Becoming an Israeli Reform Jewish Movement
Creating Community, Religious Practice, and Social Involvement
in Israel Studies ReviewSearch for other papers by Elazar Ben-Lulu in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
All currencies in US Dollar
Abstract
The Israeli Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism has grown considerably in recent years. Fifty congregations and initiatives now operate throughout the country, offering prayer services, holiday and life-cycle ceremonies, study houses, conversion courses, pre-army programs, and more. Despite its increased presence in Israeli life, the movement is still known among the general public mainly for its struggle to achieve equal status and gain official recognition. In fact, the very term ‘Reform Jew’ still carries a derogatory connotation in many sectors of society. This article describes the major turning points encountered by the Israeli Reform Movement in its quest for recognition, the arenas in which it operates and parties with which it negotiates, and the ways in which it differs from its counterpart in North America. While the article focuses on a single movement in the Israeli marketplace of religious identities, it seeks to shed light on religion–state relations and changes in the Jewish world more generally.
Contributor Notes
ELAZAR BEN-LULU is an anthropologist of religion, gender and sexualiry from the department of sociology and anthropology at Ariel University, Israel. His work on Jewish LGBTQ+ life-cycle rituals won a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award in 2021. He also won the 2019–2020 Baron New Voices in Jewish Studies Award from the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University and Fordham University. Together with Prof. Ofer Shiff, he co-edited the book The Reform Movement in Israel: Perspectives on Identity and Community (2022), published by the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.