Two surveys of Israelis’ feelings about legitimizing Reform and Conservative Judaism have revealed that those who define themselves as masorti — religiously traditional but not Orthodox — are deeply divided about religious pluralism.
And a substantial number of Orthodox respondents — though a minority, to be sure — said they support the official inclusion of the non-Orthodox movements in various aspects of Israeli life.
The recent telephone surveys, conducted by the Israeli polling firms Dahaf and Geocartography, asked Orthodox, traditional and secular Jews whether they support:
equal status for the non-Orthodox movements;
alternatives to Orthodox marriage;
inclusion of Reform and Conservative representatives on local religious councils; and
teaching about Reform and Conservative Judaism in the public schools.
A narrow majority — ranging from 50 percent to 61 percent, depending on the question — of those surveyed favor the elements of religious pluralism listed above.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled recently that non-Orthodox Jews must be allowed to serve on religious councils, and the Ministry of Education in September began to implement curricula about non-Orthodox views of Judaism.
Despite the court ruling, no Reform or Conservative representatives sit on any of Israel’s 140 municipal religious councils because “the decision is being ignored by the politicians who control” the councils, said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America.
But the Orthodox rabbinate retains control over matters of personal status – – marriage, conversion and divorce — as it has since the founding of the state.
Political wrangling over the issue has already played a part in the campaigns leading up to the May 29 national elections.
In Israel, people generally define themselves as haredi (fervently Orthodox), dati (Orthodox), masorti (somewhat traditionally observant but not dogmatic) or hiloni (secular).
More than half of Israelis define themselves as secular, some 15 percent to 20 percent as Orthodox or fervently Orthodox, and the rest as traditional, said Hirsch.
The whole model of religious identification in Israel is quite different than it is in North America.
Many Israelis who define themselves as secular observe some religious traditions, such as lighting Shabbat candles. Even those relatively few Israelis who identify as Reform or Conservative jews tend to be more observant than most of their American counterparts.
While the Conservative movement in Israel is called the Masorti movement, the term is more widely understood in Israel, generically, to mean “traditional in religious observance.”
The surveys revealed that a majority of those who describe themselves as traditional supports each of the four planks of religious pluralism.
But an extremely significant minority opposes them.
On the matter of equal status for the non-Orthodox movements, 54 percent of those who identify as masorti, or traditional, support it and 39 percent oppose it.
While 54 percent of those identifying as traditional support breaking the Orthodox monopoly on Jewish marriages, fully 43 percent oppose it.
When asked whether “all streams” of Judaism should be taught in the public schools, 48 percent of the traditional said yes, but nearly as many — 44 percent — said no.
Only 50 percent of traditional respondents said Reform and Conservative Jewish representatives should be included on religious councils. Forty-three percent said no.
The close vote among the masorti respondents is interesting because they, as religious but not Orthodox people, would ostensibly stand to benefit the most from official recognition of the Reform and Conservative movements.
Hirsch said the division within the masorti population was expected because “that population often comes from Eastern countries as opposed to Western, where people have first-hand knowledge of non-Orthodox Jews and institutions and thinking.”
Although “non-Orthodox values are viciously attacked” in Israel and “every effort is made on the political level to shut out the Jewish authenticity of these movements, there still is a majority” of traditional Jews favoring inclusion of the non-Orthodox movements, Hirsch said.
According to an American Orthodox leader, “the masorti equivocation” is the most important finding of the two surveys. “It really is a defining moment for the Jewish community. The ones who may gain with additional representation [on religious councils] realize there is something of greater value than dollars and cents, and that is tradition from Sinai,” said Rabbi Raphael Butler, executive vice president of Orthodox Union.
“A significant number yearn to maintain part of that link at any cost,” he said.
Nonetheless, a substantial number — 20 percent — of Orthodox respondents favor equal status for the non-Orthodox movements, according to the Dahaf poll, while 80 percent oppose it.
And while 72 percent of the Orthodox oppose teaching “all streams” of Judaism in the public schools, more than one-quarter — 26 percent — favor it.
Some 14 percent of Orthodox respondents support the inclusion of non-Orthodox representatives on religious councils, while 82 percent do not support it.
But an overwhelming majority — 86 percent — of Orthodox oppose allowing alternative marriage ceremonies in Israel. Ten percent are in favor.
As expected, respondents who define themselves as secular overwhelmingly favor religious pluralism as defined by the four questions posed.
Seventy-six percent of secular respondents in the Dahaf poll favor equal status for the non-Orthodox movements and 18 percent oppose it.
About 80 percent of the secularists favor legalizing non-Orthodox marriages. Some 14 percent do not.
Two-thirds of secularists favor teaching all streams of Judaism in public schools. A quarter of them oppose it.
And 69 percent are in favor of non-Orthodox serving on religious councils, while 22 percent are opposed to it.
The Dahaf survey of 452 adults was conducted Feb. 29 and March 3. The Geocartography poll was conducted March 12-18.
Hirsch of the Reform movement, which commissioned the surveys, did not know how many people were surveyed by Geocartography.
The responses do not always add up to 100 percent because some of those surveyed did not respond to particular questions.
The Dahaf poll, which was more extensive in breaking down the respondents according to religious affiliation, was confirmed by the Geocartography poll, which produced responses only a few points away from those on the Dahaf poll on each question.
Statistically speaking, the findings were about the same because the surveys’ margins of error were plus or minus 3 percent to 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center has written to every Knesset candidate from the non-Orthodox parties “to ask whether they agree with the majority of Israelis,” said Hirsch.
“We want to know what they think and to hold them to it later on,” he said.
The Reform movement has put on hold its effort to introduce legislation to the Knesset to legalize non-Orthodox marriage.
Just before the Knesset disbanded in preparation for the May 29 elections, 16 Orthodox members of Knesset tried to introduce a bill that would have undermined the recent Supreme Court decision which recognized Reform conversions but put final responsibility for the decision in the hands of the legislators.
At the last minute, Prime Minister Shimon Peres “persuaded them to drop that,” Hirsch said. “Those kinds of initiatives will be coming fast and furious as part of the Orthodox parties’ negotiating posture as soon as the elections are over.
“We’re preparing for that. We’re not going to be caught by surprise,” he said.
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