www.atlantajewishtimes.com
OPINION
Have You Lost Your Way?
allow myself to say that he is a Jew,”
Azoulai told Israel Army Radio. In
Israeli terms, “Reform Jew” broadly
means non-Orthodox.
He later modified his comment:
From Where I Sit
By Dave Schechter
[email protected]
“These are Jews who have lost their
way, and we must ensure that every
Jew returns to the fold of Judaism and
accept everyone with love and joy.”
Those of you who belong to Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist
congregations: Do you feel that you
have lost your way as a Jew?
I didn’t think so.
“I have spoken with Minister
Azoulai to remind him that Israel is a
home for all Jews and that as minister
of religious affairs, he serves all of
Israel’s citizens,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
That’s nice, but it was Netanyahu
who cut a deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to form his government and put the Religious Services
Ministry — responsible for matters of
birth, death, marriage, conversion and
other issues — in Azoulai’s hands.
Lost in Azoulai’s insults (and he
is not alone in such utterances) is the
concept of Klal Yisrael, with its focus
on what unites rather than divides us.
It no longer astonishes that a
Cabinet minister will demean nonOrthodox Jews or that the government
will find it politically expedient to
promulgate discriminatory policies
and then turn to the non-Orthodox
(particularly American) Diaspora for
political and fundraising support.
If you are offended by Azoulai’s
comments, consider supporting
organizations that promote religious
pluralism in Israel and seek to put all
Jews on equal footing.
As a student of history, Netanyahu understands that in slaughtering
6 million Jews, the Nazis did not discriminate based on the religiosity of
their victims. Nor do those who today
bastardize Islam as a justification to
threaten Jewish lives.
No, it is the self-righteous among
us — in this case, a government minister — who declare (to borrow from
George Orwell) that all Jews are created equal, but some are more equal
than others.
My father lived with integrity as a
Jew in the modern world (as a member
of Reform and Conservative congregations).
My brother the (Conservative)
rabbi is likewise confident of his
identity.
I am not bothered that Minister
Azoulai would consider me one of
those “lost” Jews.
I’ll soon travel to the wedding
of a nephew to an impressive young
woman. She is a Reform Jew — and a
rabbinical student.
I find her pending ordination and
my brother’s career and the passion
with which my father engaged Judaism the perfect antidote to the likes of
Minister Azoulai and the tolerance he
receives from the prime minister who
appointed him. ■
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JULY 31 ▪ 2015
M
y father davened every
morning. He observed
kashrut. He wore a tallis and
a kippah in synagogue. He took pride
in being a Kohen.
“My Judaism envelops
my entire life and is not
something to be recalled
only at isolated moments,”
he wrote. In his view, Reform Judaism offered the
choice not of whether, but
of how to observe mitzvot,
and his observance grew
over the years.
My father did this as a member
and president of a Reform congregation. As a member of the Reform
movement’s executive committee. As a
progenitor of the Reform movement’s
current prayer book. He was accepting of the varying approaches his five
children took to Jewish life.
That many Diaspora Jews choose
whether or how to observe apparently
confounds Israeli Minister of Religious
Services David Azoulai.
“A Reform Jew, from the moment
he stops following Jewish law, I cannot
AJT
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