On March 1, 2021, after more than 15 years of struggle, the Masorti Movement of Israel was vindicated by the Israeli Supreme Court, which now recognizes its conversions to Judaism for the purposes of the Law of Return and Aliyah to Israel.
Rakefet Ginsburg, the CEO of Masorti Movement, responded to this fantastic news by declaring: “Today is a historic day. The decision handed down by the Israeli Supreme Court was a just and clear verdict. There is more than one way to be a Jew in the State of Israel. Time and time again we are forced to fight for our rights in the courts instead of through dialogue. The elections are moments away. I call on our elected officials at this time to restore Israel’s relations with Conservative and Reform Judaism in the State of Israel and in the Diaspora. The court said this in a clear voice and it is time for our elected leaders to recognize it too: “Judaism has more than one color.“
MERCAZ USA stands with our Israeli partners on this crucial victory for religious pluralism in Israel – one that affirms the core identity of Israel as the homeland of Jews of all backgrounds. We applaud the Supreme Court for its wisdom in recognizing Masorti conversions. While today we celebrate, we know that many in Israel are still organizing against pluralism and so we will continue our support for Masorti Israel in the political, social and legal arenas, and of course for the crucial work of Masorti’s Jewish Pluralism Watch.
MERCAZ USA is a signatory on this letter, drafted by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, urging The White House to provide support and relief to India as they face a potential third wave of Covid-19 infections.
MERCAZ USA is a member organization of the the Conference of Presidents.
June 21, 2021
Hon. Ron Klain
Hon. Jeff Zients
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Messrs Klain and Zients,
As you are aware, over the past two months India faced the incredible challenge of a second wave of COVID-19. Millions of people have been infected, and hundreds of thousands have died. Given the size of India and the fragility of its medical system, the ramifications of a third, more infectious wave of COVID-19 could be calamitous for its population. Additionally, the national and international mobility of India’s citizens necessitate a global imperative to ensure that a future third wave is avoided at all costs.
As India emerges from this latest wave, there is a crucial window of time available. It is imperative that India be given the opportunity to vaccinate as much of its population as possible in order to avoid future and further catastrophe. The United States currently has a stockpile of Astra Zeneca vaccines that it is likely not going to be distributing to our own population, and we understand the United States will be working to purchase up to 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to distribute to countries in need.
We urge the Administration to rapidly allocate an additional and greatly increased share of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to India. It is essential that the world’s largest democracy be provided the opportunity to stave off another disaster. The Indian government is ramping up its vaccine capacity and should be at the point of self-sufficiency this autumn, however they require the essential aid of the United States in order to bridge the time in the interim. Once India has reached manufacturing capacity, it will be prepared to share meaningful volumes of excess vaccine doses with countries that are in need at that point.
The Indian government came to the aid of the United States in its time of need during the first wave of Spring 2020 and has been a stalwart ally and friend. So too, the four million strong Indian expatriate community plays an integral role through United States society. We believe that an enhanced US allocation of valuable COVID-19 vaccines to India would be an enormous boon to a democracy that has been ravaged by disease and is in danger of facing another wave.
Respectfully submitted,
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
American Friends of Likud
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
AMIT
B’nai B’rith International
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America
Jewish Community Center Association
Jewish Federations of North America
Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish Women International Mercaz USA
National Council of Young Israel
Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Council of America
Union for Reform Judaism
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Women of Reform Judaism
World ORT
Zionist Organization of America
As we monitor the escalating violence in Israel, we share the following with you from our partner organizations, standing in prayer and solidarity with Israel:
In light of the deteriorating security situation in Israel, The Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of the Conservative/Masorti movement, released the following statement:
“We are deeply disturbed as we see the rocket fire directed at Israel that has severely impacted civilian populations. The increased military capabilities of Hamas, based in Gaza, are particularly concerning and we recognize Israel’s right to defend itself. We are also gravely troubled by the religious and nationalist-based violence that has erupted between Jews and Arabs in various locales across Israel.
We are pained by the violence, fear, and loss of innocent life in the region. We stand with our siblings in Israel, pray for the safety of Israeli security and rescue forces, for full healing for all who are injured, and offer comfort to the families of those who have died. We are mindful of our Masorti communities, our clergy, and our leaders impacted by these events and all who are providing so much support to those affected.
We call on our members to join with the public plea for true peace in Israel and joy for all its inhabitants. As we are taught in Psalm 122, ‘Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem; May those who love you be at peace. May there be well-being within your ramparts, peace in your citadels.’”
Our hearts go out to all the people in Israel at this very difficult time. We share the sentiments of Rabbi Andy Sacks, Director of Masorti’s Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, of hope and prayer for the restoration of peace in Israel.
“Rabbis in Israel, in the Rabbinical Assembly, and the entire leadership of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel express their deep sorrow and anxiety in the face of the dangerous deterioration in the security situation. We call on the public, from the bottom of our hearts, to join us in prayer. We pray for calmness of the spirit and for the restoration of peace. On the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, as one people with one heart, we add our prayer, Psalm 22:2 and the prayer for peace of Rabbi Nachman.”
This prayer was prepared by our friends in the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Rabbinical Assembly.
MERCAZ USA is a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations
. . . Dianne Lob, Chair, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement:
“The international community must raise its voice against the outrageous ongoing rocket attacks and acts of violence deliberately targeting Israeli civilians, forcing thousands of families into bomb shelters overnight and causing numerous fatalities and injuries. Iran-backed Hamas terrorists have fired hundreds of rockets from Gaza since Monday, murdering innocent people, threatening millions of lives, and sending schoolchildren running for cover.
Since the Hamas takeover that followed Israel’s complete withdrawal in 2005, the Gaza Strip has become another front for the extremist Iranian regime and its proxies to wage war on Israel. They seek to annihilate the Jewish State and the Jewish people, while sowing chaos across the Middle East in relentless pursuit of regional hegemony. This continued assault underscores the need for the world to hold these purveyors of hate, violence, and terror accountable.
We stand in solidarity with the Israeli communities under siege, salute the brave men and women of the IDF, police, and first responders defending them, and pray for the safety and security of the State of Israel.”
. . . Dianne Lob, Chair, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement:
“We condemn the willful incitement by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that is instigating violence and unrest in Jerusalem, as well as the continuing rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.
We stand in solidarity with Israel as she continues to face lawlessness and rioting spurred by Palestinian leaders who are shamelessly fanning the flames of hate and violence with apparent disregard for the safety and security of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
The rocket attacks, which continue to target Israeli cities including Jerusalem, requiring thousands of Israeli civilians to protect themselves in bomb shelters, constitute a clear violation of international law and must be condemned by the international community at once.
As Jerusalem Day is commemorated and the end of Ramadan approaches, we call for calm and we pray that peace prevails.”
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The Conference of Presidents is the central coordinating body representing 50 national Jewish organizations on issues of national and international concern
This piece is adapted from a sermon delivered by Rabbi Eytan Hammerman to his congregation on the Shabbat after Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Day of Independence):
Emily, when I was your age, at my Bar Mitzvah, in 1989, we had an extra chair on the Bimah and on the chair we put a tallit, a siddur and a piece of paper where we printed a name. I don’t remember the name any more – but, of course, I remember why we did this, why we put that extra, empty chair on the Bimah. The name was a Russian name – the name of a Russian Jewish boy who was not permitted to have a Bar Mitzvah. He and his family were refusniks – they weren’t allowed to leave the Soviet Union and they could not practice Judaism in the Soviet Union as they wished, with the same religious freedoms that we enjoyed in the United States. We spoke once by phone and wrote several letters back and forth. Somehow, the translation was worked out. We took the symbolic step in 1989 of giving him a “Bar Mitzvah,” treating him as if he was my Bar Mitzvah twin.
The year 1989 might have caught your attention or the attention of your mother because that’s the year that her family was able to leave the Soviet Union and, indeed, my Bar Mitzvah twin was also allowed to leave not too long after. Unfortunately, we did not keep in touch – I believe that his family left the Soviet Union for Israel, just like so many other Jews left for America and elsewhere. And, when they arrived, and when your family arrived, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t easy. The streets are not paved with gold – as all immigrants to our country learn very quickly. But, hopefully, his family – and your family – were welcomed not just as new citizens but also as Jews. We cared for you when you were there and when you arrived here – Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze ba Zeh – all of Israel is responsible, one to another.
Years before my Bar Mitzvah, I remember learning the name of another Soviet Jewish refusnik – and this name we should all know. Anataoly Sharansky: Sharansky was a leader in the Jewish community and for this he was pursued, punished and jailed. Until enough pressure from outside the Soviet Union – because Jews around the world brought up his name at every opportunity, caused the Soviet leadership to strip him of his citizenship, just what he had been asking for – and expelled him from the country, to Israel, where he reunited with his wife Avital and then began their lives anew. I remember in the late 1980s, reading Sharansky’s memoir, of his triumph over the police state. It was called “Fear No Evil.”
Adonai li V’lo Ira – just like Adon Olam concludes; if I have God with me, I won’t be afraid. More recently, Sharansky – now, Natan Sharansky, no longer Anatoly … former member of Knesset, former head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, continued Hero of the Jewish People … now, Sharansky has published a new book called, “Never Alone .” Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze ba Zeh – we are all responsible for one another. The long arc of Jewish history is always with us.
In the book he tells the story of his time as a journalist when he first made Aliyah. He was also a religious Jew. And, yet, he was invited to cover a story of a different Exodus, this, the Exodus in 1991, the miraculous mission in which the State of Israel launched Operation Solomon, the clandestine and truly heroic effort to save over 14,000 Jews from Ethiopia. They were brought, over the course of one Shabbat, to Israel in El Al airliners – על כנפי נשרים, on the wings of eagles – where the planes had been painted over and seats removed, to make more space. With Yom HaShoah recently behind us on the Jewish calendar, the sentence uttered by the IDF spokesman summarized it all, “This operation shows that if the Jews had an airline and if they had had an address in 1939, there would have been no Auschwitz.”
The State of Israel and we, Jews around the World, mark Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, shortly after we remember the Shoah.
In Jerusalem, at the Kotel, a new way of observing the holiday was born this year, in a quintessential Masorti/Conservative Judaism way. You’ve all heard of the Kotel and its Egalitarian section, Robinson’s Arch, where so many kids from our shul have become Bar and Bat Mitzvah in recent years. This year, our brother and sister Masorti Jews went to the Kotel and brought with them a new holy Jewish text of the Jewish people, the Declaration of Independence.
And they read this text, that some would think was purely a political text just the same way that we read other holy texts, with the traditional Haftorah trope (you can watch of a recoding of this historic ceremony with English translations, below):
And, to echo Sharansky, who may very well have been there at this reading of the Declaration, we will do the same here, right now.
Gabe Nechamkin and Deborah Bers and Cantor Marcos and I have each prepared a page from the Megillah – yes, the same word (we use to identify other sacred writings), the Megillat Atzmaut– the Independence Scroll – and I invite you to follow along.
But, how? Ah! I don’t know if any other published siddur has the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence within. But, yes, our siddur (Lev Shalem) editors recognized the sanctity of those words, as a modern holy text of the Jewish people and included it for us, as if they knew what we would want to read it.
See what its founders were dreaming of: The state that they hoped to create, the way they intended to treat Israel’s citizens of all religions, how they hoped to interact with her neighbors.
I don’t have any illusions about just how complicated it is to maintain a Jewish State in the 21st century. What is “Jewish,” what is a “State?” These questions can consume us. But especially, on יום העצמאות, I celebrate … and I only celebrate:
I celebrate that in 1948 the Jews won the war, for to lose it would have meant to lose everything and everyone.
I celebrate that the State of Israel exists, for its existence is so much better for the Jewish people than would be its non-existence.
I celebrate that there was a home and an address to which Operation Solomon brought Jews from Ethiopia.
And I celebrate dreaming about the next time I will be able to visit …
I heard from JJ Jonah recently, the tour operator for our cancelled March 2020 trip. He’s ready for us to come back – are we ready to go?
Eytan Hammerman assumed the rabbinate at the Jewish Community Center of Harrison in August, 2014. He had previously served Temple Beth Shalom, Mahopac NY, for four years where he substantially grew the congregation and brought innovative programming along with his trademark energy and enthusiasm. He is committed to doing the same at the JCCH and, especially, to finding ways of making Conservative Judaism both relevant and meaningful to our 21st Century lives. Rabbi Hammerman looks forward to infusing time-honored traditions and stong values into our younger congregants with whom he enjoys a remarkable connection.
After more than 15 years of struggle, the Masorti Movement of Israel today was vindicated by the Israeli Supreme Court, which now recognizes its conversions to Judaism for the purposes of the Law of Return and Aliyah to Israel.
Rakefet Ginsburg, the CEO of Masorti Movement, responded to this fantastic news by declaring: “Today is a historic day. The decision handed down by the Israeli Supreme Court was a just and clear verdict. There is more than one way to be a Jew in the State of Israel. Time and time again we are forced to fight for our rights in the courts instead of through dialogue. The elections are moments away. I call on our elected officials at this time to restore Israel’s relations with Conservative and Reform Judaism in the State of Israel and in the Diaspora. The court said this in a clear voice and it is time for our elected leaders to recognize it too: “Judaism has more than one color.“
The Masorti Foundation stands with our Israeli partners on this crucial day for religious pluralism in Israel – one that affirms the core identity of Israel as the homeland of Jews of all backgrounds. We applaud the Supreme Court for its wisdom in recognizing Masorti conversions. While today we celebrate, we know that many in Israel are still organizing against pluralism and so we will continue our support for Masorti Israel in the political, social and legal arenas, and of course for the crucial work of Masorti’s Jewish Pluralism Watch.
For the latest on the Court ruling, check out these articles:
Feel like climbing the walls? That’s Ok. Because when you drop down on the other side you’ll find a joyous Shushan Purim Party!
Purim may be over, but you can watch our Shushan Purim Party that was broadcast on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 9:30 p.m. EST.
Who’s threw this Shushan Purim bash? We’ll tell you who:
MERCAZ USA
MERCAZ Canada
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs
International Kiddush Club
Downloads to enhance your viewing experience:
1) We will be making the perfect cocktail for a Haman led horse ride on a bright sunny day in Shushan. Download the recipe (alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions) by clicking here or on the image below:
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism has a special message for all of us as we commemorate one year mark, about the time we celebrated Purim in 2020, of living with the pandemic in North America:
Mercaz Olami, the political arm of Masorti-Conservative Judaism in the National Institutions of the Jewish people – WZO, Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (JNF), Keren Hayesod, the Jewish Agency – strongly opposes a proposal made by the recently appointed Chairman of the Keren Kayemet Board of Directors to establish new guidelines for purchase of land in Judea and Samaria. Our opposition is based upon four principles.
First, we insist that the National Institutions of the Jewish People relate to the Government of Israel in a Democratic manner. Inherent to KKL’s mandate is to work in tandem with the democratically elected Government of Israel, currently engaged in an election campaign. Democracy dictates that settlement policy for the Judea and Shomron remains as the jurisdiction of the Knesset and the soon-to-formed Governing Coalition. It would be undemocratic for KKL to politicize and overstep its role by formulating its own settlement policies.
Second, we insist that KKL symbolize the principle of Zionist consensus. The Land of Israel is embodied by KKL. Thus KKL belongs to the entire Jewish People in Israel and the Diaspora. Fundamental changes in the manner in which KKL manages The Land ought not be made by Israelis alone. Wall-to-Wall Coalition Agreements must emerge from each Zionist Congress. So too, as in the past, KKL must act according to this principle of Zionist consensus. KKL’s policies must recognize and respect different approaches to the actualization of Zionism. The proposed action attempts to favor the settlement policy of one group, Israeli Jewry’s Far Right, over all others. Politicizing KKL would be inconsistent with KKL’s principle of Zionist consensus, a basic tenet of KKL throughout its history.
Third, we oppose any sudden and dramatic change in KKL’s status quo. Throughout the past decades, KKL has purchased land in the Negev, the Galilee and throughout the areas within sovereign Israel as a unifying element for Israeli and World Jewry. The proposed changes represent a dramatic departure from KKL’s status quo. Moreover, the process is flawed. These changes have been presented in a deliberately rapid and vague manner. It has not allowed for in-depth consideration of implications and consequences. The attempt to conduct a hasty discussion, also is blemished by attempts to conceal from members of the Directorate relevant information. This is not proper conduct for a public institution of the Jewish People.
Fourth, we oppose any distortion of Zionism. Though he claims otherwise – what the new chairman of KKL is proposing is not a return to a KKL-Israeli government collaboration, the basic core of KKL Zionist ideology. Instead, what is proposed is a unilateral act by the KKL to buy lands in the territories at its own discretion. Unilateral non-government private purchases of lands in the territories using Jewish money is not Zionism. It is a distortion of Zionism. It demolishes the bedrock of cooperative collaboration between the National Institutions of the Jewish People and the State of Israel. It would damage bonds between them.
Our member of the Executive Committee of the KKL Board of Directors, Emily Levy-Shochat, was part of a group which succeeded in slowing down the process and demanding changes in the content. Our Masorti-Conservative Judaism representatives in KKL’s Executive Committee, Board of Directors and General Assembly will persevere in this effort.
As noted by Levy-Shochat, KKL Deputy Chair on behalf of Mercaz Olami: “This is not just a KKL policy issue, but a much bigger question about the future of the Zionist Movement. We will continue to insist that the National Institutions, among them KKL, not be taken over by partisans of any one group. We also call our Zionist concerns to the global Jewish organizations represented in the World Zionist Congress and in the KKL Board of Directors – Hadassah, WIZO, Maccabi World Union, B’nei Brit and NA’AMAT International.”
New York, NY – The Rabbinical Assembly, the rabbinical association of the global Conservative/Masorti movement, joins with Mercaz Olami, Mercaz Canada, Mercaz USA, and the Cantors Assembly in strong opposition to the decision by the Executive Committee of Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (KKL – JNF) to establish more expansive guidelines for the purchase of land in the West Bank territories. We reject these plans, approved by the executive committee on February 14, and oppose the new leadership’s efforts to fund settlement expansion, which fundamentally weakens the prospect of a two-state solution – an issue on which the Rabbinical Assembly and its members have spoken out in support in 2011, 2012, and as recently as 2020.
The proposed framework will damage KKL’s legitimacy in Israel and among Jews around the world, and may even endanger its very existence.
We believe that, as it has done in the past, KKL must act according to the principle of Zionist consensus – recognizing and respecting different approaches to the actualization of Zionism. The current action attempts to impose a structure that reflects and favors the settlement policy of Israel’s extreme right, an act which is inconsistent with what has been a basic tenet of KKL throughout its history.
We believe that the proposed action will severely damage Israel’s foreign relations. Allocating organizational funds to purchase land in the West Bank unnecessarily politicizes an essential and broad-based Zionist institution, at a time when Israel instead seeks to enhance the special U.S.-Israel relationship with incoming Biden administration officials and diplomats.
We are taught in Psalms (34:15) to “Seek peace and pursue it.” In that spirit, we call on KKL-JNF stakeholders to reject the plan in its current proposed state and to contact relevant board representatives and KKL leadership to share their concerns.
Organizations of the Conservative Movement of Judaism are appalled by the violence that took place at the United States Capitol Wednesday afternoon. We call on all American political and religious leaders to condemn in unequivocal terms this attack on democracy and its institutions. We also demand that, having been certified by the respective states and in the courts, all political leaders, including President Trump, defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States, affirm the results of the recent elections, and speedily return to the peaceful transfer of power that has been the hallmark of American democracy for over 200 years.
We are grateful to law enforcement for ejecting the rioters and re-establishing control of the Capitol, and pray for their safety and the security of Congressional leaders.
As a minority within American society, the Jewish people appreciate the democratic principles enshrined in the US Constitution. Civil liberties, and those of other minorities and marginalized groups, are guaranteed only when all leaders affirm the rule of law. The sight of a noose and Nazi symbols at the Capitol was sickening. Since the riot in Charlottesville in 2017, we have been concerned about both the danger posed by white supremacist and other extreme groups, and the weak response to those groups by some US political leaders. It is time for all political leaders to unequivocally denounce such beliefs and behaviors. As we remember each Passover, our people’s historical experience reminds us that every generation must respond to the challenge of bigotry and rise to the defense of freedom.
The basis for democracy stems from the Torah’s belief that every person is created equally in God’s image and is therefore entitled to equal representation in government and equal protection under the law. Each week we pray during our Shabbat worship to “uproot from our hearts hatred and malice, jealousy and strife. Plant love and companionship, peace and friendship, among the many people and faiths who dwell in our nation.” This prayer is more than an expression of faith. It is a call to action, and we have much work to do to heal the deep wounds and divisions which afflict the United States and society.
May the new US leaders, who are coming to power this month at every level of government, rise to the responsibility the voters have entrusted to them to bring healing and exercise responsible governance.
The Rabbinical Assembly American Jewish University – Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies The Cantors Assembly Mercaz USA North American Association of Synagogue Executives (NAASE) Jewish Educators Assembly The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Read the Rabbinical Assembly’s Resolution on Voting in the 2020 US Electionshere.
Tu B’Shevat 5781: A Celebration with the Cantors Assembly Presented Live on Wednesday | January 27, 2021 3:00 p.m. EST (New York)
We are delighted to announce that MERCAZ USA we will be partnering with our fellow English-speaking MERCAZ organizations, Mercaz Canada and Mercaz UK (United Kingdom) on a number of initiatives. It is our hope that this arrangement will enable all of us to provide a wider variety of educational and engagement opportunities for members of the Conservative/Masorti community we collectively serve.
The first of these programs was held on Tu B’Shvat (Wednesday, January 27 at 3:00 p.m. EST) in collaboration with the Cantors Assembly. We are delighted to be have been able to celebrate this Zionist chag (holiday) together, which draws our attention to the land of Israel and our connections to it!
If you missed the live celebration, you can watch the recording of our program below:
For those that wish to participate fully, you should bring to your Seder table:
White and red wine (or grape juice)
At least 3 kinds of fruit:
One fully edible such as grapes or figs
One edible outside with an inedible pit such as dates or olives, and
One edible inside with an inedible rind such as pomegranates or citrus
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