The American Jewish community has the responsibility to help Israeli society change.
That is what Israel’s Consul General Ambassador Dani Dayan, the highest ranking Israeli diplomat for this region, told a crowd at the Mayerson JCC Aug. 28.
He was in town to discuss religious pluralism, conversion and the freezing of the Kotel agreement. His talk was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Dayan, answering questions posed by Maia Morag, the community emissary (shlicha) from Israel at the Federation.
There is highly charged debate about the Kotel agreement inside the Jewish world, Dayan said. “And when it comes to conflict, I must admit I always prefer conflict” rather than a feeling of indifference.
The initiative to make an egalitarian place of worship within the Kotel was initiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After the agreement was arrived at, the parties “changed their minds.”
“When political parties have power, they use it. And unfortunately they decided to use that power in order to freeze that Kotel,” Dayan said.
“(Netanyahu) understands perfectly the importance of giving every single Jew the possibility to pray his way or her way in the Kotel.”
He said the Israeli Supreme Court will discuss the issue on Aug. 31.
The conversion bill would further empower the country’s haredi Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. The measure declares that the rabbinate is the only body authorized by the government to perform conversions in Israel.
Dayan said it is problematic that people cannot get married in Israel.
“We are in the 21st Century, that should not be the situation in liberal democratic country,” he said. “We all know and there’s no point in
going over again. We are in a coalition system; we have a very strong ultra orthodox party that imposes that on a minority that doesn’t care enough.”
He said that the decisions that affect Israel belong to those that ultimately vote in the election. But those who do not vote can have a say on the issues.
“Be proactive. Be involved in Israel,” he said. “You are not involved in Israel politics enough. If you have causes you want to advance you can do it either by having voters, and you don’t have voters, or by being involved in lobbying, in campaigning, in endorsements, in educating, in PR.
“I think it is about time, 70 years after Israel was created, that all of us cease to be naive about how politics in Israel … are conducted. That you take action.”
Morag told Dayan that some people saw the freezing of the Kotel agreement and the conversion bill as “the last straw.” Dayan took exception to that term.
“In the relationship within Israel and the Jewish communities of the diasporas … the term last straw should be off limits,” Dayan said. “There is no last straw, because if you accept there is a last straw that means that, under certain circumstance, we accept a division of the Jewish people. And that is completely unacceptable.
“We can be frustrated. We can be angry. We can be annoyed. We can be exasperated. We cannot detach the link … between Israel and the diaspora.”
Dayan said the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community is at a low point, in the midst of a crisis.
“The mutual responsibility we have … is to diffuse the crisis, and the only way I know to diffuse the crisis … is to talk with each other.
“It’s an uphill battle. But Jews are not afraid of uphill battles.”