Progressives advance patrilineal descent (November 10, 2008)

NEWs (november 10, 2008)
Progressives advance patrilineal descent

Rabbi Lenny Thal, former URJ vice-president, addresses the UPJ conference.
Photo: Peter Kohn

PETER KOHN

AUSTRALIAN Progressive rabbis have standardised their recognition of congregant Jewish status by patrilineal descent, clearing away anomalies that have dogged the movement for a quarter of a century.

The 12-member Moetzah, the Progressive rabbinical council, met in Melbourne ahead of the biennial conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) recently to vote unanimously in favour of the historic agreement.

In 1983, the UPJ followed the American Reform movement's decision to break ranks with Judaism's traditional view that only matrilineal descent determines whether one is born Jewish.

At that time, the Australian body conferred Jewish status on individuals whose father was Jewish, but different congregations have applied different tests, according to Moetzah chair Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins.

"Criteria have included what's called timely acts of identification, including [a child being conceived from] a Jewish father, circumcision, Jewish education, bar and bat mitzvah and hatafat dam brit [ritual drawing of blood for the purpose of conversion]," said Rabbi Kamins.

Under the new arrangements, all 24 congregations of the UPJ will recognise any congregant deemed to be Jewish by any other UPJ congregation, by virtue of that individual's patrilineal descent.

Rabbi Kamins said the decision was retroactive and applied only to congregants already accepted as Jewish by UPJ congregations. New applicants will need to approach rabbis on their own merits.

"We will make it clear to congregants, who we deem to be Jewish by patrilineal descent, that their recognition is limited to the UPJ and does not grant them Jewish status in the broader Jewish community," he said.

In another development, the Moetzah agreed to adopt a southern hemisphere edition of Mishkan T'Filah, the siddur of the America's Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), which will include special readings -- as well as provisions for the southern cycle of seasons.

Rabbi Kamins said the new siddur, which will be in use in UPJ congregations by the middle of next year, was not a specific Australian edition, but a southern hemisphere edition for the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa.

Adelaide's Beit Shalom congregation is already using the North American edition of Mishkan T'filah.

The new book marks a generational change, as the first new siddur for the UPJ synagogues since Gates Of Prayer, the previous URJ siddur, was adopted in 1975.

Themed as "Living The Dream Together", the four-day conference, held at Bayview On The Park, marked the 80th year of the UPJ.

There was a change of presidency when Phyllis Dorey, of Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne, who has been four years at the helm, handed the reins to David Robinson of Beit Shalom congregation in Auckland.

It was the first conference for Steve Denenberg, former CEO of The Emanuel School in Sydney, as the UPJ's executive director, after he took over last year from Janice Alper, who inaugurated the position and has since returned to the US.

Denenberg told the conference, the UPJ has made significant headway, with a new website for the local Progressive Zionist movement, Arza.

Counting Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem among its newest joiners, he said the UPJ was "making its voice heard", in the Zionist Federation of Australia.

Brisbane Progressive Jewish Congregation -- which was founded last year -- was admitted as a UPJ constituent. Its president, Tony Leverton, described it as "Australia's fastest growing Progressive Jewish congregation".

In a session titled Tikkun Olam, the conference heard from Simon Cotton, deputy principal of Djarragun College near Cairns -- a school that has helped indigenous children, particularly those from broken homes -- with aid from the UPJ's youth movement Netzer Australia, which donated 1500 books and funded a breakfast program for pupils.

Netzer merakezet Romi Goldschlager said "we can't all be Mother Teresa, but we can help people get to the next stage in their lives."

In his keynote address, recently retired URJ vice-president Rabbi Lenny Thal reported on his initiatives to establish a Progressive congregation in Shanghai, which has a Jewish population of about 3000 mainly North American expatriates.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff ran a workshop on media relations regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, where he asked delegates to develop questions they might expect in an interview and advised on the most effective responses.

Alhadeff said the overused term "hasbara" (explanation) had given way to the marketing concept of "branding" Israel's image.

Jewish National Fund shaliach Benji Maor reported on environmental developments in Israel, detailing a project by Progressive school Mev'Ot Hanegev, whose 450 students are tending walking trails and replanting orchards in a traditionally Bedouin area.

World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) vice-president and chief operating officer Shai Pinto said the Progressive roof body -- which was founded in Europe in 1926 -- now has 1200 congregations in 44 countries.

He said it is focusing on developing its congregations in Israel, in the former Soviet Union -- with new shuls in St Petersburg and Minsk -- on emerging communities in Europe and Latin America, and on some 900 congregations in the US.

Pinto said delegates to Connections 2009 -- the WUPJ conference in Israel next March -- will have an opportunity to see the organisation's Beit Shmuel/Merkaz Shimshon facility in Jerusalem, the Mishkenot Ruth Daniel cultural centre in Yafo, and to learn more about the WUPJ's educational and leadership programs, including the Beutel, Saltz and Arzeinu courses, and the "on the bridge" initiative for olim.