Most of Klal Yisroel — certainly most of the
residents of Israel, judging by the way they answer surveys
about their relationship to Jewish tradition — greeted
as good news the announcement that Kibbutz Degania was
building a beit knesset. Not so Reform Rabbi Dr. Dalia
Sara Marx, a teacher at the Hebrew Union College.
Kibbutz Degania, located at the place where the Jordan River
flows out of Lake Kinneret, is known as "the mother of the
collectives and the kibbutzim." Although it never adopted the
more extreme forms of communal life — children always
lived with their parents and not in a communal dormitory
— it was nonetheless the first such settlement, founded
almost a century ago in Tishrei 5670 (1910).
The ideological groundwork for the kibbutz movement was laid
in Degania. Needless to say, that did not include a beit
knesset. They "celebrated" the Jewish holidays, but the
anti-religious attitude that characterized the kibbutz
movement was also born here, even if they are no longer proud
of it.
The founding of a fully chareidi shul in a place like Degania
was remarked in the media. It also drew a comment from Reform
Rabbi Dr. Marx, who teaches in Jerusalem. She wrote that she
was "saddened" to hear that they chose an "Orthodox
synagogue." Dr. Marx seems to have formed her picture of
Orthodoxy from Israeli media caricatures. She suggests that
in choosing an Orthodox synagogue, the Degania members "treat
Judaism as some sort of singular, simplistic, one-faced
beast." She tells them that "a synagogue need not be a white
elephant on the kibbutz grounds," but, following the model of
Reform kibbutzim, it can serve "as a home for prayer, study,
members' meetings, and . . . [as] an organic part of communal
life." Someone should tell her how heavily used Orthodox
synagogues are and have been since time immemorial.
Her parting slap is to say that we paint ourselves as "
`authentic' Jews." Her presumed reference for applying the
shudder quotes is a famous piece by former CCAR President
Reform Rabbi Simeon Maslin who wrote a piece entitled, "Who
are the Authentic Jews?" (which was given an award for
"Excellence in Commentary" by the American Jewish Press
Association). He asks, "Are Orthodox Jews who nurture
extremism by their claim to exclusive truth the authentic
Jews?" No he says. Rather, he concludes about Reform Judaism,
"we represent authentic Judaism."
In Israel Reform Jews champion "pluralism." But the substance
of their comments about traditional Judaism indicates that
they do not view it as an ideal that Reform Judaism function
alongside Orthodox Judaism. Rather they champion pluralism
since they now feel excluded entirely, and want to get their
foot into the door.
Pluralism is just an interim stage. They clearly want to take
over entirely. They do not regard us as authentic and have no
tolerance for our views.
It has been the same since the early days of Reform over 150
years ago. Whenever it had control, it did not recognize
Orthodoxy, did not fund Orthodox institutions or needs, and
even fought openly against the most basic religious services.
In Frankfurt, for almost twenty years one was not allowed to
teach Torah in public. The mikveh was closed. It was
only with the founding of the IRG of HaRav Shamshon Rafael
Hirsch that they reluctantly began satisfying religious needs
since they wanted to retain their religious members in the
face of the competition.
Yossi Beilin also argued recently that there should be a way
that non-religious non-Jews can become non-religious Jews. He
does not propose any clear criteria for entry into the Jewish
people, and no one ever has. The truth is that the statement
of Rav Saadia Gaon that what makes us a people is our Torah
is not just prescriptive, but is really also descriptive. If
Beilin were to dig a little more deeply into what Judaism
means, even to him, he would find the Torah there as well.
It is likely that he will not delve any more deeply than he
already has, but he should realize that his criteria will
expand the Jewish people at the price of fragmenting it. The
definitions that he proposes are such that the chareidi
community cannot and will not accept them. The result will be
that again, we will be left out of the Jewish people as
defined by Yossi Beilin.
We are excluded by the Reform and we are excluded by the
secular. Fifty years ago, even the secular leadership of the
Jewish people agreed to accept the classical definition of
Judaism that had been used through the ages.
Now their heirs are not only rejecting the Orthodox
definition of who is a Jew, but in effect rejecting the
Orthodox people themselves as authentic Jews.
