JCF allots $100,000 for Israeli pluralism

Pressured by a cadre of influential local and international rabbis, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation has decided to give direct aid to cash-strapped non-Orthodox religious groups in Israel.

The federation is creating a pool of up to $100,000 for grants to bolster pluralism in the Jewish state by giving directly to the Reform and Conservative movements, as well as to liberal modern Orthodox groups.

The new allocation is a first for the federation.

Although the JCF has been in the forefront of supporting education programs that fostered pluralism, it previously resisted giving directly to religious movements.

The new funding will go to umbrella organizations of those movements, which in turn will disburse the money for religious programs and the building of synagogues and community centers.

Rabbi Richard Block, who has helped rally the Reform community on the issue, said this week he is "very happy. This is a new beginning."

Block, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills who takes over in July as executive director of ARZA/World Union in Israel, voiced satisfaction with the JCF move. "We found we did have a common language."

The $100,000 allocation was recently approved by the federation's board of directors. So now, the non-Orthodox religious agencies -- including ARZA/World Union, which gives money to Reform congregations in Israel, and Israel's Conservative-Masorti movement -- can soon expect to receive federation money.

In determining how to distribute the new grants, the JCF will seek input from local rabbis and synagogue presidents from each of the religious streams.

According to Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of ARZA/World Union, North America, the money couldn't have come at a better time.

With the Barak-led administration about to take over in Israel, the Reform movement has stepped up lobbying efforts for governmental aid. In the Jewish state, only Orthodox religious institutions currently receive governmental assistance. However, recent polls indicate widespread interest in alternative streams of Judaism.

Orthodox control is "not going to be an easy thing to change, but it's the right thing," Hirsch said. "That's why federations like San Francisco's are so important. They make up the difference [caused by] government discrimination."

In a closed-door meeting at the JCF offices in February, several local rabbis urged the federation to make direct grants to religious institutions on the front lines of pluralism efforts.

Discussing the new allocation, Wayne Feinstein, JCF's executive vice president, said last week that "the condition in Israel has changed so dramatically in the last 12 months that it is time to consider the logical next step -- satisfying the embryonic needs" of the liberal movements.

Eager to also see gains for the Conservative movement in Israel, Rabbi Lavey Derby of Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon said the grant shows that the federation is serious in fostering "true pluralism, which means religious denominations.

"It's a very important step forward for this federation to support a variety of ways of being authentically Jewish. To be truly effective, grants have to go to denominational institutions, synagogues, seminaries, camps and schools."

Hirsch also applauded the federation's change in tactics. The JCF "has a unique role in the federation world since it is heavily populated by Reform and Conservative Jews and is affluent and creative. That is why it's particularly important to have them contribute," he said.

The grant carries a potentially hefty symbolic weight. Already well-known for funding innovative programs in Israel, the JCF will likely affect other U.S. federations in directly funding pluralism efforts.

"We hope it will have a multiplier effect on other federations," Block said. "By our federation giving a vote of confidence to movement-based support in Israel, that encourages similar kinds of support by donors as well."

The JCF is joining a number of federations that have already been funding non-Orthodox religious movements in Israel, including the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the UJA-Federation of Philanthropies of New York.

In March, the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay announced direct grants to Israeli religious movements to support pluralism. The Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose has been giving such funds for the past two years.

At the JCF, the grant-making process will have an added side effect of bringing congregations closer to the federation, Feinstein said.

"I think we have a rich stew of voices on how this will unfold. Hopefully, it is just the beginning of that partnership."

Block also predicted more cooperation between the local religious movements and the federation. "We rabbis who initiated this found in the federation not a confrontational response but a set of common values," he said.

Feinstein implied that if campaign totals climb higher each year, so will the amount of money in the pluralism pool.

However, Hirsch worries that if pluralism fails to flourish under Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak, Israel's non-Orthodox movements could disintegrate.

"We are all moving [toward] a critical crossroads. All those who have a stake in pluralism should be very active in ensuring the proper support mechanisms are established now that will last well into the next century."

John Goldman, chair of JCF's Israel and overseas committee, agreed that religious intolerance has become a more acute problem in recent years. Consequently, he said, the federation also needs to step up pluralism aid.

"We must not lose sight of the goal, which is to have all Jews, from whatever religious stream, feel a part of Israeli society. People should have the right to practice religiously as they see fit."