Zionist Congress resolution on pluralism

Text of Zionist Congress resolution:

Whereas religious and secular pluralism in Israel is a

subject of concern for Zionists in the Diaspora, the

Congress calls on all the political parties in Israel to

recognize the fact that:

A. In a democratic society, the expression of Judaism must

be pluralistic.

B. Secular and religious Jews, of all the streams, have

equal democratic rights to observe their faith and lifestyles

their own way.

C. An attempt by any entity to impose religion or to

prevent its observance by the other side, is anti-democratic

and is liable to undermine respect toward Judaism.

With concern and criticism in Israel and abroad regarding

the reality as it has developed since then within the Jewish

world.

With deep apprehension for the unity of the Jewish people,

the Congress calls on the leadership of the religious

streams in Israel and abroad to work in cooperation with

the Israeli government to ensure the success of the

Ne’eman Commission’s work, in its efforts to solve the

painful issues on the agenda of the Jewish people, among

them issues within the area of personal status and the

possibility of operating in Israel.

If, God forbid, this cooperation is not successful, the

Congress calls on the movement’s management and

institutions to take all the appropriate steps in order to

continue calling on the Israeli government:

1. Not to allow any change in the Law of Return, which is

one of the foundations for the identification of the Jewish

people with the State of Israel in all the Jewish

communities throughout the world.

2. To refrain from any legislative changes, or new religious

legislation, unless it is done through broad consensus and

consideration of all the sectors of the people in Israel and

abroad.

3. To maintain open and frank dialogue with all the sectors

of the Jewish people about the challenges, the

opportunities and the dangers that the Jewish people face,

and about reinforcing its spiritual strength.

The Zionist Congress condemns the recent violent and

sacrilegious acts, among them the arson burning of a

preschool, aimed at individuals and religious and

educational institutions in Israel.

The Congress calls on all involved public figures to avoid

hurtful and degrading statements, which call for the

banning of sectors of the Jewish people due to their

different interpretations of Judaism and its sources.

The Zionist movement is a pluralistic Jewish movement,

which holds of supreme importance the maintaining of the

wholeness of the Jewish people, which is being variegated

and enriched thanks to the great number of its views and

the many positions of its members.

The Zionist movement respects, both in theory and in

practicality, the inclusion of the various interpretations of

Judaism and its tradition in the spirit of pluralism in

Judaism. The Zionist movement is unique in as much as it

is the singular volunteer, democratic movement within the

Jewish people. [It is] a movement that maintains

cooperation among all sectors of the Jewish people with

equality and mutual respect.

The Zionist Congress instructs the Zionist management to

call on the Israeli government to adopt and implement the

spirit of this resolution, followed by the Congress

Resolution No. 94 namely: “Equal Rights for all Streams

in Judaism.”

The Zionist movement will continue to seek and to work

for the establishment of mutual appreciation among all the

streams and ideologies within Judaism in accordance with

these values.

If, God forbid, the efforts of the Ne’eman Commission are

not concluded successfully, the Congress calls on the

government, in accordance with the proposal made by the

Labor-Meretz faction, the New faction, The Center

[faction] and others, to refrain from passing the

Conversion law. The Congress puts on the record the

position held by Hamizrachi, Likud, Tsomet, Moledet and

others, which oppose this stance for religious and

conscientious reasons.