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Page 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 7, 1986
Cutting edge
Orthodox, Reform reach accord in Baka
by Edwin Black
Pan oik
— JERUSALEM
An explosive situation was
defused this week when Rabbi
Eliahu Abergil, the ultra-Ortho-
dox chief rabbi of Jerusalem’s
Baka district, signed an accord
with Israel’s Reform movement
which in essence recognized Re
form Judaism’s right to exits—at
least in Baka. In exchange. Re
form Judaism’s right to exist—at
man agreed to drop criminal
charges against Rabbi Abergil
lodged when the chief rabbi led a
violent raid against Weiman-
Kellman’s Reform synagogue on
Simhat Torah eve.
Rabbi Abergil’s handwritten
declaration condemned violence,
apologized to the Reform con
gregants, welcomed all Jews to
Israel regardless of their “differ
ent opinions,” and pledged “not
to interfere” with Reform servi
ces in Baka. By agreement, copies
will be distributed “to every
mailbox in the neighborhood.”
The latest chapter in Israeli
civil discord erupted suddenly on
Simhat Torah as Reform Rabbi
Levi Weiman-Kellman was lead
ing his congregation of men and
women in traditional joyous
dancing with the Torah. Wei-
man-Kellman’s Congregation Kol
Haneshama, comprised of some
50 families, is temporarily located
in the gym of the Baka commu
nity center in south Jerusalem.
Rabbi Abergil, Baka’s chief rabbi,
an official of the Chief Rabbi
nate, has long agitated against
Kol Haneshama, according to
congregation officials.
The climax to the strife came
Friday night, Oct. 24. Rabbi
Abergil rallied his own ultra-
Orthodox congregants in Baka
to demonstrate at what he called
“the whorehouse.” He then led a
group of some 25 followers to
Kol Haneshama for the confron
Jewish Family Services, Inc.
A
f
takes pleasure in presenting
to the community
The 2nd Annual
Isenberg Lecture
Jack Weltner, M.D.
Distinguished psychiatrist, child and family therapist,
and consultant to schools, clinics, and family agencies
in the New England area
will speak on
“Children Under Siege:
The Family in the 1980’s”
Monday, November 17,1986
The Temple
1589 Peachtree Rd., N.E.
Reception following at
Jewish Family Services, Inc.
1605 Peachtree Road, N.E.
8:00 p.m.
Open to the entire community
For further information, call 873-2277
tation. “Abergil just suddenly in
terrupted as we were dancing and
demanded to speak,” recounts
Rabbi Weiman-Kellman. “He called
us evil, corrupt and a whore
house.”
Rabbi Abergil explains, “I was
unaccustomed to seeing men and
women dancing together, and
dancing with the Torah.”
At one point, “a young man
tried to grab the Torah away,”
remembers Rabbi Weiman-Kell
man, “and when he couldn’t he
and I struggled, and he let go of
the Torah to kick me in the groin.
I was still holding onto the Torah,
to prevent it falling to the ground,
while he was still kicking me in
the groin.” Later, the police
were summoned, and Rabbi Abergil
was charged with felonious inter
ference with a worship service
and acts of violence.
The incident might have re
mained just another act of civil
violence in Israel had Sephardic
Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu
himself not commented on the
affair over Israel Radio by not
ing that there is “no freedom of
worship” in Israel. Former Ash
kenazi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren
added that there might be no
problem at all if "Reforms would
not insist on calling themselves
Jews.” And Zevulun Hammer,
minister of religion, tried to dis
miss the incident as “unimpor
tant” because there weren’t enough
Reform Jews in Israel to matter.
Forces on both sides quickly
began escalating their rhetoric
and their determination to either
persevere or obstruct future Re
form services. Telegrams of con
demnation of the Orthodox vio
lence came in from around the
world, Orthodox activists vowed
to step up their campaign, and
police protection was stationed
around Kol Haneshama. The Dyb-
byk of Israeli civil violence was
about to re-appear in a new form:
this time it was not religious vs.
secular, but religious vs. reli
gious.
Baka suddenly became the new
war-cry of those seeking a more
democratic Israel, including the
freedom to worship. Spearhead
recognized.” More than simply
lack of recognition, the Israeli
bureaucracy, under pressure from
the powerful religious factions,
systematically forces Reform Jews
out of Israeli life.
For example, Reform congre
gations—there are 19 of them
countrywide—are regularly e-
victed from their premises, espe-
When verbalized, Orthodox intolerance can
often seem repugnant. But from the Orthodox
view, the Jewish people spent centuries striv
ing to maintain and adhere to Judaic beliefs.
To so do required perseverance over disper
sion, occupation, assilimation, and extermina
tion. The price was not cheap....Now the faith
ful have come to the wellspring, to Israel. If it
is indeed a Jewish State—even nominally, in
their view—it is a disavowel of Jewish history
to recast Judaism as a mere shadow of its
former sense...’
ing the drive is the fledgling Israel
Movement for Progressive Juda
ism, the Reform movement in
Israel. Five thousand members
strong, their spokesman is Uri
Regev, who was raised secular
but who adopted the Reform
denomination after visiting the
United States. “Only when I saw
Reform Judaism in America,”
recalls Regev, “did I realized there
were more than two options for a
Jew: religious and secular. Among
the Reform in America, I saw a
vitality and intensity among chil
dren and adults alike. I was im
mediately drawn to it.”
“All clergy in Israel are recog
nized and funded,” explains Rabbi
Weiman-Kellman, “including
Christians and Moslem—but not
Reform. We’re the only ones not
daily when the property is owned
by a governmental or political
entity. Kol Haneshama itself was
evicted from a clubhouse in Baka
owned by the Labor Party, which
is why it is now temporarily dom
iciled in a gym. Ostracism is even
directed toward children, who
are often segregated in schools.
The animus has even reached
the Boy Scouts. Kibbutznik
Matthew Sperber, 31, director of
the Reform Scout movement tells
of harassment even in a city as
secular as Tel Aviv. “Although
we are a member in good stand
ing of the national scouting
movement,” says Sperber, “the
Tel Aviv M unicipality simply de
clared we could not exist. They
Continued next page.
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