Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Every time I've visited Israel, it's been harder to leave. But in
trips past it's the magic of the place that's torn at my soul. Not
this time.
My soul reverberates with Israel's mystic history, but this trip has
opened my eyes to the real magic. Visit Kibbutz Hannaton and witness
resurrection of a dynamic Masorti Jewish pluralism in the context of a
'black and white' divide between religious and secular (as if either
were an accurate description and as if they were clear categories).
People's souls are being lost, and all it will take to heal the Jewish
soul for untold thousands of our brothers and sisters in Israel is
money - and Jewish tradition teaches that nothing is more important
than saving a life. This vision is not of a coercive Jewish
environemt - it's the pluralistic response to one. Rabbi Yoav Ende at
Hannaton is out to change the world, and I'm with him.
The Masorti Leadership Mission participated in the dedication of a
Sefer Torah at the shul in Hod Hasharon yesterday and the
groundbreaking of Rabbi Tzvi Berger's life's work: a building for the
long-established Masorti Community of Kfar Vradim. And all it will
take is money to complete it's building. The mayor of Kfar Vradim
received a letter from a 10 year old member of the community, which
helped cement his participation in the project, as well as his
passionate address at the groundbreaking.
The ceremony ended with Hatikvah, and I heard the words 'as long as
the Jewish heart yearns.'. And that's what this is all about. If
these passionate skilled rabbis and their passionate visionary
communities don't receive the support they need and deserve, from
within and without, where will the yearning Jewish soul turn?
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
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