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.
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 |