MERCAZ Newsletter -Fall 2003
Ayin LeTzion Tzofiyah? Conservative Judaism Examines Place of Zionism

"The Zionist agenda, like that of Judaism itself, is not to make us comfortable. Rather it seeks to shake us out of our complacency and challenges every Jew to look beyond themselves to the national needs of the Jewish People."

"For too long, Conservative Judaism has prided itself with the explicit Zionist statements of our founders and has looked down at Orthodoxy and Reform Judaism for their original opposition to Zionism. But that which was once a Conservative Jewish 'truth' has become now a mere 'truism'."

"The Zionist agenda is the antithesis of the search for personal meaning or 'spirituality', which has dominated Jewish life in the Diaspora for the past dozen years. Our goal is to reinvest into Zionism the sense of communal challenge and commitment, by redefining the goal of Zionism as the building of the model Jewish society."

"Whether one chooses to take the ultimate step of aliyah is less significant than the personal struggle with the question itself."

With these thoughts, three Conservative Jewish leaders and American immigrants to Israel - Rabbis Reuven Hammer and Daniel Gordis and Dr. David Breakstone - addressed "The Place of Zionism in the Conservative Movement Today". The conference, held on Sunday, June 8th, at the Jewish Theological Seminary, was organized by MERCAZ USA, together with the Movement's Aliyah Committee. Conceived by Karni Goldshmid-Lahav, Shlicha to the Conservative Movement in North America, as a way to reenergize the Movement's Zionist spirit, the conference, chaired by MERCAZ President Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, was the first public examination of the place of Zionism in the Conservative Movement in nearly fifteen years.

Rabbi Hammer, President of the Rabbinical Assembly and a founder of the Israeli Masorti Movement, began the proceedings by calling for a Conservative Zionism that is a "religious" Zionism, one based on the place of Zion in our sources: "The Torah is essentially the story of the relationship of our ancestors with the Land of Israel, while the Siddur carries this longing for Zion forward, both in places such as the Amidah where the theme of restoration would be expected as well as in other prayers, such as the blessings before Kriat Shma, which unexpectedly and without obvious connection to that which precedes or follows, throw in verses calling for a 'new light to illumine Zion' and 'bring us safely from the ends of the earth and lead us in dignity to our holy land'. Not to take seriously these fundamental Jewish principles, such as in not demanding that all rabbinical students spend a year of study in Israel, undermines the authenticity of the message of Conservative Judaism."

Rabbi Gordis, founding Dean of the Ziegler School and currently Director of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellow Program, examined the prevailing sentiments which pervade the Jewish world today to explain why the overwhelming number of new olim from North America today are Orthodox: "In contrast to the situation, which prevailed in the years following the '67 and '73 Wars, when the American Jewish aliyah was at its height, most non-Orthodox Jews seem to have replaced the 'We' of the Jewish People with an 'I'. Only in Orthodoxy does halacha appear to have retained its original sense as communal responsibility. In the past, Conservative Movement leadership would look fearfully at a youth movement shaliach talking about aliyah. Now, in contrast, in our search for personal meaning and spirituality as the antidote for intermarriage, we no longer worry about the challenge of aliyah because Conservative Judaism has privatized observance and thus has surrendered its Jewish national agenda."

One way out of the current situation, offered Dr. David Breakstone, Head of the Department of Zionist Activities and former Director of Ramah Programs in Israel, is to re-infuse the Zionist agenda with an exciting national purpose, the shaping and building of Israeli society as a "chevrah mofet", a model society: "More than a place of refuge for Jews in danger, Zionism always understood the Jewish state to be a national homeland where the Jewish people could finally take control of all institutions of life as any other people and reach its full potential as an 'Or LaGoyim'. In this way, Zionism would have continued relevance and meaning, even now, fifty-five years after the State of Israel was created."

Following the initial plenary session, the three keynote speakers led text-based workshops dealing with "Zionism in Theory". Afterwards, the conference participants turned to "Zionism in Practice" with workshops led by Rabbi Michael Cohen (Director of the Arava Institute and Head of the Green Zionist Party), Rabbi Gilah Dror (Spiritual leader in Hampton, VA, and formerly of Beersheba, Israel) and Mr. Michael Landesberg (Director of the Israel Aliyah Center).

As Rabbi Kurtz noted, "It has been fifteen years since Conservative Judaism devoted a major conference to examining the place of Zionism in our movement. The process that was begun anew now is certainly not the end of the story but the beginning of a renewed dedication to Zionism, Israel and Aliyah." Kurtz also expressed the hope that the three major addresses would be published together in an upcoming issue of RA quarterly Conservative Judaism.

In a postscript to the session, it was reported widely this summer in the Israeli and Anglo-Jewish press that the number of North Americans making aliyah to Israel has been on the increase. While the overall number of North American olim has been about 1500 annually for the past several years, in 2002, more than 2000 Americans and Canadians made aliyah, and it is expected that an additional 2000 North Americans will have already moved to Israel by the end of this summer. Moreover, the percentage of Conservative Jews making aliyah is also rising, reaching more than 20% of new North American olim since January 2003. Many new immigrants credit the need to stand up for Israel in the face of nearly three years of Palestinian Intifada as fueling this increase, as well as the new financial incentives being provided by the Jewish Agency and the Nefesh BeNefesh Campaign.