עמוד 1

Two kibbutz members, three synagogues

In dozens ofkibbutzim, once the bastions ofsecularism, members argue over questionssuch as whether to prohibitwomen from singingin synagogue

By EHAshkenazi

zuva, Katyusha rocket landed on the main lawn of the kibbutz and exploded. "There was siren outside but inside we continued with the bar mitzvah," she recalled last week. Safian, social worker who serves as the cantor, seems to be more troubled by the recent con- troversywithin the kibbutz over women singersthan she was by the difficulties of the past. "A meeting was convened, to which was not invited. Some of the people said they were not willingto hear me chantingat holidayservices," Safian related. "I was hurt, but if woman's voice might affect their concentration during prayer then that's their prob- lem." Kami Am-Ad, fellow kibbutz member, protested against the de- mands. In letter to kibbutz members he wrote: "Matzuva was founded and and operatedthroughoutthe years as secular-pluralistgroup, with no sa- lient ethnic characteristics. As such, it it has welcomed into its heart the Other, the stranger. Segregation on the basis of gender will only cause rift and separatismin other areas look of the and the members who became observant and in which consensus had been pre- cated to them by the kibbutz. Degania pioneers essence of the Second she on kibbutz demanded venues served up to now," Am-Ad wrote. This year Kibbutz Geva held tradi- Aliyah," stayed Yaniv Chen, kibbutz member tional Yom Kippur services, in de- said. for worship,posing challengefrom Around 70 of Israel's 257 kibbutzim within that strikes sensitive nerve," who supports worshipping in accor- parture from the Jewish-secular man- that are not have Zeira said. At the same time, dance with Orthodox tradition, says: ner of previous years. One member explicitlyreligious many Some were built decades kibbutzim are new mem- "It upsets us when woman is called complained in the kibbutz newsletter synagogues. absorbing for the of members, the bers, or nonmember residents, who up and reads from the Torah. We do about the change,writing,"As secu- ago parents "old folk" as were once called. want services. not want war, or rift,"he says, add- lar society,we view human beingsas they religious ing,"We agreed not to have separate being in the center. Tchernichovsky Sometimes small kosher kitchen Economic issues are also factor, was built he said. there is vacuum that seatingfor men and women [in the wrote, in his poem 'Creed/ 'For still nearby. "Today Kibbutz Afikim's first various Orthodox are synagogue],and now we expect them do believe in man/ And in his spirit, synagogue groups filling, dates from the second and for its the state is to to compromise on nusah, the worship strong and bold,'expressingthe secu- mid-1940s; part happy tradition," Chen said lar mood and idea," she wrote. was built in .0791Assaf Inbari, who spend on buildingsynagogues in kib he disagreement over worship tra- At Ashdot-Yaakov Ihud, during ditions at Matzuva is justone example Simhat Torah partitionin the syna- of the conflicts that have developedin gogue divided the men, who danced the past several years at dozens of kib- with the Torah, from the women. Yaniv Chen: 'We agreed not to have separate "Kibbutz butzim around the country.In some the society championed seatingformen and women, and now we expect issue iswhich stream or traditionto fol- equalityas value. And here, in honor them to on the tradition low, while at others the disputeis over of the kibbutz movement's centenary, compromise worship whether to build synagogue on the we elected to erect partitionbe- kibbutz and where to put it:at the cen- tween men and women," wrote kib- ter of the community,or off the beaten butz member Bruria Sharon in the was born and raised on Afikim, wrote butzim. Members must ask them- path.Economic issues are also involved: newsletter. "Get ready,the mikveh The ReligiousServices Ministryspends [ritualpurificationbath facility]is about itin his book "Home": "As chil- selves about the publicsphere of the coming,"she added. dren, the founders of the kibbutz kibbutz. When we gather together, year to build synagogues in kibbutzim At Kibbutz Merhavia, for never visited synagogue in Odessa, how is it done, in what style?Is it or- that want it. example, after three-yearbattle between some Moscow or Riga, because their par- ganizedby someone from outside who At Kibbutz Yifat, as at Matzuva, of the members and some residents of ents never told them there was any excludes women" and tries to teach this year Yom Kippur services were neighborhoodbuilt for nonmembers such thing.They had no problem eat- the children that onlyOrthodox Juda- held in two different places. over the location and character of ingpork in itsmother's milk, and even ism is real Judaism," Zeira said. At Yifat it was the Orthodox wor- plannedsynagogue, town-hall style when the jubileeyear approached it On Matzuva, at least, traditional shipperswho were given use of the meeting voted to build it. never dawned on them that the kib- Jewish solution has been found. Ba- synagogue, on account of their great- few members of Kibbutz Palma- butz needed synagogue. But the kib- ruch Kadmon, kibbutz member er numbers due to "reinforcements" him, meanwhile, butz got soft,"Inbari wrote. and one of the founders of Matzuva's in the form of Chabad Hassidim recently signed petitionagainst planto convert the Dr. Moti Zeira, director of Oranim Conservative/Masorti congregation, from the neighboringtown of Migdal former hall into College'sHaMidrasha Educational explains:"The conflict seems to have Ha'emek. The other which community's dining group, Center for the Renewal of Jewish been resolved through the decision identifies with the Jewish Renewal synagogue. There was similar disagreement Life in Israel, ascribed the current that there is no choice but to build movement, used another space allo at Degania Alef about five years ago, conflict to increased religiousobser- another synagogue for the new resi- when synagogue was built in the vance in Israel and change in the dents, an Orthodox synagogue with Founders' Courtyard. Lifetime kib- kibbutz population.He said kibbutzim women's section. It's pity,but we're butz member Amalia Ilan was quoted were influenced by the move toward pluralisticcommunity and some peo- in Haaretz at at the time: "A syna- increasingreligiousobservance that pie wanted traditional synagogue," gogue here counters the entire out began in the 1980s. "Young kibbutz Kadmon said