Concern over Pluralism in Israel Spreads to Jews Across the Globe

After Friday night services conclude at Congregation Israelita Paulista in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and some 1,000 members of the Reform temple mill about and socialize, conversation often turns to the latest news about the pluralism conflict in Israel.

“There is a lot of talk about the issues in Israel, especially over the past few months,” says Rabbi Henry Sobel who heads Latin America’s biggest synagogue. “People want to hear what the rabbis have to say. Even though the reality is very far from Israel, Brazilian Jews feel tremendously affected. What sustains Jews in the Third World is Israel and Israeli society.”

Sobel was among the group of Reform rabbis from around the world who gathered in Jerusalem last week for the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s 29th international convention. The pluralism battle in Israel topped the agenda at the meeting of the Reform movement’s world body and dominated talk in the corridors, especially issues such as the recognition of liberal conversions and the right of non-Orthodox Israelis to serve on municipal religious councils – – topics that have been straining Israel-Diaspora relations.

The “Diaspora” referred to in that context is usually North America, home to the world’s largest Jewish community.

But shots in the pluralism battle are being heard around the world. From Brazil to Beijing, Jewish communities are finding they cannot ignore the issue.

Of course, Jews often face social and economic problems that are shared by the non-Jewish residents in the country in which they live. In Brazil, for example, a severe economic crisis that has shaken the country tops the agenda of the Jewish community of 125,000.

But “the No. 1 Jewish issue is the divisions between Jews in Israeli society,” says Sobel.

Brazilian Jews perceive the issue very differently than their counterparts in the United States, Sobel says.

Brazilian Jews do not consider Orthodox attempts in Israel to retain their monopoly over personal status issues such as marriage and divorce as a personal insult, but are concerned about how the conflict in Israel could affect the dynamics of their own community, in which Orthodox and liberal Jews coexist peacefully.

“Brazilian society in general is very tolerant, and this spirit of togetherness has rubbed off in the best possible way on Jewish society,” says Sobel, who has launched a dialogue program for “moderate liberal” and “moderate Orthodox” Jews in his country.

“The concern among Latin American Jews is about how the debate in Israel might prompt the local Orthodox community to become more aggressive. People are worried that if this goes on, and there is a so-called civil war between Jews and Jews in Israel, it could be exported to our country.”

In Great Britain, Reform Jews — which make up about 25 per cent of the country’s Jewish population of 200,000, are also closely monitoring the pluralism debate.

Like Jews in the United States, British Jews feel insulted by the way Israel’s Orthodox establishment is treating liberal Jews. In Europe and Britain, “people are increasingly disturbed by what they read in the papers,” according to Dr. Leo Hepner, a London Reform Jew and the chairman of the European region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

“Reform Jews in Britain are very proud of their status,” he says. “They have followed liberal and progressive Judaism for many generations, and the implication by the Orthodox establishment in Israel that Reform Judaism is a synthetic form of Judaism and an import from the West is insulting.”

“The average man in the synagogue is so worried that he tends now to say, `If my donations are used for this kind of thing I would rather keep my funds at home,'” says Hepner.

In some ways, says Hepner, British Jews are even more aware of what is happening in Israel than U.S. Jews, since the United Kingdom is just a four- hour flight from Israel, and many British Jews frequently travel to Israel to vacation or visit friends and family.

In South Africa, Reform Jews are keeping in touch with what goes on in Israel, but they are somewhat less concerned about the issue because the transition from apartheid has led to enormous domestic turmoil and a sharp upswing in violent crime.

Rabbi Hillel Avidan, a pulpit rabbi at a Reform synagogue in Johannesburg and chairman of the Southern African Association of Progressive Rabbis, says domestic turmoil and an affirmative action program that is making it difficult for whites to find jobs is causing many of South Africa’s 80,000 Jews to emigrate. Last year, some 2,000 Jews left the country, mostly to Australia. Only a small percentage chose Israel.

Most go to Australia for economic reasons. But for liberal Jews, says Rabbi Avidan, the pluralism issue can add another deterrent to aliyah.

“It is even more of a deterrent in families where one partner is married to someone who converted under the auspices of a Reform conversion,” said Avidan, even though he explains to potential immigrants to Israel that the Jewish state recognizes Reform conversions performed in the Diaspora. “Still, many converts tend to think of themselves as second class Jews, because they start to believe what the Orthodox tell them.”

Despite the domestic turmoil, Avidan tries to keep his community in the know about the latest events in the pluralism battle. “When I told the community that [Israeli authors] Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua encouraged Israelis to join the Reform movement, that really gave them a lift,” he said.

Even in Hong Kong, the community of 3,000 Jews — mostly expatriate businessmen, journalists and academics from North America — cannot ignore the pluralism debate.

Rabbi Jordan Cohen, from the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong, says the community’s interest in the issue stems from its own internal struggles.

“There is a lot of tension between us,” he says, adding that the Orthodox and Reform Jews find themselves competing for space in the local Jewish community center.

Cohen says most of the North American expatriates were never confronted with these issues at home, where, he says, liberal communities feel less threatened by the Orthodox. “But they came to Hong Kong, and all of a sudden it’s an issue,” he says. “When the Reform movement scores a victory in Israel, they feel very enabled in Hong Kong.”