No Ayatollahs for Israel

Many years ago, shortly after the first McDonald's restaurant opened in Jerusalem, I spoke with a group of Jewish youth visiting from the States. They lamented the fact that the restaurant was not Kosher. This led to a discussion where over half of the participants felt that Israeli law should require restaurants - at least in western Jerusalem - to be Kosher. No Big Macs with cheese. "This is a Jewish State and the laws should reflect Jewish values and traditions," one opined. 
 
"If this is how you feel," I asked, "do you feel the laws ought to prohibit women from wearing pants in public, require married women to cover their hair, outlaw couples from holding hands in public, and punish homosexuality?"
 
"I am not a fanatic," he responded.

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Saying Kaddish for Conservative Judaism?

In his recent remarks to The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Norman Lamm, the esteemed chancellor of Yeshiva University, pronounced the time near to say Kaddish [the prayer for the dead] for the Conservative and the Reform Movements.
 
I shall leave it to the leaders of the Reform Movement to react to his criticism of their stream - I shall react to his criticism of Conservative/Masorti Judaism.
 
Rabbi Lamm states, "The Conservatives are in a mood of despondency and pessimism."
 
I am not certain upon what he bases this assertion. I, for one, am optimistic and foresee a firm future for Judaism and for the Masorti Movement.

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Ritual Baths: Single women and converts stay away

Imagine the following scenario: A Masorti/Conservative Jew walks into a public library in Tel Aviv to borrow a book. At the entry she is informed by the librarian, a civil servant, that owing to her Masorti affiliation, she would not be permitted to borrow the book.  If she truly wanted to read she would have to raise the funds to build her own building, stock it with books, and find the money to staff the facility and pay for its maintenance.

Sounds silly, right? Well of course it is. Our public libraries are built and maintained with tax payer dollars. They are intended to serve all of the public. There is no ideological or theological litmus test to determine who may borrow a book.

Yet this is exactly what happens when Masorti Jews seek to use the public Mikvehs (ritual baths) throughout Israel.

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Black Hat Politics

Anybody know exactly what the Israeli Interior Ministry's intended functions may be? Yes, we all know that it is where we go to apply for a new passport or replace a lost ID card. We know that requests for aliyah [immigration], or visas (work, tourist, student, etc.) are routed through one of its departments.

But should this be the office that Shas, the Sephardi religious political party, most covets? What is really going on?

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A bone to pick with our Chief Rabbinate

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has been defined as "the supreme  religious governing body in the State of  Israel". Of course, even if there was validity to this definition - let us not forget to add "for the Jewish people." For there is no single body that can govern over all of the recognized religions. The State of Israel respects, or certainly ought to respect, residents of all religious faith traditions.
 
So who should serve as the Chief Rabbi of Israel? Well, to begin with, lack of agreement on this question means that we have two Chief Rabbis. One Ashkenazi and one Sephardi. In the city of Tel Aviv, where the city council imposed budgetary constraints, they somehow manage to make due with but one municipal Chief Rabbi.

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Asking the hard questions

Every ten years Israel, as well as many other countries, carries out a population census. Many questions are asked in an effort to obtain information about the citizens.
 
Regular surveys are a part of everyday life. Some are to determine political leanings, educational, culinary preferences, television viewing habits and more.
 
Recently I received a call from a polling organization asking me, among other questions, to categorize my religious leanings. I was given three choices: Dati (religious), masorti (traditional), and secular.

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It may pay to be Jewish

A new director, Muli Yeselson, has just been appointed by the office of the Prime Minister, to the Israeli Conversion Authority. He has already come under severe criticism by the Haredi press, calling him a "traitor" and "collaborator." Rabbi Druckman, the recently ousted director, was far from popular in the fervently Orthodox world. While hardly a liberal, he was seen as too open and the conversions performed on his watch were questioned by the official Rabbinic courts.

Issues of conversion have been covered on the front pages of Israeli newspapers on a frequent basis.  Most sociologists accept that there are as many as 350,000 Israeli citizens living in Israel from the Former Soviet Union who are not Jewish. They made Aliyah under the Law of Return that allows Israeli citizenship with a single Jewish grandfather. But Jewish law recognizes as Jewish one who has a Jewish mother or who has converted to Judaism.

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