First progressive Rabbi In Israel
Australia’s Union for Progressive Judaism has congratulated Rabbi Miri Gold on becoming the first Progressive rabbi in Israel.
Rabbi Miri Gold
Executive Director Steve Denenberg told J-Wire: “We offer a huge Mazaltov to Miri and the other Rabbis – and a massive “Well done” to Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Anat Hoffman and all those in the IMPJ who have worked so hard to achieve this result.and the other Rabbis – and a massive “Well done” to Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Anat Hoffman and all those in the IMPJ who have worked so hard to achieve this result.
We often complain that the State of Israel refuses to recognise or pay non-Orthodox rabbis.
In fact, while we were in Israel a few weeks ago with the ARZA / Emanuel / UPJ Mission, we met with Rabbi Miri Gold (pictured), who has been seeking to be recognised as a State Rabbi for many years, and she expressed the view that there was still “a long way to go” in this battle and that we and our religious Zionist ‘arm’, ARZA, would have to continue to push hard if progress was to be made.
However, thanks to the work of many people in the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – the organisation that we support though the annual UIA Progressive Trust campaign – an historic step has taken place. For the first time, the State of Israel is going to recognise Reform and Conservative rabbis. As a result Miri, and 14 other non-Orthodox rabbis, will receive a State salary.
There is a compromise in this decision – but it is indeed a significant step forward in the struggle for religious pluralism in the Jewish State.
As recently as yesterday, we asked people in our region to write to Prime Minister Netanyahu to call for action against the race-based riots in Tel-Aviv.”
It’s not accurate for the UPJ to call itself “Progressive” and to describe the lady in question as Israel’s first “progressive” rabbi. Many other rabbis are moderate and progressive in their views but remain affiliated with traditional Judaism (AKA orthodoxy). The UPJ should stick to the name that was adopted when their movement first evolved – “Reform” (and is used today in the US and Canada). “Progressive” is a term that should not be hijacked by the Reform movement as it implies that representatives of traditional Judaism cannot also be progressive.