Day 1...Part 2
Day 1 (continued) March 11, 2005
I think I was a little long winded in my last email. I’ll try to keep it a little shorter.
Arrival at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was uneventful. A quick shower and a change of clothes got me ready to go out for Shabbat.
Four members of our group, Joyce Goldstein, Marvin Rosenblum, Martin Fox and I, joined Amir for a ride to Mevasseret Zion, a suburb west of the city. There we attended services at the Kehillat (congregation) of the same name. Services are held in the entry hall of a junior high school. The congregation has a new building under construction (unfortunately it has been under construction for a long time). Unlike the Orthodox synagogues in Israel, the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) receive no public funding for construction, operational expenses or salaries. Liberal congregations must depend on donors and, frankly, there are few very wealthy Israelis who can make such donations or are willing to. Thus most of the capital fundraising and some of the operational fundraising is done in the Diaspora, primarily the U.S. The liberal movements are fighting in the courts to get state funding but it has been a continuing struggle. Each time they get a ruling in their favor, the Government changes the rules of the game to appease the Orthodox political powers.
The service was filled with ruach (spirit/spirituality). This was my third visit to Kehillat Mevasseret Zion. It is a Reform/Progressive congregation with 160 member families. For an American Reform Jew the service might be a little surprising. Obviously it is all in Hebrew but the music might be unfamiliar. The style of the service would feel more Conservative to most of us but in the (new) Reform approach there were two guitars and lots of participation. I think all of us who visited were moved.
The service was led by one of the great pioneers of the Reform movement in Israel. Maya Leibovich, is Israel’s first Israel born women rabbi. In establishing the congregation in Mevasseret she has faced prejudice and worse. She fought to get land from the municipal government to build a synagogue. She established a Reform nursery school which while under construction was set on fire. She continues to press for the rights of Reform Jews in Israel to equal treatment and acceptance.
After services and the kiddush I spoke with Gusti Braverman with whose family I spend Erev Shabbat last year. She works for the Israel Movement Progressive Judaism and had just returned from Australia. We caught up on family and she offered her hospitality should I need anything while in Israel.
Our little group then joined Aviva Schneider who led us on a walk to her home for Shabbat dinner. I had been to Aviva’s home once before for Shabbat dinner but I’m afraid they host so many visitors (and I leave a small impression) that they had forgotten me. I decided to try to make a bigger impression.
We walked through the area where new olim (immigrants) reside. It is now exclusively for Ethiopian Jews. These areas are known as absorption centers and they are for short-term residency. The olim move to different areas after they learn Hebrew and are introduced to Israeli life. Unfortunately, these centers are often quite poor and rundown. Also, well intentioned people leave bundles of old clothes for the olim on the street. The clothes are picked through and what ever is left is left on the street. There were clothes scattered all about. This was one of the rare times I thought Israelis could do much better.
At Aviva’s home we met her husband, Tsvi, and several of her children and at least one boyfriend. We also met Ayelet Heyman, another member of the congregation and her daughter. Ayelet’s husband, Shemuel, would join us a little later. He was on his way back from taking cousins he had not previously met on a tour of the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi.
Aviva and Tsvi work with antiquities; he as librarian and she as staff of the government agency overseeing digs and research. They are both Canadians who met in Israel and stayed. Tsvi talked a bit about archeology and finds in the Mevasseret area.
When Shemuel arrived we sat down for dinner. Shemuel is a doctor specializing in liver disease. He does research and is considered a leading expert in his field. We talked a bit about differences in medical practices in the U.S. and Israel.
At some point the conversation moved to why American Jews should support liberal forms of Judaism in Israel. Ayelet spoke of the absence of alternatives for non-Orthodox in Israel. Those who are looking for spirituality outside of Orthodoxy are left to non-Jewish choices. She herself had traveled four times to visit the Dalai Lama in Tibet. She was simply unaware that Judaism had a range of expression that could meet her needs until she met Rabbi Leibovich. There was talk about how the help of American Jews was necessary to establish a fledgling expansion of choice.
We spoke of many things and then it was time to go. Ayelet drove us back to the hotel and we called it a night.
Gary
I think I was a little long winded in my last email. I’ll try to keep it a little shorter.
Arrival at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was uneventful. A quick shower and a change of clothes got me ready to go out for Shabbat.
Four members of our group, Joyce Goldstein, Marvin Rosenblum, Martin Fox and I, joined Amir for a ride to Mevasseret Zion, a suburb west of the city. There we attended services at the Kehillat (congregation) of the same name. Services are held in the entry hall of a junior high school. The congregation has a new building under construction (unfortunately it has been under construction for a long time). Unlike the Orthodox synagogues in Israel, the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) receive no public funding for construction, operational expenses or salaries. Liberal congregations must depend on donors and, frankly, there are few very wealthy Israelis who can make such donations or are willing to. Thus most of the capital fundraising and some of the operational fundraising is done in the Diaspora, primarily the U.S. The liberal movements are fighting in the courts to get state funding but it has been a continuing struggle. Each time they get a ruling in their favor, the Government changes the rules of the game to appease the Orthodox political powers.
The service was filled with ruach (spirit/spirituality). This was my third visit to Kehillat Mevasseret Zion. It is a Reform/Progressive congregation with 160 member families. For an American Reform Jew the service might be a little surprising. Obviously it is all in Hebrew but the music might be unfamiliar. The style of the service would feel more Conservative to most of us but in the (new) Reform approach there were two guitars and lots of participation. I think all of us who visited were moved.
The service was led by one of the great pioneers of the Reform movement in Israel. Maya Leibovich, is Israel’s first Israel born women rabbi. In establishing the congregation in Mevasseret she has faced prejudice and worse. She fought to get land from the municipal government to build a synagogue. She established a Reform nursery school which while under construction was set on fire. She continues to press for the rights of Reform Jews in Israel to equal treatment and acceptance.
After services and the kiddush I spoke with Gusti Braverman with whose family I spend Erev Shabbat last year. She works for the Israel Movement Progressive Judaism and had just returned from Australia. We caught up on family and she offered her hospitality should I need anything while in Israel.
Our little group then joined Aviva Schneider who led us on a walk to her home for Shabbat dinner. I had been to Aviva’s home once before for Shabbat dinner but I’m afraid they host so many visitors (and I leave a small impression) that they had forgotten me. I decided to try to make a bigger impression.
We walked through the area where new olim (immigrants) reside. It is now exclusively for Ethiopian Jews. These areas are known as absorption centers and they are for short-term residency. The olim move to different areas after they learn Hebrew and are introduced to Israeli life. Unfortunately, these centers are often quite poor and rundown. Also, well intentioned people leave bundles of old clothes for the olim on the street. The clothes are picked through and what ever is left is left on the street. There were clothes scattered all about. This was one of the rare times I thought Israelis could do much better.
At Aviva’s home we met her husband, Tsvi, and several of her children and at least one boyfriend. We also met Ayelet Heyman, another member of the congregation and her daughter. Ayelet’s husband, Shemuel, would join us a little later. He was on his way back from taking cousins he had not previously met on a tour of the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi.
Aviva and Tsvi work with antiquities; he as librarian and she as staff of the government agency overseeing digs and research. They are both Canadians who met in Israel and stayed. Tsvi talked a bit about archeology and finds in the Mevasseret area.
When Shemuel arrived we sat down for dinner. Shemuel is a doctor specializing in liver disease. He does research and is considered a leading expert in his field. We talked a bit about differences in medical practices in the U.S. and Israel.
At some point the conversation moved to why American Jews should support liberal forms of Judaism in Israel. Ayelet spoke of the absence of alternatives for non-Orthodox in Israel. Those who are looking for spirituality outside of Orthodoxy are left to non-Jewish choices. She herself had traveled four times to visit the Dalai Lama in Tibet. She was simply unaware that Judaism had a range of expression that could meet her needs until she met Rabbi Leibovich. There was talk about how the help of American Jews was necessary to establish a fledgling expansion of choice.
We spoke of many things and then it was time to go. Ayelet drove us back to the hotel and we called it a night.
Gary
posted by Gary A at 1:21 PM
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