A commitment to Israel will be hard to maintain if equality is not upheld

30.05.2012                      09.Siwan. 5772

Kommentar:

A commitment to Israel will be hard to maintain if equality is not upheld

Reform Jews are devoted to Jewish state, and are perplexed at being treated like second-class citizens.

It was truly an amazing moment to hear the news that Israel is prepared for the first time to give state recognition to a Reform rabbi; how fitting that the moment came on the heels of Shavuot, when we celebrate the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people. Due to the persistent efforts of our Reform Movement in Israel, the courts and the attorney general have taken the first step in acknowledging that the type of Judaism that is practiced by the majority of Jews in the Diaspora will be accorded recognition by the government of our Jewish homeland.
This is a clear example of something we all value: the strength of Israel’s democracy. It is also a signal that the structures of our Movement inside Israel today are strong and bold and inevitably moving in the direction of making Israel a more open and representative society. The tireless work of our Israel Religious Action Center and of our Reform synagogue movement has paid off, but as we all know, this is only a first step toward legalizing—and sanctifying—liberal Judaism in Israel….