Some 1,100 people attended the 19th biennial conference of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, held May 28-29 at Kibbutz Shefayim, on the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv. The biennial was chaired by Paula Edelstein and Rachel Alkalai.
The conference coincided with the weekly Torah portion of Beha'alotcha, in which 70 elders gather around the ohel moed, or desert meeting tent, and are confirmed as members of the Sanhedrin in order to assist Moses with governance and in passing on the sacred teachings.
“They became partners in a mission, partaking of the spirit, bearing the burden and seeking to bring God’s word to the encampment of Israel,” says Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the IMPJ. “Whoever strolled around the conference center at Shefayim, which on that Shabbat had become the ohel moed of the Progressive communities, could certainly feel how this story from Beha'alotcha suited the gathering and the prevailing spirit, which ennobled not just 70 people, but some 1,100, and not just elders, but individuals all ages, from infants to senior citizens.”
The biennial included dozens of study sessions and workshops, as well as discussions on such subjects as the IMPJ’s activities on behalf of the general public, its role regarding the environment, and outreach efforts toward the Russian-speaking community and other groups. Special guests and speakers included Welfare Minister Yitzhak Herzog, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and MK Yohanan Plessner.
“All of this indicates, says Kariv, “that we seek not to remain within an ohel moed that’s narrow and elitist, but to… work with everyone within the “encampment of Israel.”
The conference also saw the launch of a new publication on prayer in Israel, as well as “NiggunTube,” for documenting the prayer melodies of IMPJ congregations; the presentation of a new hymn for Noar Telem, the Israeli branch of Netzer Olami, the World Union’s international Zionist youth movement, and of a new branding and publicity effort for the IMPJ; and the unveiling of three new books by leading members of the movement. In addition, it marked the addition of two new congregations – Shirat Hayam-Carmel in Haifa, and Hashahar in Even Yehuda – and coincided with groundbreaking ceremonies for Progressive schools in Jaffa, Haifa and Modi’in.
Conference chairwomen Paula Edelstein (left) and Rachel Alkalai welcome participants.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky (top) and Social Affairs Minister Yitzhak Herzog are old friends of the IMPJ.
World Union COO Shai Pinto (far left) and Honorary Life President Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch (third from left) were among the hundreds of conference-goers who participated in the opening ceremony.
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HANNOVER CONGREGANTS VISIT WITH FELLOW PROGRESSIVE JEWS IN RUSSIA
Eighteen members of Liberale Juedische Gemeinde–Hannover, the World Union affiliate in Hannover, Germany, recently traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to spend Shabbat with members of another World Union affiliate, Congregation Shaarei Shalom.
Led by congregational president Ingrid Wettberg, the visitors from Hannover joined in Kabbalat Shabbat services attended by some 80 people, as well as Shabbat Shacharit services the next morning, before touring the city and seeing many of its world-class attractions. Prayer services were led by Shaarei Shalom’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Helena Rubinstein, and by Cantor Dmitry Karpenko, who came from Moscow for this special event. “The atmosphere was very festive and friendly,” says Wettberg. “All of us felt a great desire to continue our cooperation in the future.”
Karpenko, who also led a session on the history of Jewish music, is a graduate of the World Union’s Institute for Modern Jewish Studies, also known as the Machon, which prepares community workers for Progressive congregations in the former Soviet Union. The program is also known to whet appetites for further Jewish studies, and many of its graduates, like Karpenko, have gone on to become cantors, educators and even rabbis.
Rubinstein, meanwhile, has appeared in The Jewish Standard of St. Petersburg, 5770, the first edition of what’s being planned as an annual “who’s who” in the city’s Jewish community. Individuals highlighted in the 5770 issue also include businessmen and women, people active in arts and culture, and professionals and laypeople involved in key social projects.
“The Reform congregation in the city has made an impression and cannot be ignored by those organizations that define themselves as Orthodox,” says Alex Kagan, director of the FSU for the World Union. “This is a very important precedent for the movement in St. Petersburg. Rabbi Rubinstein has been the spiritual leader of the congregation for six months, and during this time she has garnered respect and acceptance by the wider Jewish community.”
Rabbi Helena Rubinstein and Cantor Dmitry Karpenko lead Kabbalat Shabbat services in St. Petersburg for members of Congregation Shaarei Shalom
and their guests from Hannover.
The congregation and guests during Shabbat morning services.
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80 YEARS OF PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM DOWN UNDER
The Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) of Australia, New Zealand and Asia is celebrating eight decades of an organized Progressive Jewish presence in that part of the world that started in 1930 with the establishment of what is now Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne.
As part of the celebrations, the region held a Shared Shabbat at affiliated congregations at the end of April. The UPJ was represented at each service by a member of its executive committee who made a presentation that focused on the history of Progressive Judaism in the region, and on the challenges and opportunities it currently faces.
“Our vision of the Shared Shabbat was to demonstrate the connection between each of our constituents, and allow them to mark this important milestone as one community,” said Penny Jakobovits, chair of the UPJ’s anniversary committee.
Another significant event to be marked during the anniversary celebrations will be the launch of the first-ever siddur to be adapted especially to the needs of Progressive congregations in the Southern Hemisphere – the World Union edition of Mishkan T’filah, which will be published by the CCAR Press in the next few months (see WUPJnews #363). In addition, the UPJ will bring in a number of international scholars, musicians and speakers, including Cantor Robbie Solomon, who will conduct a master class for cantorial lay leaders, and Paul Liptz of the World Union’s Anita Saltz International Education Center, who will work with regional educators.
The celebratory year will culminate with the UPJ biennial conference in Canberra in November, where the World Union will be represented by its chairman, Steven M. Bauman, its senior vice chairman, Michael Grabiner, its vice president and chief operating officer, Shai Pinto, and its vice president for international development, Rabbi Joel Oseran.
In 2010, the UPJ will also be marking a number of other major anniversaries, including 80 years for Melbourne’s Temple Beth Israel; 60 years for the Leo Baeck Centre in Kew, Victoria; 50 years for North Shore Temple Emanuel in Chatswood, New South Wales; 25 years for the Progressive minyan in Canberra (ACT); and 20 years for the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong.
As part of the UPJ’s 80th anniversary festivities, Brisbane Progressive Jewish Congregation and Temple Shalom-Gold Coast observed the UPJ Shared Shabbat together in Queensland. From left: Scott Leonard, Tony Leverton and Kate Lesser.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
July 8-11, 2010 – Annual conference of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany, Spandau-Berlin
November 25-28, 2010 – Biennial conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism in Australia, Asia and New Zealand, Canberra, Australia
February 7-13, 2011 – Connections 2011, San Francisco
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