“The time is ripe for Israel to fulfill its heroic declaration of independence,” said Hillel Shuval, chair of HEMDAT — Council for Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture in Israel.
Shuval was recently in the Bay Area to garner support for his efforts during a U.S. trip sponsored by the New Israel Fund.
The growing political power of right-wing religious groups is threatening civil liberties Israelis have long taken for granted, Shuval said.
As a result, liberal Israeli leaders are calling for the implementation of a declaration of independence.
Among their concerns is that ultrareligious Israelis are challenging not only “Who is a Jew?” but also propose to disenfranchise Reform and Conservative rabbis performing conversions.
“But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Shuval said.
For example, in 1997 the Israeli government allocated a half-billion dollars to Orthodox synagogues, organizations and yeshivot — the largest sum given to religious groups in the history of the country. The money comes from the mostly secular tax base. Yet the government has cut its support to the Conservative and Reform movements.
In addition, the Knesset has approved the preliminary reading of a bill that would restrict Municipal Religious Council membership only to religious Orthodox Jews.
Shuval also charged that the Kiryat Shaul branch of Supersol supermarket has “acquiesced to the Orthodox demand” that all women shoppers wearing slacks or jeans must wrap themselves in a cloth skirt provided by the store before entering.
The newspaper published by the ultrareligious Agudat Yisrael even spearheaded a campaign to ban movies on El Al flights. It claims that airlines that screen movies during flights “are like the gas chambers at Auschwitz, poisoning the bodies and souls of the innocent travelers.”
Shuval said the anger of non-Orthodox Israelis in response to these actions “is mostly undirected at this point.”
However, he is calling on American Jews for support — both financially and in backing efforts to pass a declaration of independence.
“This is not an Israeli issue. The relationship between Israel and America is one of family,” Shuval said. “Israel is not just another state. It’s part of a social contract between the Jews of the world.”
The image of “Israel as a tower of strength with ethical and moral values emanating from it is necessary for its survival.”
Nearly 85 percent of all contributions to Israel filtered through American Jewish federations come from Reform and Conservative Jews.
“If the state denounces Reform and Conservative Judaism, it would undermine the strength of Israel and the Jews of the world,” Shuval said.
Shuval and others, including Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, are calling for a restructuring of the federation funding system.
“Enough with the missions and resolutions. We need federations to give major portions of their funds to support Conservative and Reform congregations in Israel, women’s groups and civil liberties organizations,” Shuval said. “If the government of Israel can give half a billion dollars to the Orthodox, it can take over other functions the federations support” and federations can put their dollars toward other efforts.
“There are close to 100 Reform and Conservative synagogues and schools deprived of dollars from the government of Israel and given a pittance of federation funds,” Shuval said. “All we want is for the Orthodox to compete freely and equally in the marketplace.”