Wither Diaspora-Israel Relations?
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Sean Thibault is the web master/publicity guru at the Religious Action Center. He joins us from the great white north, and is proud to represent Canada's frozen chosen. |
Of all the Israeli policies that I find difficult to understand, the most curious is President Moshe Katsav’s choice to not call Rabbi Eric Yoffie ‘rabbi.’
Rabbi Yoffie, the President of our Union for Reform Judaism, has in return refused to meet with the President.
Of course, the decision to radically weaken ties with the largest, most vibrant branch of Judaism, is not only unwise, but promises to be a strain in Diaspora-Israel relations more generally. How could it not be?
It’s as though the entire debate of “who is a Jew” has overshadowed the profoundly more important cooperation that could be had between Israeli leadership and the Reform Movement; Shmuel Rosner (of Ha’artez) discusses just that and concludes “If [President Katsav] doesn’t answer this call of duty, he doesn’t deserve the courtesy of being visited by Yoffie, nor by any other American Jewish leader.” The discussion his piece has inspired is quite interesting.
And while groups like the ADL and OU have called on Katsav to reverse his error; I have not seen other Jewish leaders, and no Israeli politicians step into this debate. A look into the past shows that rather than expect support from Israeli politicians, we can take solace in the fact that Katsav’s disrespect for the Reform Jewish Movement is concomitant with Prime Minister Olmert’s own record.
When Reform Jews feel slighted by the State of Israel, as we regularly do on issues of religious plurality and conversion, efforts to improve relations between Diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews will move more slowly and with less vigor than they otherwise could.
America’s Jews have been stalwart’s for the State of Israel; to feel as if those efforts are callously disregarded is a tragedy.