Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Signing out of Judaism

L'ultima volta, solo qualche giorno fa, anche io ho espresso la 
preoccupazione e il rammarico che Israele, cioé la sua leadership, cioé 
la cupola "sionista", cioé il nucleo ideologico dell'ultranazionalismo 
ebraico venato di millenarismo da quattro soldi, avesse rimodellato il 
giudaismo a sua immagine per moltissimi ebrei.
Non sono il solo a pensarla in questo modo, e questo mi consola.  Non mi 
consola il fatto che queste anime candide si siano svegliate tardi.
 
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Signing out of Judaism
By RACHEL CANAR
10/05/2011 22:55
 
It is now legal for Israeli Jews to sign out of the Jewish religion 
officially. Last week, an Israeli court ruled that Israeli author Yoram 
Kaniuk can change his official religious status in the government 
registry from “Jewish” to “no religion.” He requested this change in 
order to have the same status as his grandson, whose mother is not 
Jewish, and therefore has fewer rights, including no legal way to be 
married in Israel. Kaniuk, a hero of the 1948 War of Independence and a 
major literary voice in the evolution of Hebrew culture, is widely 
admired in Israel. His rejection of the religion of the state is an 
indictment of a system that causes many Israelis to feel nothing but 
contempt for Judaism as they know it.
 
It is not hard to imagine branches of the Ministry of the Interior 
crowded with people hoping to sign out of Judaism and move on with their 
lives simply as “Israelis.” Research shows that they would most likely 
still hold family Passover Seders, fast on Yom Kippur and even light 
Shabbat candles sometimes. They will of course continue to speak Hebrew 
and live in the Land of Israel but they will refuse to be identified 
with the fundamentalist religion now presented to them as the only form 
of legitimate Judaism.
 
And who could blame them? The Judaism of Israel today has become an 
ultra-Orthodox hegemony that represents neither the views and values of 
the vast majority of Israelis, nor those of the global Jewish community. 
This official religion of the Jewish State does not recognize the 
existence of the multiple streams of Judaism to which the majority Jews 
around the world adhere, let alone the commonly accepted advances of the 
Enlightenment that promote basic human equality.
 
The Judaism of Israel today, which is supported legally and financially 
by the state, does not recognize women as equal to men in marriage, 
divorce, or most recently, even on public buses. The official religion 
of Israel today supports racism even between Jews, with clear preference 
given to Ashkenazim over Sephardim and above all over Ethiopians – a 
fact demonstrated by several state-supported religious schools. The 
Judaism of Israel today accepts no converts unless of course they are 
willing to convert ultra-Orthodox. Baruch Spinoza would be ostracized by 
the State of Israel even today.
 
It is time for Israelis and the global Jewish community to recognize 
that Jewish peoplehood is threatened not just externally from 
assimilation but internally from the all powerful ultra-Orthodox 
rabbinate and its vice-like grip over the Jewish homeland – the modern 
political representative of the Jewish people and, supposedly, their refuge.
 
The global Jewish community is focused on strengthening Jewish identity 
and Jewish peoplehood, spending billions of dollars to further these 
goals. A common element in many programs is visiting Israel, which is 
meant to provide Diaspora Jews with a strong foundation upon which group 
participants can gain a greater perspective of their roles in Jewish 
peoplehood and connect more deeply with their own Jewish identities.
 
Ironically, however, the ebbing of Jewish identity has been a serious 
problem right here in Israel. For years, polls have shown that when 
given the choice between identifying as Israeli or Jewish, most Israelis 
will choose the former. The only exposure that most Israelis ever have 
to Judaism is one that is a very strictly Orthodox brand, one that is 
completely remote from their lives yet has tremendous control over them. 
Many Diaspora Jewish philanthropists have become aware of this problem 
of Israelis disengaging from Judaism and have begun supporting programs 
to engage secular Israelis in Jewish pluralism programs in an attempt to 
stem the tide.
 
The recent State and Religion Index, conducted by the Smith Institute 
just before Rosh Hashana, shows that a majority of the Israeli public 
are unhappy with and feel unrepresented by the current Orthodox control 
over Israeli society. They want the option of civil marriage, public 
transportation on Shabbat and to end unfair exemption of yeshiva 
students from military service. The study shows that Israeli Jews 
perceive the tension between secular and religious Israelis as the worst 
intergroup tension within Jewish society today.
 
For all those who are committed to Jewish peoplehood, it is time to 
invest your energy, your time and your funds in addressing religious 
coercion and the lack of Jewish pluralism in Israel. This will only be 
achieved when Israelis and the global Jewish community stand up for 
their rights and free themselves of this oppressive and intolerant 
ultra-Orthodox monopoly on the Jewish state that drives so many away.
 
If Israel is to be a democratic Jewish state, it must embrace a Judaism 
that is compatible with democracy and civil society, a Judaism that 
allows for the values of justice and equality to all people, regardless 
of their race, religion, or gender. Perhaps then Israelis wouldn’t be so 
eager to sign out.
 
The writer is a consultant for development & international advocacy to 
Israel Hofshit, the public movement for freedom of religion and 
pluralism in Israel.
 
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?ID=240713&R=R1
 
 
-- 
Sostieni Rete ECO
 
http://rete-eco.it/it/sostienici.html
 
 

 that is compatible with democracy and civil society,
 
l'opposto di quello permesso in Iran, insomma.