On this page:

About the Committee
Why Belong and Be Involved with ARZA
Did You Know?
Articles
Quotes for Reflection
Final Thoughts

About the Committee

Welcome to the Beth Emet Israel Committee web page. The committee was founded over forty years ago by founding Rabbi David Polish. The committee is dedicated to linking members of Beth Emet to Israel through educational programs, speakers, and celebrations such as the annual Yom Ha'Atzmaot celebration. Recently, the Israel Committee has taken on the additional task of being the ARZA representative to the synagogue. ARZA is the Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Tzur Hadassah - Kehillat Tzur Hadassah is Beth Emet's sister Reform Congregation located fourteen miles southwest of Jerusalem.  In its eighth year, it has become firmly established in the Jerusalem bedroom community of Tzur Hadassah drawing new Israeli members to the progressive community.  It also shares its activities with members of the orthodox and secular communities of the town of Tzur Hadassah.  For more information, check out their website.   Their current president once taught at Beth Emet while residing in the Chicago area. 

Why Belong and Be Involved in ARZA

ARZA, the American Reform Zionist Association has recently merged with its Canadian counterpart to form ARZA/WORLD UNION North America. It is the principal arm representing North American reform Jewry in its attempt to promote reform Judaism in Israel.

Why should it be the concern of every reform Jew to support this organization? To be a Jew includes the melding of the religious, cultural, political, and historical aspects of a people that has existed for thousands of years. Judaism not only represents a set of religious beliefs found in the Torah that sets the individual in a special relationship with God, but it also represents a history of that relationship in the collective. Judaism therefore represents a sense of peoplehood, klal Yisroel, the nation of Israel. The people of Judaism are found in two loci, Diasporan Jewry and the State of Israel. The American phrase E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many Comes One, can also apply to the Jewish people. We must respect the diversity of Jewish populations, cultures, and religious practices.

Since the beginning of the modern State of Israel, only one denomination of the Jewish religion has dominated that society, orthodoxy. Diasporan Jewry has been assimilating and losing its Jewish identity at an alarming rate. Spirituality and religious practice have been the glue that has held the Jewish people together. While each Jewish community must maintain its own unique identity, the link that will bind us together is our connection to the Jewish religion.

Through its dominance on Israeli society, orthodoxy has long been the only effective Jewish religious outlet. Approximately 80% of the Israeli population are secular, which means their religious ties are negligible or have little institutional outlet. The embryonic Israeli homegrown Progressive (Reform) and Masorti (Conservative) movements have provided Israelis with an alternative to orthodoxy. While they have made steady but small inroads in that society, they need the support of the larger and better-organized Jewish communities in the Diaspora.

As Israel develops its identity as a nation and a people, if it loses its religious link or if it totally rejects other Jewish perspectives besides orthodoxy, I am afraid our historical, cultural, and familial connections will not be enough to sustain Diasporan Jewry in the long run.

Therefore our existence as a Jew in America is affected by our ability to support and nourish the flourishing of religious pluralism in Israel. The Progressive (Reform) and Masorti (Conservative) movements, with the support of ARZA/WORLD UNION North America, has increasingly and successfully challenged orthodoxy both politically and in the courts. Favorable rulings regarding non-orthodox conversion recognition and non-orthodox participation on local Religious Councils which distribute state funds to religious institutions and projects, have resulted in panicked actions and responses from the orthodox establishment. Their attack on the Israeli Supreme Court has galvanized the large secular Israeli community. Some of its leaders have called for support of the reform and conservative alternatives.

A revolution is clearly going on in Israel. And its implications for you, as reform Jews in America and for your children are momentous. Our continued support for religious alternatives in Israel is not only essential for Israeli religious pluralism but also for American Jewish religious pluralism-for us, our children, and our grandchildren. Please support the Israeli/ARZA committee at Beth Emet by attending its programs, being more attentive to events in Israel, and becoming a member of ARZA for a nominal fee.

Did You Know?

Chamsin is an oppressively hot dry wind that sends Israelis to the beach or the shower as the temperature soars. The climate of Israel in general is like that of southern and central California--hot to temperate.

The Israeli white flag with blue stripes was designed to look like the traditional white talit with its blue stripes.

"Hatikvah", the Israeli national anthem, means Hope.

Articles

Articles from Seymour Schwartz, chair of the Israel/ARZA committee:

• Culture War or Culture Shock? (3/4/99) - a discussion about the confluence of several factors from pre-statehood, early statehood, and the most recent period.
• The Dawn of a New Era for Israel and the Jewish People (4/18/99) - commentary on Israel as it enters a new millennium.
• Analysis of the Upcoming Elections in Israel (4/18/99) - description of the electoral system in Israel, its major parties and candidates for prime minister, and their positions on the major issues.
• The Peace Process: A New Start (9/5/99) - commentary on the peace process under newly elected Prime Minister, Ehud Barak.
• Current Dynamics in the Middle East (12/13/00) - the interplay between the particular dynamic of Palestinian society and Israeli society as to how they have affected the stalling of the peace process, the current Palestinian and Israeli Arab uprising, and the resignation of the current Israeli government.
• Implications of the Terror Bombings in America on the Reign of Terror in Israel (9/29/01) - analysis of how the attack on the U.S. will change our lives.
• Facts and Talking Points on the Middle East (4/28/02) - "facts" vs. reality

Quotes for Reflection

"Basic cultural legacies inherited by both Arabs and Israelis cloud their vision and commit them  to violence and hatred. Arabs and Israelis have yet to accept themselves let alone one another. People cannot live at peace with others unless they are at peace with themselves. The two cultures have yet to make peace with their past and their traditions and to go on from there to an acceptance of, and a security about their place in this world."
          -- Fouad Ajami, political scientist, Johns Hopkins University

"The West Bank is contiguous to Israel not only geographically but spiritually. Jewish feelings will always be drawn to two territories--the State of Israel and the Holy Land which transcends Israel. No just settlement can decree Jewish exclusion from biblical territory even under Arab occupation."
          -- David Polish, z'l, founding rabbi, Beth Emet

"The conflict in the Middle East is not between right and wrong, but between two rights--hence the solution has to be a compromise."
          -- Chaim Weizmann, first President, State of Israel

Final Thoughts

If you would like to become a member of the Israel Committee please contact the synagogue office.

Periodically, this page will be updated with information, upcoming events, important news, and interesting tidbits about Israel and ARZA and the struggle for religious pluralism in Israel.