By Dr. Alex Sternberg

July 22–I arrived with my family in Israel on July 4 from New York, in time to celebrate the Independence of the United States. We also arrived in time for the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, my tenth, spanning over 40 years of involvement with the Maccabiah movement.

As a committed Zionist with a lifetime of activism supporting Israel, I am a Modern Orthodox Jew and a graduate of a “black hat” yeshiva. Both my sons are yeshiva students, with the older one, Dov, having spent his “gap year” studying in an Israeli yeshiva. The little one, Yonatan, has been preparing for a year to celebrate his bar mitzvah at the Kotel in a few short weeks. We got here just in time to witness the Israeli rabbinate and Diaspora rabbis descend into the latest flare-up of a decades-long turf war. This conflict is about several issues such as prayer at the Kotel and who can perform conversions.

I have been reading daily in the Jerusalem Post articles about notable American Jewish leaders warning of this new rift between Diaspora Jews and Israel. The doomsday authors are mostly from the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism and they warn of “catastrophic consequences” unless the government of Israel backs down and accepts the U.S.-inspired Reform and Conservative rabbinate’s control of a separate prayer area at the Kotel. Some of these gentlemen, committed leaders of Diaspora Jewry, are calling for boycotts of Israel, El Al airlines, and an organized campaign to withhold needed donations from the State of Israel. Many voice sentiments often put forth by the propaganda campaigns of the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic BDS movement.

This latest controversy calls to mind the decades-long, never-settled argument of “who is a Jew?”

I believe the time has come for us to reexamine a more fundamental question: “What is a Jew?”

For millennia, Jews have been recognized as the Chosen People not only by us but also by the people amongst whom we lived. Jews worshipped differently, had a unique set of laws that set us apart. We clung to our difference, often at our lives’ peril. We were Jews. We knew it and they knew it. There were some Jews who weren’t so observant, but all in all, we were all Jews without distinctions.

More recently, after many years of discrimination, some Jews began to feel that the persecution would stop if only “we weren’t so different.” First in Germany and Hungary and then in the U.S., Jews wanted to integrate into the society of their adopted land and began to discard their outward Jewishness. The beard, the yarmulke, eating kosher, and, finally, Sabbath observance. A new, reformed version of Judaism was invented that wasn’t so “Jewish” and perhaps more acceptable to our gentile neighbors and coworkers. In this newer version, Sabbath observance, eating kosher, and observing the fundamental laws that made us uniquely Jewish were discarded. To make this “less Jewish” version OK, we called it Reform. After all, the moniker “not religious” or “not observant” was not PC, and a pejorative.

Where observant Jews had to obey the laws of the Torah, Reform Jews were now absolved. Stripped of the fundamental obligations of Judaism, all that was left were symbols. Some in the U.S. call this version “bagels and lox Judaism.” Some call it Reform.

Suddenly, Judaism was torn apart and divided into separate entities. Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Neolog.

Changes were made to the synagogue service as well, and to the time-honored Siddur. Among the deleted chapters in the Reform prayer book was the Retzei, where we prayed for the speedy restoration of our ancient Temple in Jerusalem along with the daily service conducted there. This prayer has nourished our yearning to return to our ancient Temple and the commonwealth of Israel for over 2,000 years. The only remnant of our once magnificent Temple is the Wailing Wall or Western Wall. Yes, we wailed there for two millennia, asking G-d for our return to Jerusalem. Now that we have returned to Jerusalem and to our precious remaining wall, the simple act of prayer and supplication by the Kotel is roiled in controversy.

The rift so many modern American Jewish leaders warn us about today began a long time ago. It was started, I am sorry to point out, by the Reform and Conservative movements when they “reformed” thousands of years of tradition.

What makes today’s controversy so hypocritical? The very same rabbis who deleted from the prayers our yearning for the restoration of the Temple service are now demanding a presence at the very Kotel that is reminiscent of the Temple. Their outrage would ring less hollow if they restored the Retzei prayer into their books and daily prayers.

There are many who feel that this controversy is political and not theological at all. I share this opinion. Some feel that rabbis of the Reform and Conservative movements need to validate their version of Judaism and are making a political statement. They are elbowing their way to the table or, in this case, to the wall. By separating from the rest of Judaism and developing a different “denomination,” the schism they so hysterically warn us about today has been around for decades. The Reform leadership is just stoking those old fires. They are bringing what divides American Jewry from the U.S. and attempting to plant it in Israel. Although the majority of Israeli society is not observant, “the synagogue they don’t go to” is Orthodox. The Conservative and Reform movements never caught on in Israel. I suppose Israelis are not trying to impress the goyim and thus have no need for this symbolistic movement.

While there are many issues dividing Israel, praying at our Kotel should not be one of them. I am sure you have learned in the Talmud that the very Beis HaMikdash, over whose remaining wall we are fighting, was destroyed due to sinas chinam, needless hatred among us. Disunity. C’mon, let’s be honest.

I have been coming to pray at the Kotel since the early 1970s. I have never been asked by any rabbi there who I was. Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform? All are welcome. Does anyone stop you now from praying at the Kotel? No!

All visitors, Jew and gentile alike, are welcome and are daily visitors.

Sure, there are rules to observe. Are there no rules in Reform houses of worship? Can I come and set up a mechitzah (a partition between men and women found in the Orthodox synagogues) were I to come to pray at a Reform Temple? Can I demand kosher food at a reception, something not always found in Reform celebrations?

I am confused when I read that American Jewish leaders are demanding a change in the status quo here in Israel. This is not the U.S. What would they say if the Israeli rabbis were to demand a change in the form of worship in an American Reform or Conservative temple to suit them? Would you not deem such a request arrogance? Chutzpah?

I am even more confused when I read some of these “leaders” advocating boycotting Israel. What is so terrible in praying at the main Kotel area that has pushed you over to side with Israel’s enemies?

The second controversy surrounds conversion. The Israeli rabbinate wants to be in control of the process by which one enters the Jewish community. So does the American Orthodox rabbinate, for that matter. Who is a Jew? One who is born of a Jewish mother or who converts according to halachah, ancient Jewish guidelines.

Now let’s be honest. Halachic conversions are, by design, difficult. This is to assure us of converts who come because of conviction. Like Ruth from the Bible.

The Jewish religion does not believe in proselytizing. Those who opt for Reform conversion do so because the process is considerably watered down. It’s much easier.

Is it any wonder that Orthodox rabbis, charged with keeping the faith in the Jewish Faith, want to maintain the integrity of the process?

Some of my Reform and Conservative friends point to the demographics of the large exit out of the Jewish faith, to justify these lessening of standards. “We need to replenish our numbers,” they claim.

I agree that the demographics are alarming, but why not look inward and attempt to teach our youngsters of the beauty of the Jewish heritage? Why are they opting out in the first place?

Could it be because their parents aren’t teaching them Jewish values?

Pride in the tribe!

Sorry, but how often is there prayer in the Reform Temple? Is it daily, as in the Orthodox? Do you have a vibrant youth movement, a junior congregation? We don’t need to water down our numbers with strangers who come for less than pure motives. Let’s strengthen our numbers with our own children.

I may point out that intermarriage, or “opting out” of the tribe, is not an issue among the Orthodox.

So, I urge you, my brothers and sisters from the Reform and Conservative groups, to continue to support Israel. Don’t advocate boycotts and don’t hold back your much-needed donations. Come more often and don’t feel like a stranger in your land. The Torah teaches us unity and commands: “Al tifrosh min ha’tzibbur–do not separate your selves from the community!” American Jews, Israeli Jews, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, unaffiliated, we are all one big family.

Come to the Kotel, bring your children, and let us all pray together.

Just please remember that even in your brother’s house, you don’t make the rules.

 

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