By Emma, October 2013
I grew up as a Reform Jew in London. Until I went to university, I would go to synagogue every week because my father insisted that my sister and I should. My father himself rarely attended synagogue except at festivals. To get to synagogue we had to travel by bus quite far. I got used to the service and, of course, was accustomed to women and men sitting together.
Some years later I went to Israel where I met my husband who came from a much more Orthodox background. I rarely attended synagogue in Israel because it felt alien. However I learned Hebrew from being there and therefore found the Reform services, once I was back in London, less satisfying than I had done previously.
I did not have a bat mitzvah and never learned to read from the Torah. In fact while I speak and understand Hebrew, I find reading more difficult. I was relatively unconcerned about women’s role in Judaism – apart from not appreciating being separated from the men. If women wanted to be rabbis, they should, I thought, but it was not a path I sought for myself.
Much later, one aspect of the service became important for me – the reciting of Kaddish, something that some Orthodox rabbis will not allow women to perform. I had occasionally tried to recite Kaddish at the yartzeit of my father – and later my mother – if my elder brother was unable to do so. But it became essential for me following his very untimely death. For eleven months I attended a Masorti (Conservative) synagogue virtually every Shabbat and recited Kaddish for him. Reciting Kaddish has now become something I find very important.
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let’s go easy on appellations. not every right-of-center politician/activist is an extremist (by the way, who do you consider a non-extremist?). usually, an extremist calls another an extremist because they are so far away from each other.
secondly, in my experience, while money does a lot, the best way to keep Israel democratic is to actually be here and vote. and remember, a lot of nice people don’t think highly of money being used to subvert democracy in Israel, i.e., turn around the elections through financial influence.
third, following on that, funding groups that are quite extreme, who, in too many instances, have been shown to be anti- or non-Zionist preferring a universal progressive and radical liberal agenda, is, well, extreme in itself and seen not to be friendly.
oh, and fourth, the more Jews here, the more a Jewish state we are.
Sokatch never goes into specifics about the groups NIF funds that are clearly anti Zionist and want to destroy Israel. He just goes on about progressive values. What he never discusses is why the progressive groups he funds couldn’t elect a dog catcher in Israel and spend most of their time campaigning against Israel in Europe and the U.S.