Day 3 Sunday 3/13/05
Day 3 – Sunday, 3/13/05
On Sunday, the beginning of the work-week in Israel, we took the bus to Machon Schechner, the campus for the Masorti/Conservative Movement in Israel. It is in the same area as the Knesset in Jerusalem. We met first with David Golinkin, the President of the Schechner Institute. MetroWest provides funding for an Israeli student to participate in the Institutes rabbinic program.
Rabbi Golinkin told some personal stories to get across the current state of non-Orthodox Israel.
Story 1: He needs a havdallah candle (used in the ceremony to mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week) and goes into a small local grocery. There is a young man behind the counter and Rabbi Golinkin asks him for the candle. The clerk asks what is a havdallah candle and the Rabbi describes it and its purpose. The young man then leads the Rabbi down an aisle and points out the yarzeit (memorial) candles. Remember…this is in Jerusalem.
Story 2: A Jerusalem public secular school has a Hanukah party every year. Each year a new party theme is chosen. This year the theme is Christmas. When challenged, the school’s principal cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
According to Rabbi Golinkin most Israeli children and adults receive no Jewish education. Bible is taught as history and literature. Otherwise very little teaching of Jewish values and tradition is done. His institution tries to address the issue in several ways. They run a graduate school for teachers in order to influence the public secular school system. (MetroWest provides funding to help teachers attend from the Megged school in Ra’anana.)
Another Masorti response is its rabbinic school program. The dean of the school, Harvey Rabine (sp?) spoke to us about the program. First he told a story. His daughter, who had been in the Masorti Noam youth group, went into the army in a Noam unit. During her basic training an Orthodox officer addressed the group. At one point he stated that Hitler had killed 6 million Jews but that the liberal streams of Judaism would destroy 8 million. The daughter stood up and stated that if this was what an officer in the Army believed and would publicly state then this was not her Army and she left the room. The story hit the press and, to the Army’s credit, the officer was dismissed. Rabine went on to say that the Israel is faced not only with an external threat but also an internal one…the threat that the various factions within Israel will tear the country apart.
The rabbinic school educated 60 rabbis during its first 20 years. Currently there are 25 rabbinic students in the 4 year program. Clearly there is a growing interest by young people to study and become Masorti rabbis. The school has realized that congregational rabbis are not the only way to influence the society. They are providing programs so that their students can become chaplains, educators and Matnas (community center) staff.
The Masorti movement is also the force behind the Tali education system in Israel. The Tali program, according to its director Eitan Chikli, is a response to the old Zionist need to destroy the traditional Judaism. Dr. Chikli describes the founders Zionism as having created Hebrew speaking gentiles.
Tali now has programs in 52 elementary schools and 75 kindergartens. It touches 22,000 people, students and parents. The Government has accepted Tali and has developed criteria for approving Tali programs and schools. Tali’s challenges are to expand the program at the lower schools, add more junior and high schools and develop a network so there can be more school to school cooperation.
A little more later... Gary
On Sunday, the beginning of the work-week in Israel, we took the bus to Machon Schechner, the campus for the Masorti/Conservative Movement in Israel. It is in the same area as the Knesset in Jerusalem. We met first with David Golinkin, the President of the Schechner Institute. MetroWest provides funding for an Israeli student to participate in the Institutes rabbinic program.
Rabbi Golinkin told some personal stories to get across the current state of non-Orthodox Israel.
Story 1: He needs a havdallah candle (used in the ceremony to mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week) and goes into a small local grocery. There is a young man behind the counter and Rabbi Golinkin asks him for the candle. The clerk asks what is a havdallah candle and the Rabbi describes it and its purpose. The young man then leads the Rabbi down an aisle and points out the yarzeit (memorial) candles. Remember…this is in Jerusalem.
Story 2: A Jerusalem public secular school has a Hanukah party every year. Each year a new party theme is chosen. This year the theme is Christmas. When challenged, the school’s principal cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
According to Rabbi Golinkin most Israeli children and adults receive no Jewish education. Bible is taught as history and literature. Otherwise very little teaching of Jewish values and tradition is done. His institution tries to address the issue in several ways. They run a graduate school for teachers in order to influence the public secular school system. (MetroWest provides funding to help teachers attend from the Megged school in Ra’anana.)
Another Masorti response is its rabbinic school program. The dean of the school, Harvey Rabine (sp?) spoke to us about the program. First he told a story. His daughter, who had been in the Masorti Noam youth group, went into the army in a Noam unit. During her basic training an Orthodox officer addressed the group. At one point he stated that Hitler had killed 6 million Jews but that the liberal streams of Judaism would destroy 8 million. The daughter stood up and stated that if this was what an officer in the Army believed and would publicly state then this was not her Army and she left the room. The story hit the press and, to the Army’s credit, the officer was dismissed. Rabine went on to say that the Israel is faced not only with an external threat but also an internal one…the threat that the various factions within Israel will tear the country apart.
The rabbinic school educated 60 rabbis during its first 20 years. Currently there are 25 rabbinic students in the 4 year program. Clearly there is a growing interest by young people to study and become Masorti rabbis. The school has realized that congregational rabbis are not the only way to influence the society. They are providing programs so that their students can become chaplains, educators and Matnas (community center) staff.
The Masorti movement is also the force behind the Tali education system in Israel. The Tali program, according to its director Eitan Chikli, is a response to the old Zionist need to destroy the traditional Judaism. Dr. Chikli describes the founders Zionism as having created Hebrew speaking gentiles.
Tali now has programs in 52 elementary schools and 75 kindergartens. It touches 22,000 people, students and parents. The Government has accepted Tali and has developed criteria for approving Tali programs and schools. Tali’s challenges are to expand the program at the lower schools, add more junior and high schools and develop a network so there can be more school to school cooperation.
A little more later... Gary
posted by Gary A at 1:25 PM
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