Medinat Yisrael's Debt of Gratitude to Masorti Judaism

By Adam Shery
University of Hartford

I am a staunch Zionist who has gone to Washington, D.C. and lobbied my United States Representative on behalf of Israel; a full quarter of my family is Israeli. The fact that I am a Conservative Jew correlates with my unwavering devotion to Medinat Yisrael, the State of Israel, in ways that have been pervasive throughout history and continue to burgeon. As a student of both History and Judaic Studies, I recognize that Masorti/Conservative Judaism is of vast significance to the modern State of Israel.

For example, archaeology is currently among the most widely utilized methods to provide tangible historical connections between our Ancient Israelite ancestors and us. Masorti/Conservative Judaism has devoted many of its educational endeavors to this principle, using an unbroken chain of history to link Ancient Israel to Modern Israel, consequently producing a demonstrated connection between Israel and World Jewry. This, in my opinion, is a perfect means to help Israel win arguments against anti-Israel naysayers who denigrate historical connections between Israel and contemporary Jewry. After all, Masorti/Conservative Judaism has long embraced "positive-historical Judaism," which, since its nineteenth-century inception by Rabbi Zacharias Frankel, has advocated the examination of how Judaism has progressed since antiquity.

I have heard many Israelis describe Jews residing in Israel's society as divided into "orthodox" and "secular," with no middle ground. The Zionist organization within Conservative/Masorti Judaism reflects the reality with its name "Mercaz," which is Hebrew for "center." The growth of Masorti Judaism in Israel in the last several decades has enabled Israelis to have both a place in Israel, as well as a centrist option within the gamut of religiosity. Masorti Judaism, has been at the forefront of countering the dearth of religious commitment among a vast number of twenty-first century Israelis. Prior to the existence of non-Orthodox denominations in Israel, Israelis were faced with the dilemma of having to decide whether to live lives completely independent of halakhah (Jewish Law), or, as the only alternative, to follow an approach to Jewish law which they could not fully embrace. Israelis, thanks to the Masorti Movement, now have the option of being able to live religiously without having to compromise their theological flexibility.

Despite claims by the Israeli Rabbinate that Orthodoxy is divinely mandated to hold ultimate authority on all religious matters in Israel, it cannot be ignored that Masorti/Conservative Judaism is central to the founding and current existence of Israel herself. After all, Conservative Judaism was the first denomination to actively support the then-nascent modern Zionist Movement in the early part of the twentieth century. Had other branches of Judaism, including Orthodoxy, followed Conservative Judaism's lead and mobilized in favor of the founding of the Jewish State prior to the 1939 outbreak of World War Two, millions of Jews might have been able to go to Israel. Even if the Nazis and their allies had forbidden Jews from leaving Europe and North Africa, the Israeli military, had it existed at the time, might have performed rescue operations akin to the 1976 rescue mission in Entebbe.

During my time as a participant on KOACH's Taglit-Birthright Israel program, I heard, on one hand, accounts from a number of Masorti Jews about legal double standards that they had encountered. Due to the (Orthodox) Rabbinate's legal control of certain affairs in Israelis' religious lives, particularly when it comes lifecycle events, there are doors closed to Masorti practice. These same individuals noted that deep down, most Israelis, profoundly respected Masorti Judaism's presence in, and, especially, contributions to, Medinat Yisrael. As Yom HaAtzmaut approaches may we all appreciate Masorti/Conservative Judaism's role in fulfilling our people's two-thousand-year old dream of Jewish independence in Eretz Yisrael.

Adam Shery is a senior at the University of Hartford, where he is majoring in History and minoring in Judaic Studies. He serves as the Ritual Chair of the Hartford Hillel Student Board. Adam plans to become a professor of History.

[Posted 4/13/10]