Importing Bad Habits

Peretz Rodman, a leader of the Conservative or "Masorti" movement in Israel has recently written an op-ed article in the Jerusalem Post. Rodman writes in The Hopeless Irrelevance of the State Rabbinate:

The anti-democratic nature of his proposal is obvious, even blunt. And that is entirely intentional. As political and religious leaders of haredi Orthodoxy realize that increasing numbers of Israeli Jews are seeking religious alternatives to Orthodox Judaism, they become more and more strident in their denunciation of those alternatives. Seeing the competition grow stronger, they seek to squelch it as they always have: through the political power they wield.

Israel, despite its shortcomings has a major advantage over the Diaspora-a fast growing Jewish population with very little assimilation. Now the non-Orthodox leaders, who have failed miserably in the exile want to bring that failure here. The author speaks a lot about democracy in his article, but doesn't mention the successes of our style of observance in Israel. The leaders of the heretical movements will stop at nothing to see that the same philosophy that has uprooted the Diaspora will take hold here!

The Future Religious Battle
     As more and more Jews in the Diaspora assimilate, become Orthodox, or move to Israel, the State of Israel will be the destination of a mixture of different Jews from around the world, as it is now. However, the main source of immigration will obviously be from the U.S. As more American Jews arrive, more of their customs will arrive with them. One optimistic trend I have seen here is that many non-Orthodox immigrants to Israel from English speaking countries adopt Israel's attitude towards religious identity. People either become secular or observant. I recently went to a wedding of two Israelis, both born in Israel-both with American heritage. The bride was Orthodox and the groom secular-from a famous secular kibbutz. However, by her influence he has taken on more observance and is learning Judaism as a result.
     What people like Mr. Rodman seek to do is undermine the one aspect of Israeli culture that has worked strikingly well in comparison to the Diaspora model. Israeli Jews by-in-large marry Israeli Jews. The children of religious Jews know Hebrew fluently and know the basic laws of Judaism. It is with great apprehension and worry that I observe, in the corner of my eye, those foreign leaders of strange worship import their customs, like an unvaccinated virus. Enlightenment Judaism was meant to bring once religious Jews closer in line with pluralistic Western societies. The outcome-more Christians and more Jews who are confused about their glorious religion. We must take heed and stop this frightful phenomenon from taking root on the Land of Israel!