Ra'anana Continued & the Mission's End
Over the next few weeks I’ll edit photos and post them on Clubphoto.com. I’ll send out a notice when they are all uploaded. Gary
Day 6 Wednesday, 3/16/05 Ra’anana (part 2)
After lunch we had two meetings with alternative programs/schools from Ra’anana. Conflicting forces of financial requirements, independence, program integrity and control are at work as these programs move from their initial founding to maintenance and growth. TALI has the opportunity to become the main track in one of the municipal schools but is struggling with issues of independence and control. The Meitarim School is an independent, truly pluralistic school serving grades 7 – 10. It is struggling to obtain funding from the government and may need to be incorporated into an existing public (Mamlachti) school. We discussed the current status of these organizations in Ra’anana with their representatives.
We left the restaurant and took the bus to the Samueli Center, the home of the Ra’anana’s Reform/Progressive congregation, Kehillat Ra’anan. Several years ago our committee did something that was then considered quite out of the box. We funded some of the initial costs for the design and approvals needed to construct the Center. Generally, we fund programs but the committee understood that to establish a viable non-Orthodox congregation a real home is necessary. Although I usually look askance at “build it and they will come” thinking, I have found that a strong alternative congregation needs a physical home to become viable. (In Mevasseret Zion the synagogue has been under construction several years but will at long last open its sanctuary this fall. They anticipate strong membership growth when they open the doors. In Modi’in, you will recall, the struggle with the municipality was about funding for a synagogue. For that community to become strong it needs an attractive physical presence.) The facility in Ra’anana is beautiful thanks to a major American donor and it is being fully utilized. Remember that government money is usually available for synagogue construction in Israel but has generally been denied to non-Orthodox congregations.
At Kehillat Ra’anan we met with their dynamic Rabbi, Tamar Kohlberg.
I met Tamar on my first MetroWest visit to Israel back in 2001 and have maintained contact since. She, almost single-handedly, has put Reform on the map in her city. She is often in conflict with the local establishment but perseveres and works tirelessly. (I often wonder how she finds the time to correspond with so many others and me.) There is extensive programming both in the facility and around Ra’anana. The congregation has two kindergarten classes as well as programs for olim and those with special needs. Rabbi Kohlberg is in the schools constantly providing Jewish education and often those programs continue at her facility. She runs bar/bat mitzvah programs not just for the kids but for the whole family and thus brings the richness of our tradition to Israelis for whom “Jewishness” has long lied dormant.
At our meeting with Rabbi Kohlberg, we met with the Reform Movement’s director of education (Maki ? – I don’t recall her last name although I’m ashamed to admit I met her once before in 2003). She spoke of the need to establish alternatives by means other than prayer communities. Secular Israelis tend to be suspicious of synagogues where the sole focus is prayer…they associate them with the Judaism they have long rejected. Over the last 10 years the Movement has provided other paths to Jewish renewal in Israel through study, holiday programming, programs for teenage girls and their mothers, youth groups, etc. Her stated goal is to simply help secular Israelis be able to say I know what it means to be a Jew. Her other focus is the public school teachers where she hopes she can influence growing numbers of kids.
We met with parent representatives of Ra’anana’s Democratic School, another alternative school (you may be picking up on a “trend” here…there is deep dissatisfaction in Israel with public education but I’ve gone on too long already).
Democratic School parents with Sandy Hollendar
They have been working with Rabbi Kohlberg in an effort to bring Jewish learning to their children. The parents, who described their fiercely secular backgrounds, attested to the Rabbi’s non-threatening approach…”Rabbi Kohlberg is not making us “Reform Jews” but knowledgeable Jews.” They also describe to us the great need for such programming with one example. When their kids play-act a wedding it is not a Jewish wedding. The pretend wedding takes place in a pretend church with a pretend priest or minister. Why? Their kids never see a Jewish wedding and most movies and American re-runs show Christian weddings on TV. These parents are realizing that their heritage is in jeopardy and are turning to Rabbi Kohlberg for help.
Rabbi Kohlberg described the issues that confront her. There is such great suspicion among secular Israelis about anything “religious”. She gave an example. She has been running programs with the MetroWest High School in Ra’anana. As part of her program she invites the kids to visit her synagogue to see ritual objects including the Torah. It took five months before any of the students would visit. They needed that much time before they could overcome their aversion.
That suspicion carries into the municipality’s government and cultural establishment. There have been repeated struggles to obtain needed cooperation. The latest travail is an attempt by the city to impose heavy taxes on the congregation, taxes that would effectively put the congregation out of business. Imposition of such taxes does not occur with Orthodox synagogues (quite the opposite since they receive government funding). To an American, the idea of taxing a religious facility is so alien. The situation makes one wonder about the true motivation. Obviously there is a “disconnect” between the municipalities view of its level of openness and the Rabbi’s perception of that openness.
We left Rabbi Kohlberg once again impressed with her incredible energy. Our bus took us to Tel Aviv for our delegation’s final dinner before we went our separate ways. Dan and Barbara Drench hosted us at their beautiful home not far from the Rabin memorial in Tel Aviv. The Drenchs made aliyah from MetroWest a few years ago and spend about a third of the year in Israel and the rest in the U.S. or traveling. The evening was spent talking about the preceding days. We toasted our hosts, Hannah Goldman, our committee Chair, as well as Mandy Kaiser-Bluth and Amir Shacham of the staff.
Hannah with Joyce Goldstein
Mandy - a wonderful job organizing and directing our delegation
With that our band broke up to go back to the States or to other destinations. I headed to a hotel to rest up for my trip to the Negev (previously reported).
This is my penultimate email (I always look for an excuse to use penultimate in a sentence). Hopefully the last email will go out in a few days and then you are done with me for a while. The last one will recap some general thoughts…if I have any thoughts left.
Gary A
I thank those of you who have commented on my emails and postings (usually with kind words). You are welcome to add comments here as well...just click "Comments" at the bottom of each posting. Also, if there is anyone you think might enjoy or get something out of these postings you are welcome to forward them or to pass along the blog address.
Day 6 Wednesday, 3/16/05 Ra’anana (part 2)
After lunch we had two meetings with alternative programs/schools from Ra’anana. Conflicting forces of financial requirements, independence, program integrity and control are at work as these programs move from their initial founding to maintenance and growth. TALI has the opportunity to become the main track in one of the municipal schools but is struggling with issues of independence and control. The Meitarim School is an independent, truly pluralistic school serving grades 7 – 10. It is struggling to obtain funding from the government and may need to be incorporated into an existing public (Mamlachti) school. We discussed the current status of these organizations in Ra’anana with their representatives.
We left the restaurant and took the bus to the Samueli Center, the home of the Ra’anana’s Reform/Progressive congregation, Kehillat Ra’anan. Several years ago our committee did something that was then considered quite out of the box. We funded some of the initial costs for the design and approvals needed to construct the Center. Generally, we fund programs but the committee understood that to establish a viable non-Orthodox congregation a real home is necessary. Although I usually look askance at “build it and they will come” thinking, I have found that a strong alternative congregation needs a physical home to become viable. (In Mevasseret Zion the synagogue has been under construction several years but will at long last open its sanctuary this fall. They anticipate strong membership growth when they open the doors. In Modi’in, you will recall, the struggle with the municipality was about funding for a synagogue. For that community to become strong it needs an attractive physical presence.) The facility in Ra’anana is beautiful thanks to a major American donor and it is being fully utilized. Remember that government money is usually available for synagogue construction in Israel but has generally been denied to non-Orthodox congregations.
At Kehillat Ra’anan we met with their dynamic Rabbi, Tamar Kohlberg.
I met Tamar on my first MetroWest visit to Israel back in 2001 and have maintained contact since. She, almost single-handedly, has put Reform on the map in her city. She is often in conflict with the local establishment but perseveres and works tirelessly. (I often wonder how she finds the time to correspond with so many others and me.) There is extensive programming both in the facility and around Ra’anana. The congregation has two kindergarten classes as well as programs for olim and those with special needs. Rabbi Kohlberg is in the schools constantly providing Jewish education and often those programs continue at her facility. She runs bar/bat mitzvah programs not just for the kids but for the whole family and thus brings the richness of our tradition to Israelis for whom “Jewishness” has long lied dormant.
At our meeting with Rabbi Kohlberg, we met with the Reform Movement’s director of education (Maki ? – I don’t recall her last name although I’m ashamed to admit I met her once before in 2003). She spoke of the need to establish alternatives by means other than prayer communities. Secular Israelis tend to be suspicious of synagogues where the sole focus is prayer…they associate them with the Judaism they have long rejected. Over the last 10 years the Movement has provided other paths to Jewish renewal in Israel through study, holiday programming, programs for teenage girls and their mothers, youth groups, etc. Her stated goal is to simply help secular Israelis be able to say I know what it means to be a Jew. Her other focus is the public school teachers where she hopes she can influence growing numbers of kids.
We met with parent representatives of Ra’anana’s Democratic School, another alternative school (you may be picking up on a “trend” here…there is deep dissatisfaction in Israel with public education but I’ve gone on too long already).
Democratic School parents with Sandy Hollendar
They have been working with Rabbi Kohlberg in an effort to bring Jewish learning to their children. The parents, who described their fiercely secular backgrounds, attested to the Rabbi’s non-threatening approach…”Rabbi Kohlberg is not making us “Reform Jews” but knowledgeable Jews.” They also describe to us the great need for such programming with one example. When their kids play-act a wedding it is not a Jewish wedding. The pretend wedding takes place in a pretend church with a pretend priest or minister. Why? Their kids never see a Jewish wedding and most movies and American re-runs show Christian weddings on TV. These parents are realizing that their heritage is in jeopardy and are turning to Rabbi Kohlberg for help.
Rabbi Kohlberg described the issues that confront her. There is such great suspicion among secular Israelis about anything “religious”. She gave an example. She has been running programs with the MetroWest High School in Ra’anana. As part of her program she invites the kids to visit her synagogue to see ritual objects including the Torah. It took five months before any of the students would visit. They needed that much time before they could overcome their aversion.
That suspicion carries into the municipality’s government and cultural establishment. There have been repeated struggles to obtain needed cooperation. The latest travail is an attempt by the city to impose heavy taxes on the congregation, taxes that would effectively put the congregation out of business. Imposition of such taxes does not occur with Orthodox synagogues (quite the opposite since they receive government funding). To an American, the idea of taxing a religious facility is so alien. The situation makes one wonder about the true motivation. Obviously there is a “disconnect” between the municipalities view of its level of openness and the Rabbi’s perception of that openness.
We left Rabbi Kohlberg once again impressed with her incredible energy. Our bus took us to Tel Aviv for our delegation’s final dinner before we went our separate ways. Dan and Barbara Drench hosted us at their beautiful home not far from the Rabin memorial in Tel Aviv. The Drenchs made aliyah from MetroWest a few years ago and spend about a third of the year in Israel and the rest in the U.S. or traveling. The evening was spent talking about the preceding days. We toasted our hosts, Hannah Goldman, our committee Chair, as well as Mandy Kaiser-Bluth and Amir Shacham of the staff.
Hannah with Joyce Goldstein
Mandy - a wonderful job organizing and directing our delegation
With that our band broke up to go back to the States or to other destinations. I headed to a hotel to rest up for my trip to the Negev (previously reported).
This is my penultimate email (I always look for an excuse to use penultimate in a sentence). Hopefully the last email will go out in a few days and then you are done with me for a while. The last one will recap some general thoughts…if I have any thoughts left.
Gary A
I thank those of you who have commented on my emails and postings (usually with kind words). You are welcome to add comments here as well...just click "Comments" at the bottom of each posting. Also, if there is anyone you think might enjoy or get something out of these postings you are welcome to forward them or to pass along the blog address.
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