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