The changing religious shape of Jerusalem and Israel

I had dinner with some friends in Israel who made aliyah last year. They are a typical religious family living in South Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Arnona-Talpiyot, not too far from the future site of the American Embassy. Their children, two of whom I met at dinner, had preceded them in moving to Israel. I spoke to the two daughters about their post high school service to the country. As a matter of law, young women are obligated to do military service. However, religious women are automatically exempted from any service. One daughter accepted the exemption from the army and did alternative national service. She explained there wasn’t even a question in her mind of whether to volunteer for national service. Israelis serve their country after high school and that’s why she didn’t take full advantage of the exemption. The other daughter, who served in the army, explained that she didn’t qualify for the exemption because she wasn’t religious. I was impressed by her honesty. She lives with her parents in a religious household, so she basically conforms to religious norms. She could have signed a statement to this effect and accepted a full exemption. But she felt the strong pull of a young Israeli to do regular army service.

From what I observed and from what other friends told me, this is typical of the fluid religious atmosphere of South Jerusalem and other parts of Israel where religious and secular live side by side. The lines between religious and non-religious are not as clear as they once were. Religious families need not be ultra-nationalists living deep in Judea and Samaria in order to feel a sense of patriotic duty to the state. The non-Orthodox gather in small groups for Shabbat and to celebrate holidays. The Conservative/Masorti movement is growing slowly, but the number of informal, grass-roots, egalitarian, minyanim is exploding. People want community and if the official state rabbinate is not going to provide a type that fits their needs, a Jewishly well-educated, Hebrew-literate, public need only gather ten or more like-minded people in a public or inexpensively rented space and create it themselves. Best of all, it is fueled largely by native Israelis as much as North American immigrants.

A generation ago, common wisdom suggested that every Israel was Orthodox, even if they were completely non-observant. Today, they may not be familiar with the non-Orthodox movements, but they understand what it means to be shiv’yoni, egalitarian. The founding generation of Israel was militantly secular, and society clearly divided Ashkanazi and Mizrahi from one another. Today’s generation has thoroughly mixed Jews of European, Asian, and North African descent (central African Jews are still working towards full inclusion), and the secular population has an appreciation of Judaism from a secular school system infused with Jewish texts and traditions. There are still neighborhood and isolated areas populated by a kind of 18^th and 19^th century Judaism, but for the most part, socially and religiously, Israel has leapt gracefully from the 19^th to the 21^st century.

In a visit overshadowed by the dark cloud of war and the gloom of hostages held in Gaza, the energy of Jerusalem’s religious life was a beam of sunshine.

Hebrew word(s) of the Month:

• Tz’va Haganah L’Yisrael (typically abreviated as Tzahal) – Israel Defense Force
• Sherut Le’umi – national service
• Masorti – “traditional.” The name of the Conservative movement of Judaism in Israel and worldwide.
• Shiv’yoni – “egalitarian”