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roth.jpg (8475 Byte)Die Freie Jüdische Umschau
Internationale Presseschau

Rabbi R. Hirsch:
Keeping the Jewish People alive!

Von München nach Jerusalem:
Schalom Ben-Chorin died in Jerusalem

Inspiration und Motivation:
European Regional Annual Conference in Lyon

HIGH COURT DIRECTS BIG CITY RELIGIOUS COUNCILS TO SEAT NON-ORTHODOX

13.November 1998 / 24 Cheshvan 5759 Israel's Supreme Court recently ruled that Progressive and Conservative Jews who had been elected to serve on the religious councils in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as in Kiryat Tivon in the north, and Arad in the south, must be seated. The councils, as well as the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which effectively controls them, had refused to seat non-Orthodox members. Leaders of Israel's Progressive and Conservative movements hailed the court decision, citing the fact that the ruling was aimed at the three major cities. Last year, in what was seen as a test case, the court ordered the Netanya religious council to seat a member of the local Progressive congregation. Religious councils oversee the activities of local rabbis and other public sector employees and organizations handling religious matters, such as kashruth inspectors, ritual circumcisers and burial societies.

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CONGREGATIONAL EFFORT FAILS TO COUNTER NON-ORTHODOX VOTER APATHY

With religious parties capturing an additional two Jerusalem City Council seats in this week's municipal elections, it's not clear whether Congregation Kol Haneshama's voter awareness drive had much effect on an apparently apathetic non-Orthodox electorate. Despite community programs at the synagogue, as well as living room get-togethers and the distribution of pamphlets on city street corners, only about a third of Jerusalem's non-Orthodox voters cast ballots, compared to about 85 percent of the city's Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox electorate. This resembled the turnout in the 1995 municipal elections, when an unprecedented 90 percent of the city's eligible ultra-Orthodox voters showed up at the polls following a last-minute power sharing deal between mayoral candidate Ehud Olmert and the religious parties. In those elections, the voter imbalance, coupled with Olmert's victory, gave the Orthodox parties 13 of the 31 City Council seats and control of some of the most powerful municipal committees. This time the religious parties will fill 15 council seats. So far there's no word on a municipal coalition.

MARAM PROPOSES RELIGIOUS DAY OF MOURNING FOR RABIN

The Council of Progressive Rabbis in Israel (MARAM) of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) has proposed that a religious day of mourning be made part of the annual commemoration of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's death. The proposal came as Israel marked the third anniversary of Rabin's assassination. While there are no calls for a fast, as is custom on Jewish days of national mourning, MARAM secretary Rabbi Yoram Mazor says Jews should avoid "any event that involves joy and merriment on the [Hebrew] anniversary of the prime minister's assassination." A recent poll conducted in Israel found that only a third of the public believes Israeli society has learned a lesson from the assassination.

RA'ANANA CONGREGATION IN CYBERSPACE

Kehilat Ra'anan, the IMPJ congregation in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ra'anana, recently established a permanent Web site. It can be accessed at: http://www.raanan.org/ . The congregation's spiritual leader, Rabbi Micky Boyden, invites everyone to "take a look at what is, I believe, the first fully Hebrew/English Web site for a Reform congregation." Kehilat Ra’anana recently received a municipal building permit for the construction of a synagogue and community center.

The Orthodox Movement Meimad:

HALACHA AND DEMOCRACY

We cannot remain blind to the disastrous consequences to Israel as a Jewish state if Israelis were to begin to believe that the halacha opposes democratic rule. It is frightening to think of what would happen to relations between religious and non-religious Israelis, and especially to our own children who would grow up thinking that they must make an "either-or" choice between Torah and Israel.

BASIC POSITION: THE PEACE PROCESS

We supported Mr. Peres for Prime Minister because of our long-standing support of the Oslo Accords and the peace process, as well as evidence of our view that commitment to Torah does not imply support for one particular political stance. The monolithic support of the religious parties for Binyamin Netanyahu, and the nature of the campaign material implied it was a religious imperative for every observant Jew to vote for the right wing. This made Meimad's position all the more important as a message to religious Zionists.

Meldungen aus Mitteleuropa
Februar '98

Or Chadasch:
VIENNA CONGREGATION OFFERS TO HELP SLOVAKIANS ESTABLISH PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY

Beth Schalom:
MUNICH'S HOMOLKA TO HEAD GERMAN GREENPEACE

Germany:
MACHZOR WITH PLAUT COMMENTARY TO BE PUBLISHED

Meldungen aus Israel und der Welt
Februar '98

baArez:

SHULAMITH ALONI:
TIGHT BAR/BAT MITZVAH SCHEDULE REQUIRES A LITTLE "PROTEKTIA"

HAIFA CONGREGATION ESTABLISHES COMPUTERIZED JUDAIC LIBRARY

GROUND-BREAKING CEREMONY AT MEVASERETH ZION

SHORT TAKES ON ISSUES OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN ISRAEL

baOlam

INSTITUTE FOR MODERN JEWISH STUDIES REOPENS ITS DOORS IN KIEV

DIE KINDER DER ÜBERLEBENDEN DER AUGSBURGER GEMEINDE:
EIN GRUSS VON R.LANDMAN

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
UNION OF PROGRESSIVE JEWS
FOUNDED IN GERMAN-SPEAKING EUROPE

Munich - 30 October - 2 November 1997
Triumph of the Will:
Former Seat of Nazism hosted Major Progressive Jewish Congress

At the same time
The Union of American Hebrew Congregations held its biennial convention in Dallas, Texas, on October 29 through November 2.

World News:
World Union for Progressive Judaism in Action:
Reevaluating THE ISRAEL RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE
by Rabbi Meir Azari, Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv

A Lesson in Intolerance:
Arsonists destroy Reform kindergarten

A Voice Still Heard
"Voice of Ashkenaz--The Music and Culture of German and Central European Jewry: Remembrance and Renewal"
By Neil Levin (1997 The Jewish Theological Seminary of America)

About the WUPJ

WorldNews

Leo Baeck College

United Reform Synagogues of Great-Britain

United Reform Synagogues of Great-Britain: News





content: 1996 - 1999