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  • Whither a Not Withering Masorti?
  • Arnold M. Goodman (bio)

Michael Graetz is a true Zionist. Unlike so many of us who preached Israel but remained in the Diaspora, his deep and abiding Zionism led him to Israel, where he raised his family and fashioned his career. He has been the force behind the creation of our congregation in Omer, and for years he has traveled to the Diaspora where, as visiting scholar and roving ambassador, he has enlightened us about events in Israel. Whatever impact we have had on Israeli life and education is due in no small measure to our many colleagues who, like Michael Graetz, were willing to forego lucrative pulpits in the States to create and to nurture the Masorti movement.

His essay raises several issues that demand our attention. Has Zionism failed to bring into being a "new" Judaism? Has a "renewed religious creativity" flowered in Israel? Is our Diaspora model of "tradition and change" relevant to Israelis? Why have we enjoyed relatively minimal success despite the energy and effort we have expended? Is our failure to capture the imagination of vast segments of the Israeli public due to our refusal to compete in the political process? Would the decision to create a political party create a dramatic shift on the ground and lead to our greater success?

Two of the itches that Graetz wishes to scratch are the twin issues of exploring the causes of our limited success in Israel and determining how we can best advance Masorti's goals.

"Tradition and change" is the mantra of Conservative Judaism. From Kaplan to Heschel, from the right and left of our movement, we have striven [End Page 14] to integrate the past and the present. We have argued that the halakhah has continually evolved, and virtually every Law Committee responsum has resolved contemporary issues by focusing on—and building upon—prior halakhic decisions. We have contended that is not a "new Judaism," but a further example of its ongoing regeneration.

Graetz's contention, however, that the Zionist revolution has failed to produce a "new Judaism" is belied by the facts. The Kibbutz Dati movement, for example, is aware that cows must be milked twice daily with no exceptions for Shabbat or festivals. This decision is driven by the halakhic prohibition of causing needless pain to animals. The argument that this milk should not be collected but rather allowed to spill on the ground was rejected on the principle that the financial loss would be excessive. The compromise reached is that "Shabbat milk" is sold to make other dairy products, rather than as fresh bottled milk.

The creation of the State of Israel required an army to assure its independence and to defend its citizens. The Rabbinate knows full well that much military activity is a ḥillul Shabbat, but invokes the principle of pikuaḥnefesh to permit the army to carry out missions and orders on Shabbat and ḥag.

Following the truce that ended hostilities during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, my son's hesder unit, comprised in large part of Yeshivat Har Etzion students, was moved on Shabbat from its base in Israel to positions across the Suez Canal. The unit paused for a few moments next to apple orchards whose owner invited the soldiers to take as many apples as they wished. These Orthodox troops, although engaged in a ḥillul Shabbat military operation, refrained from plucking apples from the trees because this non-essential "military activity" was a prohibited Shabbat labor.

Tradition and change is thus not a halakhic process limited to our movement; as reflected above, it also characterizes some of the Israeli Rabbinate's halakhic decisions. Sadly, however, change is hardly operative in areas that touch the daily lives of most Israelis; the Haredi world that wields so much power in Israel is by and large "change resistant." The Eastern European rabbinic model places far more emphasis on tradition than on change.

Whether it be the painfully slow process of granting divorces to abused women, the failure to resolve the agunah question, the ban against civil marriages, or the impossible delay surrounding conversions, far too many [End Page 15] Israelis are, at one...

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