b~l~ty of the leg~slature and the government and they cannot be absolved of ~t As the great Jew~sh exegetes Rash~ and Maharsha understood th~s Talmud~c passage 1t referred to the ch~ldren of Israel w~th the~r hundreds of thousands of d~fferent v~ewpo~nts and op~n~ons who gathered at Mount S~na~ Dr Plnhas Rosenblutt to rece~ve the Torah

Rel~g~ously observant part~c~pants ~n th~s sympos~um have not opposed G1Vlng Plurallsm Practlcal Expresslon grant~ng recogn~t10n to the non-Orthodox rel~g~ous trends They have called , I only for settlng certaln boundarles and expressed a need for clarlflcatlon Although the concept of plural~sm f~nds support ~n Jew~sh doctr~ne and There has however been no den~al that off~c~al recogn~t~on ~s poss~ble pr~nc~ple that ~s not enough The plural~st~c ~deal must be converted 1nto a d1dact1c pract~cal value a gu1d~ng pr~nc~ple ~n the educat~on of the natlon If we lntend to preserve natl0nal unlty and nat10nal eX1stence Mordechal Bar-On we are duty bound to 1nculcate ~nto ch~ldren of fam~l1es from all sect~ons of the soc~al and pol~t~cal spectrum the values of mutual tolerance and We shall most assuredly convene a panel to conslder how to move forward to educate them towards a broadm~nded outlook For only understand~ng w1thout v~olat~ng that consensus For all the part~c1pants feel that some pat~ence tolerance and recogn~t10n of the ex~stence of d1fferent v~ews publ~c benef~t can be der~ved from th~s SymPOS1um 1n Juda1sm can assure us of unlty of purpose and commltment

Unfortunately people who are conv1nced of the truth of the1r op~n~ons tend generally to 1mpugn the op1n~ons of others and regard as s~nful anyone On Plurallsm ln Israel* who does not share the1r V1ews Tolerance even receptlveness to other V~ews and respect can be modeled on the mutually tolerant behav~or of Rabbl Moshe Halm Heller the famous Tana Jm H1llel and Shamma1

The fact that no su~table Hebrew equ~valent for the word plural~sm has The problem ~s more acute today and may lead to estrangement between the been co~ned underscores the fact that the concept ~s ~mported and more D1aspora and Israel for 1n the D~aspora and 1n 1tS most prom1nent ~t ~n consc~ousness conversat~on that has not yet struck root the and da11y ~ommun~ty -- Amer~can Jewry -- plural~sm ex~sts ~n fact In many places of Israel~s That however does not d~m~n~sh the need to come to gr~ps 1n the Un~ted States a sp~r~t of mutual understand1ng and tolerance pre­ wlth an lrnportant lssue WhlCh grows ever more urgent and complex And 1f va~ls among Orthodox Conservat~ve and Reform synagogues desp~te the we are to secure tranqulilty In our natl0nal household there 15 no alter­ d~fferences 1n the1r rel~g~ous v~ews There are boards ofrabb1S composed nat~ve but to try to engender understand~ng and tolerance ~n all the of representat~ves of the d1fferent trends 1nclud1ng the Synagogue Counc1l rel~g~ous and ~deolog1cal trends and all soc1al strata ~n the Jew~sh of Amer~ca wh1ch embraces all the rel~g~ous movements 1n Juda1sm As commun~ty 1n the Land of Israel ~mm1grat~on to Israel from the Un1ted States and other Western countr1es 1ncreases the problem we are d~scuss1ng w1l1 1ntens1fy unless representa­ tlves of the varl0US movements 1n Amerlca can agree to Slt down at one table to negot1ate and solve the~r outstand1ng d1fferences

*delJvered at a meetJng of members of the Counc2l of ProgressJve RabbJs and of the Conservat2ve RabbJs In Israel on September 2 1979 - 42 - - 43 -

And In Israel? Here too plurallsm lS an lnescapable necesslty Hetero­ lS my personal conclusl0n) the recogn1tl0n of rellglous plurallsm ln genlty exlStS not only In rellgl0n but 1n all areas of soc1ety and 11fe leglslatlon and law In educatlon and In soclal lntercourse lS not only a duty lncumbent upon the State of Israel as a democracy and In accordance Israel lS a state based on law Under the Labor government secular wlth ltS Pfoclamatlon of Independence a responslbl11ty lt bears toward MarXlst members of the Hashomer Hatza~r movement rubbed elbows wlth varlOUS communltles of the non-Jewlsh populatl0n but a rellg10us precept representat1ves of the rellgl0us establlshment 1n the Cablnet In the For In matters of rellglon each of us must be truthful A cltlzen of Israel Knesset ~n the mun1clpalltles and even In the rellglous counclls Moreover who grew up In a secular home or at most a tradltlonal home and was not even all the Orthodox are cut from one cloth There are d1fferences educated In a non-rellg10us school bUllt and malntalned by the state I' of oplnl0n wlthln the Agudat Israel as there are between the Aguda and cannot be expected to observe Orthodox halacha To do so would be dlshonest 'I the Nat10nal Rellgl0us Party and wlth1n each of the non-Orthodox trends To demand lt lS contrary to rellglon ltself

But th1S sltuat10n has serlously deterlorated Ultra-rellg10us clrcles The crltlclsm leveled at plurallsm -- that lt may create a SpIlt In the have man1fested no small degree of hOSt111ty aga1nst the nat10nal1st­ natl0n -- 15 not convlnclng In the experlence of Amerlcan Jewry plura11sm Orthodox Hapoel Hanuzrach~ and members of 1tS B ne~ Aklva youth movement not only has not led to dlv1s10n and ass1mllatlon but has served as a The hOSt111ty arose because a B ne~ Ak~va clubhouse In the Old Clty preservlng and unlfYlng functlon by provldlng a broad base for common of Jerusalem had a mlxed membersh1p of boys and glrls wh1ch lS the norm actlon among dlfferent trends for many of thlS group s clubhouses True the many-sldeness of thlS country s sltuatlon dlffers from the We cannot go on th1S way 1ndeflnltely lf only because 1t hardly enhances dlvls10n lnto three trends In Amerlca But surely we can adopt the prlnclple Israel s role as a model for D1aspora Jewry The present arrangement began of plural1sm and apply lt to conform wlth the dlfferent make-up of our 1n 1953 when the Labor Party came to an agreement wlth the M~zrach~ over populatlon And here I refer to the eVldence presented by ZVl Zameret the d1v1s10n of thelr areas of respons1blllty so that the Labor Party drawn from hlS experlence as a school prlnclpal In Klryat Shemona whlch would deal wlth plannlng poilCY flnances forelgn affalrs securlty and underscores the fact that the ma)Orlty of our populatlon lS ne1ther rellg10us nor secular but tradltlonal slml1ar matters whl1e the M~zrach~ would take charge of lnternal affalrs I -- those concerned wlth rellgl0n and later educatlon as well What lf the Orthodox here wlll not recognlze tradltlonal marrlages? Then For the good of the state and to safeguard ltS future and for the sake of they themselves wlll be the cause of dlvlsl0n Even today we have extreme unlty between Jews In Israel and In the Dlaspora we must educate the Orthodox groups whlch do not recogn1ze the kashrut of butcher shops super­ younger generatl0n In the splrlt and practlce of tolerance mutual under­ vlsed by the Chlef Rabblnate and WhlCh on occaSlon call for non-obedlence standlng and respect 1n a plurallst1c soc1ety to the pollce Do we llve Our llves by what they say? No The laws of the state wll1 be determlned by ltS lnstltutlons wlth due cons1deratlon to both tradltl0n and the needs of the people One does not ~mpose a decree on the publ~c unless the maJor~ty ~s able to ab~de by ~t (Babylonlan A Personal Summ1ng-Up Talmud Bava Batra 9a)

Joseph Bentw1ch Ed1tor, PETAHIM It lS true that plurallsm lS lmposslble wlthout some common basls we want plural~sm not anarchy Our efforts at Petah~m have been dlrected to thlS For thlS ch~ld d~d I pray When we launched Peta~m fourteen years ago end for these past fourteen years In our latest lssue for example we lmmed1ately after the SlX Day War 1tS motto was There are many portals publlshed the proceedlngs of a SymPOSlum on the Prlnclples of Judalsm for to the Alnughty (from the Mldrash1c work Tanna Deva~ El~yahu) We dld Our Generatlon and although dlfferent Vlews were expressed there was not know lf there would be a response to our 1nlt1atlve lf we would attract nevertheless a broad area of agreement WhlCh can serve as a basls for readers (we have 2 500 subscr1bers now) lf the wlder publlC would respond rellg10us plurallsm In the future Every Commltted educator follows on the blbllcal counsel Cast your bread upon the waters for ~n the course of t~me you w~ll f~nd ~t Educators And partlcularly In educatl0n Here too I was encouraged by what ZVl Zameret are not always fortunate enough to see the fulflilment of the second part sald He demands the lnstltutlon of a tradtlonallst currlculum to replace of the verse but as I look around at thlS varled and dlstlngulshed the secular program In general schools Actually that was what the late gatherlng lt seems to me we have lndeed seen lt Mlnlster of Educatlon zalman Aranne hoped for when he called for the lnculcatl0n of Jew1sh conSC10usness 1n the general schools but that To summarlze brlefly today s lectures and dlScussl0ns Flrst of all (for program falled when pract1cally lmplemented Today a more successful model thlS I draw on the Vlews of Justlce Berenson and Knesset Members Wlrshubskl of a trad1t10nal1st school can be seen on Mount Scopus 1n Jerusalem lf and Hausner) ln the State of Israel whlch lS commltted to the lngatherlng that exper1ment lS 1mplemented on a nat10nal scale 1t can prov1de a flrm of the eXlles and to the absorptlon of Jews from dlfferent countrles wlth foundatlon for Israell plural1sm Such an amb1tl0US program cannot of dlfferent tradltlons whlch asplres to gather ln the scattered In the course be carrled out at once but a condltlon for ltS success a baslc future rellglous plurallsm lS absolutely 1mperatlve Moreover (and thlS reform 1n teacher tralnlng can be lnltlated lmmedlately - 45 - ! - 44 -

WHO IS A JEW? - TRACING A PAINFUL CONTROVERSY Let Us Begln by S Zalman Abramov, M K It lS also posslble to lntroduce reforms rlght now In the law regardlng marrlage and d,vorce A tradltlonal or at least a potentlal tradltlonal populace already eXlsts and lt needs more flexlble treatment In matters On the 9th and 10th of February 1970 one of the most lmportant debates of personal status than that glven by the Orthodox rabblnate today There took place In the Knesset It was ,ntended to provlde a Solutlon for the too a beglnnlng should be made -- and wlthout too much delay contlnulng confllct over who lS a Jew? and concluded wlth the adoptlon by an lmpresslve ma]Orlty of the Law of Return (Second Amended VerSlon ) - My Vlews found conslderable corroboratlon 1n an artlcle entltled Orthodox 1970 It was thus establlshed that for purposes of thlS law as well as Approaches by Professor Emanuel Rachman Presldent of Bar-Ilan Unlverslty for the populatlon reglstratlon law a Jew lS one who lS born of a Jew1sh In Petah~m (No 53-54) At the end wrltlng of rel1glous coerC1on he states mother or has converted and does not profess another rellglon So ended that ~nstead of buttress~ng the ranks of Juda~sm ~t w~ll weaken them for the overwhelmlng ma]Orlty of the publlC lncludlng the Natlonal Rel1glous In Israell reallty a measure of rellglous plurallsm 15 lmperatlve Party a dlspute that had been erodlng our natlonal unlty

How do we go about reachlng a practlcal solutlon? Slnce the Proclamatlon of Independence declared that the State of Israel lS a Jewlsh state there was a need to deflne the term Jewlsh None of the My suggestlon after havlng llstened to Knesset Member Hausner lS that enllghtened natlons deflne who lS French or Swed1sh except as regards the government should set up a rellg10us councll to WhlCh all questlons of cltizenship Even less so do they presume to defIne the cItIzen s relIgIOUS legIslatIon concernIng relIgIon or all publIC admInIstratIve ImplementatIon persuaSIon However as a result of cIrcumstances the IsraelI lawmaker of rellglon wlll be d,rected for an op,n,on The composltlon of the counc1l has been forced to rely upon crlterla whlch take cognlzance also of rel,­ mlght be one-th,rd rabb1s one-thlrd ]Urlsts or scholars In halacha and glOUS afflilatlon ThlS matter was flrst ralsed In August 1948 durlng the Jewlsh thought and one-th1rd Knesset members representlng all partles term of the PrOV1Slonal Government when under the Emergency Regulatlons Hopefully that body wlll be able through dellberatlon and mutual under­ lt was ordered that for purpose of the lssuance of an ldentlty card a standlng to draft proposals acceptable to the ma]Orlty of the Knesset and person would be llsted as a Jew lf he declared hlmself Jewlsh The rep­ the ma]Orlty of the people resentatlves of the Orthodox partles In the State Councll dld not appeal aga1nst th1S rullng

At a later stage the government resorted to a more preclse defln1tlon On June 22 1958 the Mln1ster of the Interlor the late Israel Bar-Yehuda 1ssued a gUldel1ne for the Populat1on Reg1stry to W1t a person de­ clar~ng h~mself ~n good fa~th to be Jew~sh w~ll be reg~stered as a Jew

Follow1ng the ]Ud1C1al rullng In the Brother Dan1el case several years later 1n whlch a convert to Chrlstlan1ty clalmed he was stlll Jew1sh the government set down an amendment to the gU1del1ne that read a person who ~n good fa~th declares h~mself to be Jew~sh and ~s not of another rellglon wlll be reglstered as a Jew As for mInors born of mIxed marrlages lt waS ordered that ~f the father and mother declare the ch~ld to be Jewlsh the ch~ld w~ll be reg~stered as a Jew

The m1n1sters of the NRP left the cablnet In protest agalnst the dec1slon and returned only 1n January 1960 when the government adopted the NRP s 1nterpretat1on However th1s move was subsequently overruled by the Supreme court as lack1ng legal author1ty The NRP mln1sters then threatened to leave the coalltlon unless the law was amended Followlng negot1at1ons the government presented an amendment to the Laws of Return to the Knesset as well as the Law of Populat1on Reglstry WhlCh prov1ded that a Jew lS one who ~s born of a Jew~sh mother or who converted and who ~s not a member of another rel~g~on \ - 46 - - 47 - I

The Result of an Agreement w~th the NRP I The 1970 Law 1 slder themselves Jew~sh even though they d~d not convert accordlng to the halacha All acknowledged that Judalsm lS not monol1th1c and that I The del~berat~ons lead~ng to the enactment of th~s law occas~oned the var~ous trends eX1st wlth~n 1t and that a concern for the future of the II longest and one of the most ~ntense debates conducted ~n the Knesset The people of the State of Israel lS their common concern controversy revealed the extreme sens~t~v~ty of all part~es to the debate 1 On the other hand the of the : I representat~ves non-rel~g~ous part~es cla~med As noted thlS law was the result of a compromlse between the non-rel1g~ous that the proposed law would )eopard~ze the status of many of the offspr~ng partles In the Natl0nal Unlty government and the NRP The M K s Slmcha I I of m~xed marr~ages ~nclud~ng some who were surVlvors of the Holocaust Frledman and the late Ylsrael Ben-Melr both of the NRP congratulated the Among the latter were people whose mothers were non-Jewlsh yet were them­ adoptlon of the leglslatl0n and pralsed lt even though lt dld not StlPU­ selves persecuted because of the~r Jew~shness Nonetheless they cons~der late that converSl0n had to be accordlng to Orthodox halacha Today s themselves to be fully Jew~sh and are dedicated to thelr people and fa~th­ Mlnlster of Justlce M K Moshe N1SSlm too pralsed the Natlonal Unlty ful to thelr country They hotly contended that lt ~s not the b~olog~cal government for rlslng to the responslblilty of the natlon and ltS future relat~on to a mother wh~ch should be the cr~terlon of affll~at~on but the sp~r~tual ~dent~f~catl0n wlth the Jewlsh people Th~s proposed leg~slat~on was placed before us due only to the~r 1 profound recogn~t~on of ~ts mer~ts free of pressures from all ~ For example lt should be lnconcelvable that a terrorist murderer born of quarters Its ma~n purpose ~s to protect the un~queness ex~s­ a Jewlsh mother to an Arab father should be consldered as a Jew before the tence and un~ty of the Jew~sh people 1 law whereas a son born to a Jewlsh father and a Gentlle mother yet sacrl­ J flces hlS 11fe In battle on behalf of Israel would be held to be a non-Jew In a flowery speech Prlme Mlnlster Menachem Begln expressed hlS exuberant thlS because of hlS mother s status And yet for the sake of natl0nal J support for the law and 19nored the Ob)ectlons of Agudat Israel on the unlty even those who ralsed these deeply held convlctl0ns supported thlS 1 converS10n 1ssue

leglslat~on In hlS response to the Ob)ectl0ns of M K s Rabbl Kalman Kahane and Rabbl The problem of converSlon was also dealt wlth In the course of the debate Menachem Porush of the Aguda factlons who demanded converSlon accord1ng Slnce lt lS ~nseparable from the lssue of who lS a Jew? The parI lament­ to the halacha the Mlnlster of the Interl0r the late Halm Moshe Shaplra ar~ans of Agudat Israel who pra~sed the adopt~on by the Knesset of the i then leader of the NRP sald halakh~c prlnc1ple of the mother-offsprlng relat~onshlp demanded that the I pra~se t~s government as well as the Knesset for f~nd~ng the proper law should speclflcally provlde that convers~on must be conducted In ac­ method to extr~cate ourselves from th~s d~ff~culty A law has been cordance wlth the halacha -- the Jew~sh r1tual code The Aguda leader adopted Wh1Ch reflects great sred1t on the government and on the Knesset Rabbl Yltzhak Melr LeVln stated that lf the law would not speclfy halakh~c I converSl0n lt would permlt many to lmmlgrate to Israel who had undergone Most of the non-Orthodox supported,the law although lt ran counter to thelr Conservatlve and Reform converSlons rather than the Orthodox rltual convlctl0ns The debate was held durlng the he~ght of the War of Attrl­ Yaakov Shlmshon shaplro the Mlnlster of Just~ce at the t1me replled tl0n along the Suez Canal and all understood that on behalf of unlty ~t We know that there are L~berals Conservat~ve and Reform and we would be proper and correct to make a far-reachlng conceSSlon to the know that they convert to Juda~sm We say therefore that anyone I rellgl0us The NRP too for ltS part made a conceSSlon In that lt agreed arr~v~ng w~th a cert~f~cate of convers~on from any Jew~sh commun~ty , not to reJect non-Orthodox converSlons for the purposes of the Law of Return as long as he ~s not of another rel~g~on w~ll be rece~ved as a Jew I ThlS leglslatl0n brought to an end the long-standlng controversy and has and ~f once he ~s here he then w~shes to marry -- we have Israel~ laws ! even wlthstood the test of tlme wlth no hltches In ltS ~mplementatlon The deal~ng w~th marr~age and d~vorce Dur~ng the debate there was a repeated attempts of Agudat Israel to ra~se the matter 1n every Knesset ses­ po~nt made that we 1n Israel are leg~slat~ng on behalf of the Jew~sh Slon Slnce have falled However as a new generatl0n wh~ch knew not Joseph people wh~le we are a ~nor~ty there ~s noth~ng ~n th~s law that t has galned control of the NRP that party has strayed from the rlght path would affect Jews dwell~ng abroad has )olned the Aguda lnltlatlve and was duly punlshed by the Israell voter In the last electl0ns Wlth these words the Justlce Mlnlster establ~shed several prlnclples of fundamental lmportance for the rellg~ous sector of the publlC The pro­ posed law adopts the halakh~c Vlew that a Jew ~s one born of a Jewlsh Begln and the NRP Turn Thelr Back on the 1970 Law and Clash W~th the Dlaspora

mother and that Wlthln Israel the state grants exclus~ve recogn~tl0n to ( As opposed to hlS prevl0us flrm support of the amended 1970 Law of Return halakh~c converSlon Llkewlse w~thln the framework of marr~age and J dlvorce the Rabblnlcal courts are not obl~ged to recogn1ze the converS10n when he reJected Agudat Israel s Ob)ectl0n to lt Menachem Begln lS now 1n cert1f~cates of the non-Orthodox streams On the other hand the NRP agreed favor of the Aguda 1n1t1at1ve Dur1ng h1S televls10n appearance on July 7 to the pr1nc1ple that the state does not leg1s1ate rellg10us norms for he explalned that lt lS not because of any pressure exerted by Aguda that

D1aspora Jewry and that therefore one may 1mm1grate to Israel w1th any I( ) converS10n cert1f1cate and be accepted under the Law of Return Even the \ NRP leaders understood at that t1me that 1t lS ~mposs1ble for the Jew~sh state to ~nval1date the Jew~shness of tens of thousands of Jews who con- - 48 - - 49 -

he supports the current amendment but rather because of substantlve Every intelligent person understands that altering the converSion paragraph reasons H1S reason1ng 1S that as converS1on lS a rellg1ous-halakh~c concept we must 1nterpret 1t according to the halacha Mr Begin has a from the 1970 verS10n of the Law of Return would shock Dlaspora Jewry Tens right to change hiS mind but hlS reasoning deserves attention of thousands of Jews committed to their community and to their work for Israel Will become aware that Israel considers many of them as non-Jews and that the gates of Israel would be shut to them It Will become apparent to Granted that converSlon is essentlally a rellglous act lt 1S a halakh~c concept and hence must conform to the halacha However Mr Begln ignores them that most of the Jewish people reSiding abroad belong to religious contemporary reality that in addition to the Orthodox trend there eXist trends considered by the legislation of Israel as second-class Jews Their the Conservatlve and Reform trends The latter two encompass the maJority money would be welcome but not their Judaism of Dlaspora Jewry Just as Orthodoxy has halakh~c standards of converSion There have been so too do the other trends in accordance with thelr halacha frequent references in the past to the lowering of Israel s standing in the eyes of Dlaspora Jewry and even talk of an aloof and stand­ off1Sh attitude OUt of a sense of all-inclusive Jewish responslbl1lty the Knesset in 1970 The proposed law a la the Aguda lnltlat1ve Will speed stopped short and did not glve preference to one trend over the others up thiS process and we shall al1enate our most fa1thful ally Now Mr Begin intends that the Knesset declare that the State of Israel invalidates the halacha of the two largest trends of Judaism in the Dlaspora and the1r converts and recognlzes a mlnor1ty trend as the sole legltlmate expresslon of Judalsm The proposed legls1atlon would lead to a sltuatl0n ,I where the son of a woman converted by the Conservat1ve rabb1nate would be F~rst pr~nted ~n Hebrew ~n HaAretz August 15 1981 denied an Israeli Visa in accordance with the Law of Return on the grounds ,I that hlS mother s converSion certlflcate is not valld and consequently does not change hiS status as a Gentile The numbers of such Gentiles in the Dlaspora reaches tens of thousands and is increasing

By itS very nature the Law of Return was Dlaspora-orlented The current I I proposal of the Prime Minister is tantamount to the Knesset leg1slatlng whlch of the three religious trends in Judalsm lS the legltlmate inter­ I I preter of halacha In d01ng so the Knesset would assume a responslbliity of deciding 1n matters WhiCh are ln the realm of faith and beliefs I It is true that in the 16th century temporal rulers would determlne the rellg10us persuasion of the1r subJects accordlng to the prlnclple of cu~us reg~o e~us rel~g~o ThiS principle has Since vanlshed from the practice of enlightened people If the rellglous establlshment were far-slghted they would refrain from such an lnltlat1ve for a Knesset that can arrogate for ltself the authority to leg1slate in matters of falth would by the same J token be entltled to leg1slate ln the future against the w1shes of Orthodoxy

Furthermore the law as proposed 1S antl-Zlon~st for it goes against the unlty of the natlon and would alienate many from the State of Israel Ever Slnce the Emancipation the halacha has dlv1ded the Jew1sh people as wltness the eXistence of three rellglous trends each one has itS own halacha To­ day it is not halacha but the State of Israel -- the shlnlng achievement of Zionism -- that un,f,es the people Organized anti-Zionism except for that of Agudat Israel has nearly disappeared from amongst the Jewish people North American Jewry representlng more than two-thirds of the free world Dlaspora 1S the mainstay ln support of Israel In thiS Jewry the Conser­ vative and Reform branches form the vast maJority

In light of increasing involvement by these religlous trends in the Zionlst movement the last Zionist Congress overrlding the Opposlti0n of M~zrach~ resolved to permlt all three religious trends equal status within the World ) Zionist Organlzati0n within ltS structure and facilities In thiS sense the Agudat Israel initiative is akin to turning back the clock of history - 50 - - 51 -

IS THERE A DISPUTE BETWEEN RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR JUDAISM? the wl11 to flght the 11fe and death battle for lndependence ThlS bellef by Professor Ephra~m Urbach gave blrth to the struggle to brlng the Holocaust surVlvors of Europe to Palestlne to the endeavor agalnst the fraudulent fore1gn rule and to the mlracles of redemptlon of our Eastern Jews ThlS questl0n seems to be a surprlslng One at flrst Who has not been Wlt­ ness to the ceaseless combat and clasres between the two camps? Neverthe­ However as sometlmes occurs 1n hlstory vlctory bore the seeds of fal1ure less there lS no facl1e repl/ to thlS questl0n The flerce controversles the two facets of Z10nlsm dld not understand the underlYlng slgnlflcance the harsh statements and mutual dlsgust usually lnvolve acts fal1ures and of the achlevement and the vlctors adopted certaln ldeologles of the van­ demands As the nOlse grows more lntense lt appears as lf the real qu1shed Wlthln the rellg10us-Zl0nlst ldeology the stress had been on fundamental dlfference has been overlooked and the lntense sch1sm WhlCh Zlonlsm and thus thlS group trod the path of unlty and cooperatlon wlth eXlsts has been obscured the rest of the natl0n (In thlS lt was dlstlngulshed from establlshment ) rellgl0us Judalsm) However upon establlshment of the State of Israel ThlS confusl0n has many causes Flrstly the unfortunate coupllng 1n our when the concept of Zlonlsm was belng reallzed the stess shlfted from the 1 natl0nal- Z10nlsm sufflX to the rellgl0us preflx The gap between I state of POlltlCS and rellgl0n lnverts controversy for the santlflcatlon of God lnto ltS antltheslS Sometlmes under the mantle of natl0nal unlty natlonal-rellg10us Judalsm and the natl0nal publlC wldened and the separ­ I the fear of segmentatl0n lnserts more dlsunl0n and arouses the flames of atl0n between the former and rellgl0us Judalsm WhlCh remalned adament In I 1tS Opposltlon to and re]ectl0n of Zlon1sm lessened and resulted naturally I contentl0n As an example of controversy for the santlf1catlon of God the sages descrlbe the confllct of oplnl0n between Shammal and Hl11el and that 1n the surrender of nat1onal-rellg10us Juda1sm Th1S development was of Korach and hlS flock as an example of confllct not for Heaven s sake paralleled 1n the general Z10nlst publ1C Orlg1nally th1S group supported and ask Why was the controversy of Moshe Aharon and Korach not mentl0ned? the poss1b111ty of a secular Judalsm free of reference to the rellglon of The explanatlon lS that the dlspute of Moshe Aharon and Korach was really Israel and 1tS precepts but ma1nta1n1ng the speclal character of what lS for the santlflcatl0n of God Thls does not apply In our case I do not called Juda1sm The form of thlS Juda1sm was not spec1flc It was mean to lndlcate that one party In thlS confllct has God on thelr slde expressed by partlal observance of Israel s trad1t10n ph110sophy and But there are those who malntaln that there was also dlssenslon between fest1vals and a klnd of a 11nk to other customs In or1g1n rellg10us or Korach and hlS tr1be and that they dld not represent one deflnlte op1n- the sett1ng up of a soc1al-moral ldeal 1dent1fled wlth anC1ent Juda1sm - 10n ThlS sltuatlon lS more s1ml1ar to our own It seems to me that both the prophets ThlS 1deal affected byChr1stlan commentary on the B1ble camps, the secular and the rellgl0us -- for purposes of brevlty I wl11 was presented str1pped of all the Torah s precepts refer to them as such although I do not totally accept thlS dlvlsl0n -- are lacklng In that they cannot reach a consensus among themselves and are There was a debate concern1ng the nature of "the ethlcs of Juda1sm 1n the unclear of thelr dlrectlons It lS seventy-f1ve years Slnce the flrst days of Ahad Ha am Berdlchevsky S Y Horow1tz Klatzk1n and others The Zlonlst Congress and twenty-four years Slnce the establlshment of the State character and soc1al structure of Judalsm was dec1ded by attempts to fashl0n of Israel and the renewal of the natl0n s lndependence But we do not 1t and ab1de by 1t 1n the real1ty of the renew1ng of Jewlsh settlement by yet fully appreclate the potentlal of the compensatlon and revolutl0n whlch the Labor Movement wh11e 1ncorporat1ng TolstoYlan and Soc1al1st ldeas and has occurred In our hlstory ldeals The personal1tles of A D Gordon H I Brenner and B Katznelson exempl1fy thlS approach There are two facets to the Zlonlst revolutl0n WhlCh have affected our 11ves One has confronted trad1tl0nal-rellglous Judalsm passlvely awalt1ng Israel transformed lnto a mult1tudlnous soclety follow1ng the mass lmml­ redemptl0n wlth the actlve acts of redemptl0n Thosewhopasslvelyacceptea grat10ns and formed 1nto a sovere1gn government Wlth all 1t enta11s fate had to contend wlth a force WhlCh molded ltS own fate Those opposed evolved 1nto a secular state The component of Judalsm was restrlcted to Z10nlsm In the rellgl0us sector sensed and understood thlS revolutlonary and became secular Juda1sm We never atta1ned a search1ng exam1natl0n of dlrect10n and consldered lt an aberratlon from the accepted tradltl0nal way the meanlng of the term Judalsm On the contrary a trend began based The other facet lS the stand taken agalnst asslml1atlon and agalnst searchlng 1n self-denlal whlch 1mltated anythlnglabeled modern 1n the outslde world for Solutl0ns to the Jewlsh Problem In forelgn frameworks and the soclal The effect of th1S mlm1cry on morallty and soc1al ldeals was the abol1t10n movements and cultural developments of other nat10ns of many behav10r restrlctl0ns WhlCh had been the accepted norm up untl1 that t1me the test of ThlS lS not done In Israel The loss of any slngularlty In both of the above lssues Zlonlsm preval1ed over those who opposed lt To was germ1nated rather than secular1zatl0n aur regret thlS V1CtOry was achleved follow1ng many traglc events WhlCh no one speculatlng on the agonles of redemptl0n cauld have 1maglned The mon­ I do not dlsdaln the perceptl0n aroused among certa1n of Israel s leadershlp strous Holocaust of European Jews brought a most dlsasterous end to all those WhlCh was expressed by a search for Jewlsh conSC10usness Th1S awaken1ng ldeologles WhlCh attempted to anchor Jewlsh 11fe In the Dlaspora on a founda­ serves as added eVldence of the ensulng developments Among certa1n youth t10n of human rlghts or on the capaclty to dlscover a crack 1n the wall of groups th1S mlmlcry or1g1natlng 1n self-denlal was accompanled by a ques­ hatred WhlCh would afford the protectl0n to enable 11fe to carryon The tlonlng of the nat10nal aspect of our slngular1ty both those whlch pro­ Jewlsh remnants were convlnced that the Jewlsh nation could not eX1st wlthout fessed 1nternat10nal leftlst 1deals and the opportunlst hendonlst cl1ques At the other end of the spectrum dlsappo1ntment In nat10nal-rel1g1ous J - 53 - \ - 52 - { 1 the precepts between men The many scandals WhlCh have been publlclzed clrcles lntenslfled and the decldlng oplnlon shlfted to groups WhlCh t lndlcate that these values also have been undermlned among the general publlC negated the State In prlnclple and whose lnfluence on the moderates ) The strlvlng for an ldeal of the affluent soclety lS accompanled by corruptl0n 1ncreased vl0lence and murder

ThlS polarlzatl0n between rellglous and secular Judalsm became more dlS­ But rellgl0us Judalsm has no rlght to crltlclze Slnce lt does not exhlblt un­ tlnct At thlS polnt we must deal Wlth a paradox Notwlthstandlng the equlvocable dlsapproval of these negatlve manlfestatl0ns In ltS mldst lf lt polarlzatl0n the clashes and quarrels crlses and furor -- there lS a does not declare war and dlfferentlate ltself from those who serve the name secret agreement between the two populatl0ns On the one hand rellgl0us of rellgl0n Wlth vlolence those who shame the state and do anythlng they Judalsm could permlt ltself to become more extreme because of the exlS­ can to d1mlnlSh ltS lmage by encouraglng hatred between brothers those who tence of a Jewlsh populatl0n free In actlon and custom WhlCh accepted educate chlldren to negate the State the burden of malntalnlng all essentlal modern government servlces wlth­ out 11mltatlons and 1mpedlment On the other hand recognltl0n grew that Only lf natlonal-rellgl0us Judalsm WhlCh conslders the State as the sole the State of Israel whose very exlstence depended on ltS most falthful framework for thelr 11ves wlll serve as a buffer and wll1 separate ltself ally -- those brethren who have remalned In the Dlaspora and who are the from those dlsgraclng and blasphemlng lt lS there hope that we can stand maJorlty -- could lnsure these tles only by stresslng the shared rellgl0us up to a real contest on the quallty of 11fe In thlS country foundatl0ns Rellglous Judalsm was undoubtedly an 1mportant 11nk Wlth the Dlaspora ThlS was also a t1me when the 11ttle 1mmlgratlon from the free perhaps we should dlSCUSS what should be glven up what should be demanded and world was that of rellglous Jews from Hassldlc and s1mllar clrcles ThlS what fought for But so that the controversy be for the santlflcatl0n of God matter was expressed for example when Jews traveillng to professl0nal lt must be totally detached from the polltlcal-party system Examples for congresses abroad or as emlssarles of general movements began to attend such a struggle can be found In the statement of the Movement for Torah synagogue durlng thelr sOJourn for the flrst t1me In thelr 11ves It was I Judalsm and lately In Mr Dav1d We1ngarten s appeal to the Prlme M1nlster there that thelr chlldren studled In tradltlonal schools In these clrcles ~ Mr Welngarten has opposed the fact that In the State of Israel Jews are rellgl0us Judalsm was somethlng across the sea forced to labor on the Sabbath and that Sabbath observers are refused the 1 r1ght of employment Th1S lS the klnd of battle WhlCh must be conducted Alongslde thlS secret agreement --WhlCh I term EXlstentlal Survlval Wlthout 11nk to pol1t1cal or party lssues there was also an open government accord the polltical constellatl0n was j accompanled by the acknowledgement that the settlng up of a favorable We must deal slmllarly wlth the problem of enabllng men and women who are government by the maJorlty party was posslble only through cooperatlon wlth prevented by halacha from enter1ng the covenant of marr1age and who do not one or more rellgl0us partles ThlS partlclpatl0n was recompensed In the w1sh to be subJect to the burden of halacha to marry The saylng wh1ch form of coalltlon and leglslatlve agreements WhlCh for some reason were has becom popular lately Halacha contalns the Solut10n for all problems labelled as baslcally rellgl0us but In reallty were coalltl0n leglslatl0n lS at best evaS10n and at worst braggartlsm Th1S say1ng applles only The battle between rellglous Judalsm and the general publlC was not a to that person who accepts the entlre burden of halacha We cannot however splrltual struggle but one for coalltl0n agreements These were In part demand of those who deal In halacha the rabbln1cal scholars who pronounce the grantlng of rlghts to rellgl0us groups 1 e release of Yesh~va students 1n dlsputes and halakh~c questl0ns to create permlts for matters forb1dden from the draft cancellatl0n of army servlces for glrls or grantlng llcenses by Torah Halacha does not recognlze the concept leglslat10n but at most to open a bank There were also conceSS10ns such as cessatl0n of publlC can establlsh new customs and most baslcally lnterpret Halacha does not transport In certaln settlements (on the Sabbath) closlng entertalnment have the author1ty to permlt a ch1ldless w1dow to marry freelywlthout hal~tza centers on Frlday nlght etc (remov1ng the sandal of a brother-1n-Iaw 1n the law of levlrate) or grant a d1vorcee perm1ss10n to marry a Cohen The outbreaks of confllct were usually sltuatlons whereln one parcy would abbrogate part of an agreement or the other slde would attempt to take Those who favor coal1tl0n agreements who lmpose rellg10us obl1gatl0ns on the advantage of a convenlent constellatlon In order to expand ltS achlevements entlre populat10n Vla secular Knesset leg1slat10n are 19norlng a fundamental We flnd confllct and dlssensl0n We do not flnd splrltual controversy j fact WhlCh 1S a substant1al change from the past We are not deallng wlth From an educatlonal standpolnt the essentlal value of an ldeologlcal people who are transgress1ng and who accept the aUthOrlty of halacha In struggle wlthout regard for ltS outcome was lost The lssue always took pr1nc1ple but rather wlth R,_~ an-) ., .,pD,n on the form of the struggle for polltlcal ascendency and to the publlC rellglon became a polltlcal-party matter We are speak1ng of a publ1C wh1ch does not accept th1s authorlty To accept th1s fact lS an 1mportant cond1t10n for the true contest between the general The Slx-Day-War dld not alter the sltuatl0n baslcally Slnce that was not yet publ1C and rel1g10uS Juda1sm the rlght tlme for a true contest between rellgl0us Judalsm and the oplnl0n that lt lS posslble to malntaln a secular Judalsm motlvated by the shared The Solutl0n proposed by others and by ourselves to permlt C1V1l marr1age ambltl0n to mold the shape of soclety wll1 rel1eve our publlC conSClence of the burden of personal b1tterness of the tears of the oppressed ThlS 1n part1cular mlght open sealed hearts There was a tlme when secular Jews belleved that rellglous Jews malntalned and ears the precepts between man and the Lord but were not so careful regardlng \ - 54 - ! - 55 - I w1sh to be frank -- I understand the mot1vat10n of the rabb1s and posek1m Rellg10us Judalsm organlzed In such communltles w1ll have to put up the They do not w1sh to relent to pressure of those who not only refuse to accept struggle for Sabbath observanc~ In lndustry and the serVlces to the degree the1r V1ews but who also cons1der themselves free of rabb1n1cal author1ty I that those do not fl1l natl0nal securlty roles so that thelr cessatlon wlll and the source of th1s author1ty -- wh1ch they conce1ve to be coerC10n and not endanger human llfe What lS more lt lS not suff1clent that a Sabbath dom1nat10n observant Jew not be forced to labor 1n an 1ndustry wh1ch lS not lndlspenslble p1 an lndustry whose alm lS to make a proflt WhlCh sustalns losses - as lt were I am certa1n that the 1ncept10n of alternat1ve marr1age for 1nd1v1duals who followlng a strlke or 1mmoblllzatl0n for any cause Thls release of Sabbath cannot marry accord1ng to the laws of Israel and who refuse to Y1eld w1ll ~ observlng Jews whose posltlons are fliled by other Jews creates the Jewlsh be ut1l1zed by a m1nor1ty We w1ll be del1vered of th1S plague of Mex1can Sabbath Gentlle and Cypr1an marr1age of recurrent court and Super10r court cases and I perhaps we w1ll el1m1nate the embarrassment of common law W1ves The battle for the Sabbath In the State of Israel lS one of the dlstlngulshed 1 aspects of the endeavor for form and vlsage of the natlon In thlS land Among The great maJor1ty of the pub11c w1ll cont1nue to requ1re rel1g10us marr1age all the lssues before us thlS lS the problem of problems Many unlverslty The rabb1n1cal courts w1ll be freed of the pressure the rev1lement and abuse lecturers who do not belong to the rellgl0us camp JOln me In thlS evaluatlon wh1ch are now 1tS lot They can then concentrate on measur1ng alternat1ves It was presented to me In a very penetratlng manner by one of the talented for the benef1t of those who obey them and are prepared to accept both poets of the Palmach generatlon flghters He was shocked when he vlslted army rabb1n1cal l1cense and when there 1S no alternat1ve also rabb1n1cal ban I outposts to dlscover the 19norance of the young soldlers not In matters of Jewlsh hlstory from the past but the annals of our own generatlon the I do not be11eve that 1t 1S poss1ble to return people to rel1g10n or to chronlcles of the State of Israel and ltS strlvlngs He agreed wlth me regard­ br1ng one Jew closer to the l1fe of Torah and 1tS precepts by coerC10n On ! lng the severlng of tles wlth the past It lS dlfflcult to know where to draw the other hand I know youngsters and people not so young who arr1ved at the llne Slnce the oplnlon that ones parents generatlon lS more meanlngful the l1fe of Torah and 1tS precepts through fa1th and persuas10n The problem for youngsters than the generatl0ns of thelr ancestors lS mlstaken of halacha and 1tS str1ngency does not we1gh upon them~ The1r tr1als are the tr1als of all bel1ev1ng Jews S1nce 1t 1S not easy to have fa1th 1n the Here lS the colllSlon between rellgl0us and secular Judalsm Is lt posslble Judge of all the Earth and H1S Torah after the Holocaust years 1t 1S r to avold severlng contlnulty of the generatlons lf we do not percelve the d1ff1cult to bel1eve 1n a world f1lled W1th eV1l greed and 1nJust1ce rellglous slgnlflcance of Judalsm and do not flght for ltS contlnuance not­ wlthstandlng the dlfflcult doubts? TG what degree can one learn the rule from the s1ngle example? It seems to me that there 1S one such wh1ch 1llustrates the power of publ1C consensus In order that rellglous Judalsm come prepared for struggle lt must deal the observance of Yom K1Ppur as a day of fast and Sabbath - complete rest - honestly wlth ltS own problems 1 e the eXlstence of a modern state wlth all by the ent1re country by most of the populat10n There 1S no leg1slat10n the trapplngs as lt relates to halacha Regardlng the lssue of educatlon or coa11t10n agreement but there 1S a sense of un1queness of th1S day If lt must not be formulated solely of adherence to rellglous precepts through a stat1st1cal poll was conducted 1t would reveal that the number of people bllnd obedlence to what lS termed Torah oplnlon or oplnlon of the erudlte honor1ng the ho11ness of th1S day whose parents d1d not 1S h1gher than but rather be 1nstruct10n alongslde a radlatlng and lrradlatlng falth that of those who have forsaken observance although these precepts were fulf1lled at home It 1S d1ff1cult however to propose an alternat1ve for For thlS purpose we must also set up a yesh1va lnstltutlon WhlCh wlil educate Yom K1ppur The response of 1nd1v1duals and groups recorded 1n the last rabbls to deal wlth these problems rabblS who 11tlgate halacha wlthout 1ssue of Petach1m who have not arr1ved at an observance of th1s day as evadlng the questl0ns or waltlng untll the lssue has reached the bOlllng the Lord 1ntended prove th1s Many are attempt1ng to deal W1th th1s pro­ pOlnt They wl11 be sages who can foresee events not only erudlte In Torah blem and there are those who do not s1mp11fy the task but arch1tects of Torah

Indeed how can we deal w1th the real challenge of pend1ng quest10ns stand1ng The secular camp must deal wlth ltS problems soc1al morals Jealousy and between re11g10us and secular Juda1sm? F1rstly we must renew the Jew1sh greed hatred and slander WhlCh take the place of the manlfest dlspute If commun1ty as a voluntary organ1zat10n cell of rel1g10us Juda1sm Anyone can each camp wll1 deal w1th 1tS own problems they wlll be able to then communl­ choose aff1l1at10n to 1tS 1nst1tut10ns The leaders - 1nclud1ng the rabb1 - cate wlth each other are chosen by members who together plan 1tS form and character Each such commun1ty 1S obl1ged to host guests from the ne1ghborhood and ne1ghbor1ng We have learned that the land of Israel lS secured w1th sufferlng Those streets at soc1al gather1ngs and fest1vals prayers and lectures and 1nclude dear to thousands fell sacr1f1c1ng the1r l1ves for the establlshment and them 1n the1r concern for an orderly fam1ly l1fe and charltable acts Those cont1nued eX1stence of th1s State Torah 1S also acqu1red by trlals If commun1t1es who w1sh to become consolldated towards the creat10n of a more we w1ll not know how to mold the nat10n and estab11sh 1tS 1mage there lS representat1ve organ1zat10n W1th coord1nat1ng sk1lls and a w1der range of cause for concern that the f1rst v1ct1ms w11l - God forb1d - have been ln act1v1t1es can do so Lectures and stud1es must 1nclude not only subJects va~n touch1ng on observance or the rel1g10us precepts but also problems of fa1th soc1ety the 1nd1v1dual and outlook on l1fe - 56 - - 57 - , The craft1ng of a people and 1tS sp1r1tual character also demand sacr1f1ce AGAINST EXACERBATING RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION sp1r1tual magn1tude and endeavor ! \ The Proposed B1ll on Equal R1ghts for Movements 1n Juda1sw

1 , L i by Mordecha1 W1rshubsk1 14 K r J

1 Israel s lack of a const1tut1on lS not only a theoret1cal abstract problem From the Journal of the Movement for Torah Juda~sm Vol 6 July 1972 1 I w1th wh1ch ]Ur1sts dabble from t1me to t1me call1ng 1t a flaw of Israel1 t soc1ety Our dally 11ves are adversely affected by the absence of a legal code wh1ch would preserve 1nd1v1dual freedom aga1nst erOS1on and government restr1ct10n One area on wh1ch th1s matter 1mp1nges 1S rel1g1ous worsh1p espec1ally as 1t 1nvolves the var10US rel1g1ous trends 1n Juda1sm Today r by v1rtue of custom leg1slat10n and coal1t10n agreements the orthodox movements control all rel1g1ous matters 1n Israel Open and abus1ve d1scr1m- 1nat1on lS pract1ced aga1nst the other rel1g1ous movements espec1ally Conservat1ve and Reform Juda1sm Th1s lS eV1dent 1n the ways funds are allocated for the rel1g1ous serV1ces and the ma1ntenance of the Reform and Conservat~ve cornmunlt1es and 1n the status of thelr respectlve lnstltutlons

Lately th1s d1scr1m1nat1on was exacerbated w1th the 1nst1tut10n of the Israel Ch1ef Rabb1nate Counc11 Law - 1980 The product of an unholy covenant between the A11gnment the Nat10nal Rel1g1ous Party (NRP) and the L~kud 1t grants Orthodox Ch1ef Rabb1nate supreme ha1akh~c author1ty over all the Jews of Israel Th1s law changes the status quo Slnce all matters related to marr1age reg1strat1on can now be handled only by a rabb1 who was properly cert1f1ed by the Ch1ef Rabb1nate Counc1l The law has thus m1n1m1zed whatever chances eX1sted unt1l then that rabb1s from other movements would be author1zed to reg1ster and perform marr1ages 1n Israel

Th1S l.S only one of the many forms of dl.scrl.ml.natl.on that preval.l l.n thl.s country today We are one of the few natl.ons l.n the free world to ll.ml.t freedom of worsh1p and rell.gl.ous organl.Zat1on to Jews The l.rony of fate l.S that the State of Israel founded on the prl.ncl.ple that all Jews would be allowed to ll.ve l.n the1r own land accordl.ng to thel.r bell.efs -- thl.s same country l.S drastl.cally curtal.l1ng one of the most sens1tl.Ve rl.ghts of the 1ndl.vl.dual l.n contrad1ctl.On to the Proclamatl.on of Independence

The legl.sltat1on whl.ch Sh~nu~ (the Movement for Change) lS l.ntroduc1ng re­ l.nstates th,S basl.c r1ght to our socl.ety It expresses the POSl.t1on that many Knesset members 1n the non-rell.g1ous sector adopt and support but on whl.ch they are unfortunately not prepared to act

Shl.mon Peres Cha1rman of the Labor Party solemnly proml.sed North Amer1can Jews that 1f h1S party won the electl.on there would be equal1ty for all the rell.gl.ous movements At the same tl.me h1S party together w1th the NRP was 1n the Knesset bury1ng the last part1cle of hope for such equall.ty Sh~nu~ s proposed b1ll l.S not spec1f1c but 1t establ1shes a basl.c prl.nc1ple t~at there should be no dl.SCr1ml.nat1on l.n the att1tude towards dl.fferent trends l.n Judal.sm l.n Israel The deta1ls--how to 1nsure th1S--W1ll be worked out l.n a later law The 1dea l.S to f,rst establl.sh the l.mportant pr1nc1ple that there be no dl.SCr1ml.natl.on l.n matters of rel1g1on and 1t lS hoped !I that many Knesset members from all partl.es w1ll support the law on the prem1se that certal.n part1es w1ll allow thel.r members to vote 1ndepend­ ently rather than l.mpose party dl.scl.pl1ne Many members of the Labor Party I I ,I - 58 - - 59 -

J and of the L1beral party have expressed support for th1S b111 'I Statute EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MOVEMENTS OF THE JEWISH RELIGION It 1S not 11kely that the law w111 be passed 1n 1tS early read1ng but ~ 1t w111 at long last provoke much needed pub11c debate on th1s subJect \ Defl.n1t10n The Knesset as well as the part1es w111 also be forced to deal w1th the 1 1 W1th1n th1s statute each of the follow1ng are Movements 1n the 1ssue and not avo1d 1t any longer Jew1sh Rel1g1on a) Halakh~c movement - Orthodox Sh~nu~ cons1ders th1s proposal an 1ntegral part of the fulf11lment of the b) Trad1t1onal movement - Conservat1ve pr1nc1ples of the Proclamat10n of Independence wh1ch under11es our 1nde­ c) Movement for Progress1ve Juda1sm - Reform pendence and sovere1gnty and hopes 1t w111 be a breakthrough 1n the draft1ng of a nat10nal const1tut10n -- 32 years too late J

1 i \ Equal1ty between Movements In conclus1on let us not forget that we are speak1ng here not only of the Israel1 commun1ty but also of three m11110n Jews who belong to the Reform } 2 a) There should be no d1scr1m1nat1on between the movements 1n the and Conservat1ve movements 10 Arnerlca and ~n Europe Jew1sh re11g1on - ~ b) Spec1f1cat10ns w1l1 be estab11shed 1n law to 1nsure equa11ty between L movements 1n the Jew1sh re11g10n

Interpretat10n and Va11d1ty of the Law 3 a) Every law wh1ch lends 1tself to var10US 1nterpretat10ns w111 be 1nterpreted 1n a manner wh1ch w1l1 ma1nta1n max1mum equal1ty between the movements 1n Judalsm b) Every d1rect1ve adopted after the 1ncept10n of th1s statute wh1ch tends to negate the d1rect1ves there1n - w1l1 be null and v01d The

1 I except10n w111 be the s1tuat10n 1n wh1ch a maJor1ty of e1ghty Knesset { i members 1S secured dur1ng all the stages of leg1s1at1on I Revocat1on of Ear11er Leg1s1at10n i 1 4 Subsect10ns (2) (3) and (6) of Sect10n 2 of the Israel Ch1ef I Rabb1nate law - 1980 are revoked

commentary The proposed statute w111 guarantee an 1mportant aspect of freedom of re- 11g10n and proh1b1t defect1ve d1scr1m1nat10n based on rel1g1on 1n the sp1r1t of the Proclamat10n of Independence and 1tS pr1nc1ples The need for the proposed statute or1g1nates 1n the harmful d1scr1m1nat10n aga1nst the non-Orthodox trends 1n the Jew1sh re11g10n 1n all matters perta1n1ng to appropr1at10n of funds for re11g10us serV1ces and recogn1t10n of the1r re11g1ous 1nst1tut10ns Th1S harmful d1scr1m1nat1on has become exacer­ bated lately follow1ng the 1ncept10n of the Israel Ch1ef Rabb1nate Counc11 Law - 1980 wh1ch grants the Orthodox Ch1ef Rabb1nate status of a Super10r halakh~c 1nst1tut1on w1th Jur1sd1ct1on over all the Jews of the state of Israel Th1S law has 1ntroduced changes 1n the status quo also regard1ng all matters perta1n1ng to marr1age reg1strat10n Th1S means that only a rabb1 who has rece1ved author1zat10n from the Ch1ef Rabb1nate Counc11 w111 be cert1f1ed to reg1ster marr1ages Thus that law has harmed the chances of Conservat1ve and Reform rabb1s to be g1ven author1zat10n to off1c1ate 1n th1S capac1ty - 60 - - 61 -

ThlS statute s Ob]ectlve lS to prevent such harm to the freedom of rellglon ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND FREEDOM FROM RELIGION of the non-Orthodox movements Slnce a statute essentlally deals Wlth A Sympos~um Held at Tel Av~v Un~vers~ty on the Occas~on general legls1atlve prlnclples lt wl11 be necessary to establlsh varl0US of Just~ce Ha~n H Cohn s Ret~rement speclflcatlons for the enforcement of the prlnclple of equallty among the movements legally Amendments wl11 be lnserted Vla several addltl0nal by Y~fat Nevo acts of legls1atl0n

Does the State of Israel need the merclful asslstance of the God of Israel to be allowed to observe the tradltl0n of Israel -- the precept of toler­ ance towards dlfferent oplnlons? ThlS was the recurrent theme of the SymPOSlum Freedom of Rellglon and Worshlp In a Plurallstlc State held yesterday at Tel AV1V Unlverslty In honor of JUStlCe Halm H Cohn Deputy Presldent of the Supreme Court Who stepped down from the bench on hlS 70th blrthday In addltlon to Justlce Cohn the partlclpants In thlS symposlum held at the Seat of Judgement Hall ln the Law Faculty were Rabbl Samuel AVldor­ HaCohen Professor Aaron Klrschenbaum of Tel AV1V Unlverslty Law Faculty and Professor Hans Kllnghofer of the Hebrew Unlverslty Law Faculty Professor Amos Shaplro Dean of Tel AV1V Unlverslty Law Faculty who 1 chalred the discussl0n named Justlce Halm Cohn Mr Rlghts of Man and sald quotlng some of the Judge s court verdlcts that both as Attorney­ General of Israel and ln hlS capaclty as Supreme Court Justlce Halm Cohn gave true expressl0n to hlS falth ln the rlghts of the lndlvldual and the rlghts of the mlnorlty He hlmself has often been a mlnorlty VOlce ln glltterlng SOIl tude when forced to take a gallant stand On lssues Justlce Cohn who chose to dlSCUSS freedom of rellglon and worshlp In a plurallstlc state presented the lSSUe from the tWln perspectlves of freedom of rellglon and freedom from religl0n He explalned that there are natlons whlch malntaln that the state -- the leglslator and the courts I lS obllged to extend ltS protectl0n to all the rellglons functl0nlng wlthln ! I ltS conflnes Accordlng to thlS approach the state s protectl0n offers allrellgl0ns the opportunlty to co-exlst wlthout lnfrlnglng on each other s ) terrltory Thus the state lS lnterested not only In freedom of rellglon but also ln the exerClse of rellgl0n Slnce rellgl0n lS a value WhlCh the I state and ltS courts are obllged to protect and to carry lnto effect JUStlCe Cohn explalned

Over OUr Heads

The other approach lS that establlshed ln the Unlted States accordlng to II whlch state and rellglon are separate entltles Rellglons are therefore obllged to take care of themselves and the state does not have to look out for them In thlS framework no one rellgl0n has to earn the state seal of approval and a sltuatlon cannot arlse In WhlCh one rellgl0n re- celves prl0rlty over another In Israel -- wlthout our partlclpatl0n and OVer our heads -- they solved the problem when they establlshed that all rellgl0ns are In need of state protectlon Justlce Cohn sald

At thlS pOlnt Justlce Cohn turned the mlcrophone over to the other sym­ poSlum partlclpants and promlsed that he would return to have the last say

1 - 63 - - 62 -

any other artlflclal rellglon Justlce Cohn then appealed to the Lord of Rabbl AVldor-HaCohen clarlfled that ha1acha conslders other rellglons to all the splrlts to have compasslon on the State of Israel and to grant lt be ldol worshlp for WhlCh lt has no tolerance However as tlme went \ strength and courage He dld not elaborate on the Jewlsh Sages agreed to release flrst Chrlstlanlty and later Islam from thlS status There were even those who went so far as to propose prayers for the wellbelng of those Gentlles I would say however that lt lS better to allow them to pray for thelr own wellbelng he added He explalned that In Judalsm even Orthodox Judalsm there lS more than one ha1acha and that plurallsm has eXlsted throughout the generatlons Only F~rst pr~nted In Hebrew ~n HaAretz March 12 1981 lately lS there an attempt by the government to lmpose llmltatlons through leglslatlon

Professor Klrschenbaum an observant Jew from the black skullcap and black SUlt populatlon as he descrlbes hlmself quoted Ezeklel Malmonldes and others who ordered that anyone suspected of heresy be lowered lnto a black plt or destroyed ThlS lS Jewlsh llberallsm sald Professor Klrschenbaum In hlS oplnlon there 15 nelther freedom of rellgl0n nor plurallsm among those wearlng black SUltS and black skullcaps They don t even know how to spell lt he sald He told the audlence that In certaln quarters of Jerusalem freedom of worshlp lS freedom to throw rocks

Coerclng Another Movement

Professor Klrschenbaum stressed hlS bellef that there wlil contlnue to be rellglous coerClon 1n Israel Slnce It 15 natural for people who have strong convlctlons to force them on others Just as klbbutzDlks who bel1eve 1n soclallsm cut off the earlocks of chlldren who lmmlgrated from Yemen He felt that POlltlCS playa declslve role In thlS connectlon and untll other movements have the power to lnfluence and pressure the government such coerClon wlll go on Sparks of tolerance towards another movement are ex- hlblted only 1n a sltuatl0n of weakness When one movement has the power to assert ltself lt wlil do so Slnce lt feels strongly about a certaln lssue GProfessor Klrschenbaum sald

Professor Kllnghofer malntalned that the Hebrew code of law lS a classlc example of plurallsm s posslbliltles But the power granted to the represen­ tatlves of Orthodoxy In Judalsm by the government creates a dangerous sltuatlon In whlch ha1acha lS permltted to fOsslllze lnstead of contlnulng on the evolutlonary path of readlness to compromlse WhlCh lt had been followlng through the ages

Justlce Cohn who rose to speak In concluslon looked at the two men wearlng skullcaps who had partlclpated In the dlScusslon smlled at the audlence conslstlng malnly of Judges advocates and law students well acqualnted wlth hlm then sald We are not a state of halacha and 1n thlS matter -- as In many other matters -- halacha 15 not relevant He went on I too observe the tradltlon of Israel not necessarlly ha1acha but rather agada (the nonlegal portlons of talmudlc llterature) There we flnd not only destruc­ tlon and lowerlng lnto a black plt but also blesslng -- blessed be forbearance In agada the Lord lS called by the name Lord of all the splrlts Justlce Cohn sald because He lS not the Lord of one splr1t One cannot worshlp the Lord lf one llmlts Hlm to one splrlt of Orthodoxy or to - 64 -

SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER STUDY

Abramov S Zalman Perpetual D~lemma Jew~sh Rel~gion ~n the Jew~sh State New Jersey AssOcIated UnIversIty Press 1976 )1 \1 Jerusalem Israel Baker Henry E The Legal System of Israel j! UnIversItIes Press 1968 I Englard YItzchak Rel~g~ous Law ~n the Israel Legal System Jerusalem Hebrew UnIversIty Faculty of Law 1975

Kahana K The Case for Jew~sh C~v~l Law ~n the Jew~sh State LOndon SonCIno Press 1960

LeIbowItz Yeshayahu State and Rel~g~on Trad~t~on New York 1972

!! SChIff Gary S Trad~t~on and Pol~t~cs -- The Rel~glous Pract~ces of Israel DetroIt Wayne State UnIversIty Press 1977

ShapIro Amos Const~tut~onal Problems ~n Israel Selected Laws Cases and Art~cles Tel AVIV Tel AVIV UnIversIty

Zucker Norman L The Co~ng CrlS~S ~n Israel - Pr~vate Fa~th and Publ~c Pol~cy CambrIdge Mass Massachusetts InstItute of Technology 1973

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