Israeli Students Helping Bridge Gap

The last time she heard the shofar herald the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, Tal Goldenberg was, by her own account, just a little girl.

She has grown up since then. Now, she said proudly, she’s “15 1/2.”

An Israeli high school student from Tel Aviv, with green eyes and hair the color of dark honey brushed back from her face, she knows her mind.

“I’m secular,” she quickly explains.

But today, as Jews the world over observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar, Goldenberg will be in synagogue--and for the second time in 10 days will hear the ritual blowing of the ram’s horn trumpet that can stir the soul as it draws deeply from the well of Jewish tradition. It is a time of fasting, reflection, repentance and renewal.

And if Goldenberg’s first impression of American-style Judaism is any indication, the relationship between the Jewish communities of Israel and the United States may be brighter than many Jewish leaders fear.

Goldenberg and 14 other exchange students arrived in time for the High Holy Days as part of an experiment designed to address a deep concern on the part of many Jewish leaders.

“The fear really is that Jewish life in the two major centers of Jewish society [Israel and the United States] will find themselves drifting apart . . . even as they both blend into a more amorphous, general Western liberal culture,” said Yoav Ben-Horin, director of special projects at Milken Community High School, a nondenominational Jewish high school in the Sepulveda Pass.

The two communities have been at odds on several issues, mostly over the role that Orthodox rabbis have in Israel’s religious life.

While most of Israel’s population defines itself as “secular,” Orthodoxy has a monopoly over religious rituals, including marriage, divorce and burial. By contrast, the majority of Jews here define themselves as either Conservative or Reform.

Efforts by Conservative and Reform rabbis to break the Orthodox monopoly over religious affairs in Israel have met with fierce resistance, including attempts by religious-oriented political parties in Israel to push legislation that would further entrench the Orthodox monopoly.

Those efforts, in turn, have alienated many American Jews, leading to increased concerns that the two Jewish communities are heading for an unbridgeable rift.

That is the fear. “The hope is understanding each other will lead to a relationship and less difficulties and misunderstandings,” said Fredi Rembaum, director of Israel and Overseas Relationships for the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.

“The hope is the pebble in the pond of two teens getting to know each other will spread to two families knowing each other, between the schools and neighborhoods,” she said.

To achieve that end, the Israeli students will be attending Milken until returning home in mid-November. A group of American exchange students is scheduled to travel to Israel for a similar stay in February.

“The importance is beyond having relationships with American Jews,” said Ravid Ben Ami, 15, an Israeli exchange student from the town of Mishmar Hashivah. “It is to make Israel and America, Israelis and Americans, closer.”

Days after participating in services for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish religious New Year, at Stephen S. Wise Temple, the Reform synagogue that sponsors Milken High School, Goldenberg was reveling in the experience. It was everything she didn’t expect.

“I don’t usually go to temple on Rosh Hashana in Israel because I’m secular,” she said.

“But I know from my visits to temples in Israel that men and women don’t sit together. Here they do. I like that because I feel more free. I always felt religion [in Israel] was a bit restricted for me, but this way helped me to feel good with myself.”

She wasn’t surprised at the big turnout. She knew that Los Angeles has the nation’s second-largest Jewish population. By contrast, religious observances in Israel tend to be family affairs held in the homes or in small, neighborhood synagogues.

That difference is one reason Israeli secular Jews generally do not grasp the importance that American Jews place on synagogue attendance--and why their religious affiliation can be so important to claiming their Jewish identity.

Like Goldenberg, Ben Ami said he was impressed by Jewish religious observances here. He liked the fact that people “dressed nicely” for services. “There was a feeling of something very elegant,” he said.

Neither said they expected to become observant Jews when they return home, although when the right time comes, they allowed that they may try out a Reform temple. But what fits in America does not necessarily fit in Israel, they said.

“By living in Israel,” said Ben Ami, “you knew that you are a Jew. You take it for granted. You don’t need religion to prove to yourself you’re a Jew. When you live abroad, you do need the religion to prove it to yourself.”

Now, Ben Ami said, he understands the differences between religion in Israel and religion here. The time will come when he and his friends may argue about the religious and cultural gap between the two Jewish communities.

“Ill be able to explain it to others in Israel,” he said. “Here religion is totally different than you can find in Israel. Here religion is a choice.”

Meanwhile, as Goldenberg anticipated today’s Yom Kippur service--which will end with the ceremonial blowing again of the shofar--the echoes of last week’s Rosh Hashana service were still resounding.

“I can’t explain it,” she said, searching for the right word in English. “I was quite high. I felt really closer to the religion than to the way I used to live. . . . It was more impressive and more powerful.”

Metuka Benjamin, director of education at Stephen Wise Temple, said it is unrealistic to expect Israeli students to begin attending a Reform or Conservative synagogue when they return to Israel.

Still, she said, it’s a starting point. “I think it’s a beginning of an understanding of the connection between Israel, Israelis--young Israeli youngsters--and the diaspora.”