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Reform Movement Steps Up Aliyah Efforts
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More in NewsAs a Reform Jew who scarcely visited Israel in three decades and whose vision of retirement once tended more toward New England than Netanya, Robert Bernstein is not the likeliest candidate for making aliyah. But after raising three daughters who are passionate about Israel and planning to study there before college, Bernstein, 54, has decided to buy a vacation home in the Holy Land — and says he would consider settling permanently one day, depending on his children’s plans.
“I just feel so comfortable as a Jew being surrounded by Jews; I love listening to the Hebrew language, and eating the Mediterranean food — all of that,” said Bernstein, who, for now at least, continues to live in Waccabuc, N.Y. “Plus, I’m a businessman and I see that the Israeli economy is booming … [so] I think [the home] will be a good investment, also.”
Leaders of Reform Judaism are banking on Bernstein’s brand of optimism. Currently, less than 5% of North American immigrants to Israel, or olim, identify as Reform Jews, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel, but the movement hopes to grow that number. In recent months, Reform organizations have launched several initiatives aimed at increasing the movement’s grass-roots presence in Israel, including a concentrated recruitment drive, conducted this week, aimed at bringing 10 Reform families to the booming Israeli city of Modi’in.
The efforts are intended, in part, to increase the power and influence of Israel’s fledgling Reform movement, which in recent years has fought in the Israeli courts to win the official recognition and funding traditionally reserved for Israel’s Orthodox institutions. At the same time, the new attention to aliyah reflects the increasing traditionalism of the American Reform movement, the country’s largest Jewish denomination.
Although Reform leaders officially reversed their historic opposition to Zionism with the adoption of the Columbus Platform in 1937, it was not until the ’70s that the movement used the word “aliyah” in its official text and began requiring movement professionals to study in Israel. The movement’s growing commitment to Israel is reflected in its new prayerbook, adopted last year, which reinstates the prayer, “And bring us back to peace from the four corners of the earth and bring us upright into our land.”
“This continues a trend, really, that goes back more than a quarter of a century,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. At the same time, “it seems to me very unlikely that aliyah will suddenly jump to the top of the priorities of the Reform movement.”
Reform Jews currently make up a very small percentage of the number of North American Jews making aliyah. According to the Jewish Agency, 136 Reform Jews moved to Israel in 2006, out of a total of roughly 3,200 North Americans. In comparison, the Orthodox and Conservative Jewish communities account for about 60% and 20%, respectively, of North Americans who have moved to Israel, numbers that have grown modestly over the past decade.
In the eyes of Bernstein, increasing the number of Reform olim will depend, in part, on breaking through some of the conflicted emotions that the movement’s liberal Jews sometimes feel toward Israel.
“They’re proud of the Israelis being tough militarily, but they hate that it’s on the front page of the Times that they killed Palestinians,” said Bernstein, who also predicted that it would be difficult to boost the number of Reform olim. “Let’s face it — Who’s making aliyah? The Orthodox, because they feel, I think, much more of a religious connection, and if you’re a Reform Jew you’re not necessarily that religious and you’re perfectly happy in America.”
According to Rabbi Andrew Davids, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, Reform leaders are increasingly focused on making study and travel to Israel a more “normative” experience for young Reform Jews by building on the movement’s programs for high-school students. Three years ago, the movement launched a yearlong program for students wishing to take a “gap” year between high school and college, and 2008 will see the launch of a study-abroad program for college students, as well as a post-college program centered on social action projects.
And then there are events like this week’s program, during which a direct, hard-sell approach was used. Israel’s first female rabbi, Kinneret Shiryon — who herself made aliyah from the United States in 1983 — made a barnstorming tour of a half-dozen Reform congregations, in the hope of opening a dialogue and recruiting 10 families to move to her adopted city, Modi’in, which sits halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A new program — created by the city of Modi’in, the Reform movement, the Jewish Agency and the State of Israel — will offer financial incentives and social supports to ease the transition to life in Israel. As of press time, the offer had one taker, a family of converts to Judaism in Philadelphia who are scheduled to move to Israel on July 31.
On Monday night, Shiryon made her pitch to a crowd of about 20 at Congregation Shaaray Tefila on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She was accompanied by Modi’in’s mayor, Moshe Spector, as well as Liran Avisar-Gazit, a 30-year-old Israeli attorney who was hired as the Reform movement’s first outreach emissary, or shlicha, eight months ago. The pitch centered on the benefits of life in Israel, but the mayor also mentioned the threats faced by the Jewish state.
“Israel needs urgently today a population of 10 million people,” Spector urged. “Please start to understand that Israel is yours like it is ours. Start to think: Can you come? Can your children come? Can your grandchildren come to the Promised Land?”
Comments
I am amazed that questions about the morality of Israel seem always to focus on the treatment of others, especially Palestinians. Shouldn't we be more concerned about Israel's treatment of Jews? I once saw a list of countries in which Judaism cannot be practiced freely. The list included Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Israel!
While denying religious freedom is course not comparable to murder, denying all streams of Judaism equal rights by the government of Israel is a terrible indictment of not only Israel but of the Jews around the world who support Israel.
Note that I am not criticizing the Orthodox establishment in Israel; they have every right to deny the legitimacy of other streams of Judaism as part of their religious belief. I am denouncing, rather, the majority of Israelis who allow the Orthodox position to be enshrined in Israeli law and governmental policy.
And, of course, I am very critical of Reform Jews and Reform Jewish institutions in America that are willing to overlook this immoral situation, somehow blaming it on the Orthodox, which as I have said is incorrect.
For the record, I am a Reform Jew. I am also very religious, which has nothing to do with traditional observance. If "religious" means shomer shabbos, kosher, etc. then the Orthodox are right: we Reform Jews are not observing Judaism very seriously. If on the other hand, as I believe, "religious" has to do with following Jewish teachings about our relationship to God and how our religion teaches us to live, then we Reform are in many cases the most "religious" Jews.
How can anyone say that Jews are morally superior when my religious rights are guaranteed in (predominantly Christian) America while they are curtailed by those who are supposedly my own people? I'll take the American position, thank you, and reserve my support for the people who zealously protect my rights, the Americans.
David Mollen seemes to be getting carried away. The Reform Movement doesn't get state funding in Israel. Now, this may be unequal, and it may irk you - yet, to conclude that Judaism cannot be freely practiced in Israel is of course total nonsense. Reform Jews in Israel will likewise complain that their rabbis are not recognized by the state (which pays the salaries of Orthodox rabbis) - but no Reform Jew will ever say that he can't practice Judaism in Israel. That complaint sounds like an attempt to justify anti-Israel positions. The real issue that I find interesting is the anger ("a terrible indictment") that David feels towards those Jews around the world who do support Israel. Well, it's quite a simple matter. People love their family through thick and thin. Your children can come home with a bad report card, and still your very natural and strong feelings for them remain unchanged. Half the Jews of the world live in Israel. Already more than half of all Jewish children born on any given day are born in Israel. To write them off for any political or social agenda is more than strange. To identify with one's own - together with criticism and disagreement - is the way of normal peoplehood.
The Reform Movement places great emphasis on Tikum Olam ie to repair the world through good works and deeds. It is in the tradition of all Jews regardless of affiliation. The best emphasis of this activity should be Tikum Israel for if Israel thrives and prospers the world will be a better place and all Jews in the Diaspora will be rwarded.
"Israel needs urgently today a population of 10 million people..."
Oh, they'll get that soon enough, no fear. Trouble is, most of 'em will be Palestinian Arabs.
Does the recruitment drive among American Reform Jews include a clear exposition of demographic trends and an account of the measures Israel is (not) taking to prevent its Jewish population becoming swamped as well as surrounded?
But maybe most US Reform and Liberal Jews can do the math themselves, and unless they suddenly come over all YB they'll be saying "Aliyah? Thanks but no thanks"-- even to Israel's first female rebbeh!
It would be interesting to understand why demographic trends in Israel would be an issue for David L Nilsson. In the USA, where there is a very large Jewish community, the Jews are about 2% of the population. Elsewhere in the world, the percentage is even lower. Surely, Israel's Jewish majority is more than impressive - a dramatic change in the status of Jews as a community in this world. So impressive, that all the non-Jews speak Hebrew quite nicely. There hasn't been a Jewish majority society since the era of the Second Temple, so I just couldn't imagine what it the problem of Jewish life in Israel from the point of view of demography. Anyway, the Jewish majority is around 80%, and it has been as such since independence.
Many of us Reform Jews are religious and are deeply Jewishly committed. Many of us also don't see aliyah as a religious alternative as we are proud to be living where we are and don't see ourselves as unfulfilled because we don't live in Israel. While supporting the State and those who wish to live in Israel, we are not second class Jews because we don't view this as an option for ourselves. The prayer to "bring us upright into our land" is quite disturbing as I didn't know that we were not living in our respective lands as citizens of our respective countries. Finally less someone think I am anti-Israel, I have been to Israel 6 times and have family residing there as well.
It is worthy of note that the festival of Hanukka - celebrating the "dedication" (the "hanukka") of the altar in the Jerusalem Temple (an altar for animal sacrifice) - was never removed from the list of celebrations in Reform Judaism. Quite the contrary - it became a VERY important holiday. So, the decision to reinstate the traditional prayer "bring us upright into our land" is not really so "disturbing" or surprising. Reform Jews still break a glass on their weddings, symbolizing their mourning the loss of Jerusalem ("If I forget thee, O Jerusalem..."). More striking is the very popular "lekha dodi" prayer which calls for the rebuilding of Jerusalem ("ve-nivneta 'ir 'al tillah") - and this prayer was never erased from the Reform liturgy! Essentially, Judaism (the religion) has always been focused on the collective memories of the Jews (an ancient nation) - and it shouldn't be a surprise that this memory is expressed in public (in synagogue).
Unbelievable! Our Reform leaders are enouraging us to emigrate from a country that zealously protects our religious rights to a country in which they have to fight the "secular" majority every inch of the way to be treated with basic human decency.
Let's do it again: I am a religious Jew; I am Reform. If we Reform Jews don't believe that Reform is the correct expression of Jewish religion, then why are we doing it? And if we do believe it is the appropriate way to be Jewish today, then why are we countenancing a country that for all practical purposes tells us to take a hike?
We are simply giving ammunition ot the Orthodox: they are in fact saying "See? These people don't even believe what they say, or they would not allow us to forbid the practice of their religion." I am not an academic person, but I offer the following academic assignment to every modern Jew: look up the word "reform" in a dictionary. You will find that it means "to correct the faults of."
If we believe that Judaism's faults need to be corrected to become worthy of the loyalty of modern Jews, then shouldn't we stay here in America where our right to promulgate our religion is protected?
Let Israel be for Orthodox and so-called "secular" Jews. Let America be for the truly religious contemporary Jews: liberals.
Yehuda's comment really helps clarify the issue. He says "you love your family through thick and thin." He then uses the example of a child coming home with a bad report card. Sorry, the analogy isn't apt. I am not describing a child failing to meet performance standards; I am describing a "family" who treats you unjustly. Thus, Yehuda and I have a clear difference. I am a Jew: my first loyalty must be to morality, not to family. He evidently thinks otherwise.
i read one comment about a family who were converts scheduled to move to israel on july 31 i think thats wonderful i am working on my conversion now too. and have gone half way there already at my synagogue which is also reform but somehow we are religiously observant there and at home i also plan to make aliyah to israel there are several reasons for them one is i love israel.. but thats not only one reason that reason is i am adopting israeli people to become my people and israel my homeland and and where ever they go i will follow them ok further than this i am committed to the torah and to the jewish way of life and even to be committed to mostly everything related to it i have a friend who is orthodox he makes insults to other jews who are reform jews and others he tries to compare them i told him do never compare people thats a bad game to go by on that can get him into alot of trouble i respect all jews no matter on what level it falls under. i will continue to persue my plan to conversion which should happen very soon. i love reading comments about things like this it helps to learn things from others and for myself yes aliyah should be for all kinds of jews no matter which ones
Fascinating how reform is moving foward. In my faith Iseral is God's people which includes the Jews, Christain and Others. I hope that the reform Jewish people and their grandchildren open there eyes and heart to learn how to love and know the promised land is in the arm of the King of the Jews and his name is Jesus for many will find his love and place in the Promised Land of forever.. Just seek and ask.
Sincerely,
A Jewish lover,
Frederick Wright
It is pleasant to read that the Reform Movement encourages aliya. It surely is a big change since the days of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise who claimed in 1879 that the settlement of the Land of Israel is "a romantic idea inspired by religious visions without foundation in reality..." The mayor of Modi'in, however, is missing the point. Israel is a creation of the Jewish people, and as such it is a tool in the hands of Jews to express themselves as a people. So, it is not that "Israel needs urgently a population..." One doesn't make aliya because it serves the state; rather, one makes aliya because Jewish statehood is a tool for the new comer to enrich his life as a Jew. The issue will always be identity. Israel has much to offer those Jews for whom Jewish identity is based on a sense of peoplehood. The Israeli identity is exactly that: a people sharing its own land, expressing its own original culture in its own language.