Orbit April 2012 - Plainview Jewish Center

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ORBIT Page 24 Israel Affairs by Sharon Kunoff It is hard to believe that it is time for the April column. So, first, I hope you all enjoyed a festive Purim with your families at the PJC and are now all ready for Pesach. With all the educational activities at PJC: the Sisterhood Women’s Seder in March, the Model Seders and studies your Religious school students attended, and information gleaned at other study sessions there should be very interesting discussions around the many Seder tables in the Plainview-Old Bethpage area this year. If when you are reading this you find you will be alone this year, please let someone at PJC know. A place will be found for you at one of the local tables !! Hag Pesach Sameah. Noah and I completed a 3+ week road trip to Florida to visit friends and family, with various stops along the way, returning home with the deadline for this article looming. Fortunately, The New Israel Fund, one of the Israeli organizations that we support had taken a closer look at the Guttman Center Survey I mentioned last month, and came up with some interesting facts that did not appear in the general media. The first headline that intrigued me in the New Israel Fund newsletter was: Can you believe it? Israel has more Conservative and Reform Jews than Haredis? Of course I was very happy to hear this. And I realized that this is another case of the squeaky wheel getting the attention. They certainly make a lot of noise with stoning people who they feel are not observing Shabbat properly, beating up women who put on Tefillin, boxing in the Women’s area on the wall so that it is amazing that air can penetrate, and trying to enforce the rule that was found unconstitutional by the Israeli Supreme court, relegating women to the back of the bus. According to statistics from the Guttman Center as reported by Rabbi Schmuel on JewishJournal.com, Question number 157 asked: “How would you define yourself religiously?” and the options were: Haredi, Haredi-Leumi (Zionist ultra-Orthodox), Dati-Leumi (Zionist-Orthodox), Conservative, Reform, Other, Do not belong to any stream. This question was not included in the final report but the raw data for all questions in now available on line and Rabbi Rosner found the answers to this one worth reporting. It turns out that half of Israelis (50 percent) do not belong to any stream. These are the more than 40 percent of the self-defined “secular” and probably some “traditional” Israelis as well. The surprising number is the combined number of “liberal” religious Israelis: 8 percent. Haredi,7%: Haredi-Leumi, 2%: Dati-Leumi, 22%: Conservative, 4%: Reform, 4: Other,12: No stream, 50: Total, 100% Rabbi Rosner then pondered what this really means or can mean to the non Orthodox groups, the Masorti (conservative) and the Reform. He compared data with the last time such a survey was done and found the number of Masorti and Reform has increased. The question was worded somewhat differently then, but it is most likely that the number has really grown. While still small, the percent has almost doubled. Independent information also leads to that conclusion as the number of Israeli Masorti congregations has increased from about 40 to 60 in the last 5 years. The congregations aren’t large, but in Tel Aviv and Herzeliya on Shabbat mornings 2 years ago, we attended morning services of over 20 people each, in Herzeliya the Shabbat before Pesach and in Tel Aviv, during Pesach and also on the final day of the holiday. The main Masorti shul in Jerusalem on the first day of Pesach had many more attendees but it caters to tourists, the others are neighborhood congregations. One comment Rabbi Rosner noted after speaking to Professor Tamar Hermann, the academic supervisor of the Guttman Center, was that she believes that many of the Israelis who defined themselves as “Conservative” and “Reform” were really “Israelis with strong religious sense that do not see themselves ( continued on Page 25 )
ORBIT Page 25 Israel Affairs ( continued from Page 24 ) identifying with the Orthodox establishment.” I think that is really how observant Conservative and Reform Jews in this country feel too, they are observant, but not in the Orthodox sense. They follow the rules of their movement to the best of their ability. Summarizing, a few other conclusions: We shouldn’t panic over the what is perceived as a strengthening of the Israeli Haredi community because maybe, just maybe, it is just them panicking over our success!! If Israeli moderates are tired of hearing that the moderate streams have no way of succeeding in Israel – here’s a window of opportunity, opened wide. It is the time for our movement in Israel to seize it. Having many self-defined Conservative and Reform Israelis is probably nice, but it will not be truly important if the number of practicing Conservative and Reform Israelis doesn’t significantly grow. Finally, dividing Israelis into “religious” and “secular” with some “traditionalists” in the middle is losing relevance. There’s an important silent center of moderates that needs to be heard. Maybe some of them are sending their kids to Tali schools and are meeting like minded others and will start talking. We know there is unrest about the way marriages must be performed currently in Israel. Now we hope these same people will realize that affiliating with a movement will encourage their voices to be heard and they can do something about it. There is strength in numbers !! Talk to your friends and relatives in Israel. Maybe even we can make a difference !! THE BIBLE CLASS KING DAVID: THE MYTH AND THE MAN Looking for an hour of action, drama and excitement on Wednesday night? Take in a classic series that has been delivering the thrills for more than 2000 years. Join Rabbi Conn, for all the action on selected Wednesday evenings at 8:15 PM. Rabbi Conn will continue to guide our class through one of the Bible’s most dramatic stories in the Bible: David ascent to the kingship, his breathtaking successes and stunning failures. Join us for a lively and stimulating discussion of this riveting story. The class meets in the Library, usually twice a month on the first and third Wednesday. Refreshments will be served. Free and open to all. Bring your own Bible or use the study sheets provided in class. No Hebrew necessary. Next Session: May 2nd II Samuel 2 - Long Live the King? Civil War in Israel Text Study with Rabbi Conn Most Shabbat Afternoons between Mincha (Afternoon) and Ma’ariv (evening) services. Begin the new week with a few minutes of study. This fall, we will focus on a question from the weekly Torah portion and the answer given by Rashi, the most famous of all commentators. Our discussions are always brief, and usually insightful. So join us for prayer, study and camaraderie as we explore the Torah together.
Page 1 and 2: PLAINVIEW JEWISH CENTER 5772/2012 A
Page 3 and 4: ORBIT APRIL CALENDAR Page 3 Rabbi S
Page 5 and 6: From The Rabbi ( continued from Pag
Page 7 and 8: PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Shea Z. Le
Page 9 and 10: Dear Friends, ORBIT Page 9 SALE OF
Page 11 and 12: ORBIT Page 11 “GET OUT THE HAMETZ
Page 13 and 14: ORBIT CONGRATULATIONS! OUR B’NAI
Page 15 and 16: ORBIT Page 15 PJC WOULD LIKE TO THA
Page 17 and 18: ORBIT Page 17 SISTERHOOD NEWS PRESI
Page 19 and 20: ORBIT Page 19 TODAH RABBAH! Many th
Page 21 and 22: ORBIT Page 21 BUY JNF TREES FROM SI
Page 23: ORBIT Page 23 A.A.R.P. DRIVER SAFET
Page 27 and 28: ORBIT Page 27 WE WISH TO THANK AND
Page 29 and 30: ORBIT Page 29 Hatzilu Means Rescue
Page 31: ORBIT Page 31 PSSST! IT’S OKAY TO

Orbit April 2012 - Plainview Jewish Center

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