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Israel
Non-Orthodox Judaism
The American denominations of Conservative Jews (see Glossary)
and Reform Jews (see Glossary), although they have enrolled between
them the vast majority of affiliated American Jews, have achieved
a very modest presence in Israel. Neither Reform nor Conservative
rabbinical ordination is recognized by the Israeli chief rabbinate;
thus, these rabbis are generally forbidden to perform weddings
or authorize divorces. (In the mid-1980s a few Conservative rabbis
were granted the right, on an ad hoc basis, to perform weddings.)
In the early 1980s, there were twelve Reform congregations in
Israel and about 900 members--almost 90 percent of whom were born
outside the country. During the same period there were more than
twenty Conservative congregations with more than 1,500 members;
only about 14 percent were native-born Israelis (and, as in the
case of Reform, the great majority of these were of Ashkenazi
descent).
Although both Reform and Conservative movements dated their presence
in Israel to the 1930s, they experienced real growth, the Conservative
movement in particular, only in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During
this period, relatively large numbers of American Jews immigrated--more
than 36,000 between 1968 and 1975. Nevertheless, the opposition
of the Israeli Orthodox establishment to recognizing Conservative
and (particularly) Reform Judaism as legitimate was strong, and
it continued to be unwilling to share power and patronage with
these movements. Neither of the newer movements has attracted
native-born Israelis in significant numbers. The importance of
the non-Orthodox movements in Israel in the late 1980s mainly
reflects the influence they have wielded in the American and West
European Diaspora.
Data as of December 1988
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