Newspaper Page Text
Page 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 14, 1986
Orthodox, Reform reach accord in Baka
by Edwin Black
Conclusion
—JERUSALEM
An explosive situation was de
fused when Rabbi Eliahu Aber-
gil, the ultra-Orthodox chief
rabbi of Jerusalem’s Baka dis
trict, signed an accord with Is
rael’s Reform movement which
in essence recognized Reform
Judaism’s right to exist—at least
in Baka. In exchange, Reform
Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kellman
agreed to drop criminal charges
against Rabbi Abergil, lodged
when the chief rabbi led a violent
raid against Wieman-Kellman’s
Reform synagogue on Simhat
Torah eve.
Unwilling to see their quiet
neighborhood pulled into a reli
gious battle, community organ
izers from the essentially easy
going Sephardic Baka district
worked tirelessly to defuse the
conflict. Rabbi Weiman-Kellman
and Rabbi Abergil both agreed
to attend a closed door negotia
ting session. The press was barred,
but this reporter was allowed to
attend.
Seated around a small table in
the basement of the Baka com
munity center were the two rab
bis: Abergil dressed in traditional
black hat and coat; Wieman-
Kellman wearing a floppy, short-
sleeved, white shirt and a knitted
kipa. Two community leaders
acted as intermediaries, and Meir
Azarit sat in as the director of the
Reform movement. The meeting
itself was precendent setting. Ob
servers here could not recall when
Reform and Orthodox even agreed
to discuss issues. From the outset,
the participants clearly acknowl
edged the new ground they had
created.
But they also understood that
the future of the next communal
crisis in Israel was in their hands,
or more precisely dependent upon
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%
\
£ Rabbi Abergil asked Rabbi Weiman-
Kellman: “Is there room for both
Reform and Orthodox in Israel?” He
answered with the same codeword
language, “Yes, there is room for
Jews of all different opinions to live
together peacefully.”...Regardless of
ambiguous language, the accord’s
most important sentence may be the
declaration: “The future of our people
depends on our ability to talk
together and accept one another.” 7
the words to be written on a piece
of paper positioned in front of
Rabbi Abergil. There was no dic
tating of language. The commun
ity leaders merely suggested three
principles to agree on: 1) an
apology for the Simhat Torah
violence; 2) a promise not to do it
again; 3) a declaration conceding
the right of co-existence with
Reform Jewry. It was up to Rabbi
Abergil to frame the language.
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The chief rabbi of Baka started
writing in Hebrew, studying each
word, occasionally crossing out a
sentence and starting over again.
Weiman-Kellman could not help
but glance downward periodically
to monitor the slow, plodding
progress. Rabbi Abergil was
clearly under pressure. The
prospect of a three-year jail sent
ence should Rabbi Weiman-Kell
man not drop the charges was the
Reform movement’s acknowledged
bargaining chip. Even so, the
Baka rabbi would only go so far.
During the sometimes light
hearted, sometimes angry, two-
hour session, long arguments were
sometimes sparked over a single
word. While Rabbi Abergil wanted
to be freed from prosecution, he
was unwilling to “legitimize”
Reform Judaism and was fearful
of a backlash from his own com
munity. But he finally agreed to
refer to Weiman-Kellman as a
“rabbi”—a first in Israel. But
come what may, he refused to
welcome “different interpreta
tions in the Land of Israel.” In
stead Rabbi Abergil insisted on
the surrogate wording, “different
opinions in the land of Israel."
Ambiguity was unacceptable
to the Reform side. And after a
long exchange of raised voices,
neither rabbi would budge. The
deadlock was only broken when
a key individual associated with
the Reform’s negotiations was
contacted by an intermediary.
The intermediary told the Reform
source, “He’s scared. He’s been
thinking about jail since Fridas.
Fine. The question now is how
far do you want to push him.
You have only two choices. Insist
on the language; he will not agree,
and then next weekend the Reform
movement will be down with
their supporters, and he’ll come
in with his people from Mea
Shearim"—as had happened in
Jerusalem a thousand times be
fore—“and we’ll have a big con
frontation here in Baka.
“Or,” continued the interme
diary, “we do it the Israeli was.
Give Abergil a way out, take the
best agreement you can, and it’s a
great beginning.” For a long time,
the Reform source stood in si
lence. It had been a horrific ses-
eral days, and he was emotion
ally drained. He abhorred the
idea of compromising on basic
rights of freedom of worship.
Unyielding, he shook his head in
disbelief and said quietly, "he
called us whores.”
The intermediary granted the
Reform source’s sense of out
rage, but repeated, “You have
won. Take the letter as it is.” The
Reform source shut his eyes and
nodded. Several minutes later,
the declaration was signed by
Rabbi Abergil.
At that, both rabbis jumped
into a car and drove to the Jerusa
lem police headquarters to drop
the charges. As the car sped
through the stone-linedstreets ol
south Jerusalem, the two began
talking in Hebrew about why
Weiman-Kellman had come to
Israel in the first place. Rabbi
Abergil, sensing that he was mis-
characterized at one point turned
to Rabbi Weiman-Kellman and
declared. “1 am a Zionist, you
know. I am a Zionist.” He then
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