Reform demand funds from Modi'in
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
Mar. 17, 2005

When Modi'in Mayor Moshe Spector showed up at a meeting with visiting Metro-West New Jersey federation representatives this week to stump for donations to his city, he didn't expect to have the tables turned on him.

But that's what happened when his pitch for contributions was quickly overwhelmed by the complaints of two dozen frustrated residents demanding that he give money to them. They were members of the Reform Kehillat Yozma, which Metro-West's religious pluralism committee had come to visit and offer support, and they wanted to know why the congregation hadn't received any public money to build a long-awaited synagogue in Modi'in, about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Yozma wants to become the first Reform congregation in the country to get municipality-distributed Construction and Housing Ministry funds for constructing a synagogue, a battle it's been waging for six years. It is the first Reform congregation to have turned to the High Court of Justice over the matter, and this winter it went to court a second time to demand that it get what at least six Orthodox groups in Modi'in have already received: NIS 1 million in public financing.

"Modi'in sold itself as an open city, a modern city, as a city that supports all the different sectors," said Rabbi Gilad Kariv, coordinator of the public policy department of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the branch of the Reform Movement in Israel.

"Modi'in is the newest city in Israel and we thought that in Modi'in, the Reform and Masorti [Conservative] congregations would not suffer from the old phenomena of discrimination and trying to prevent us from getting public funds. Unfortunately we discovered it's the same situation in Modi'in."

Spector stressed at the meeting that he was "very committed to making Modi'in a pluralistic society." But Yozma congregants and their American backers want to know why he hasn't helped them secure funding for their synagogue, kindergarten and community activities, which are currently being carried out in caravans.

"It is disappointing. The mayor took great pains to say that Modi'in is an open city and a new city. It would be nice if there were some capacity of the municipality to provide some real assistance to them [Yozma]," said Hannah Goldman, chair of Metro-West's religious pluralism committee and one of the 15 Metro-West delegates to attend the meeting.

At the meeting, Spector implied that the issue was one of funding. "It's time to build a synagogue and build kindergartens for Yozma. We don't have enough money to build it yet, but I'm trying to convince the Israeli Finance Ministry."

But IRAC, which has petitioned the court on behalf of Yozma, countered that the funding has already been designated by the Construction and Housing Ministry, and the city only needs to decide where to assign it.

When Modi'in indicated yet another Orthodox congregation, Kehillat Hashimshoni, would be receiving these funds, IRAC asked the court to give the money to Yozma instead. According to IRAC, no non-Orthodox congregation in Israel has ever succeeded in getting such ministry financing, despite repeated attempts.

"This is the first case that was brought to the High Court, so the legal struggle is very crucial to the struggle in other municipalities," Kariv said.

The IRAC legal department explained that because Modi'in was established only in 1996, it was building more synagogues than other places and the tracking of funding for them had been easier, making the basis for a case more straightforward.

In a ruling handed down in June 2003, the High Court ordered the municipality to repeat the process of deciding which congregation to give the funds to based on Interior Ministry criteria "set in order to ensure justice and equality in allocating public resources."

Since then the city committee for making land and financial allocations has been considering the matter.

"The allocations committee has not yet discussed the Yozma community's request for the allocation of land," according to Modi'in spokesman Effy Melzer. "Accordingly, there is still no decision on the issue by the municipality, neither positive nor negative."

He said that until the High Court's second ruling and the allocations committee's decision were made, "it's impossible for Kehillat Yozma to claim injustice or discrimination."

His office also noted that 35 congregations exist in Modi'in, only a handful of which have buildings. Additionally, 20 percent of the 63,000-population town is Orthodox, as opposed to the mere 150 families who belong to Yozma.

"Modi'in is a growing city that develops with the years. Public buildings are built as the city is populated," Melzer said. "Therefore we need to pay attention to the ratio of the needs of the citizens to places of prayer."

While Yozma acknowledged that it only counts 150 families as regular participants in prayers, it maintained that 500 families are affiliated with it and make use of its educational and cultural programs.

Yuval Newman, director of the social action committee at Yozma, said that others who would be interested in joining are turned off by the current cramped quarters.

"A lot of children come to us and when they see they have to do it [their bar mitzva] in a kindergarten, they say no thanks," he said. Daily, "we have to manage to make a kindergarten into a community center and turn it back into a kindergarten."

He added that while an Orthodox congregation without a permanent structure could use another Orthodox congregation's synagogue if necessary, that isn't true for the non-Orthodox. For example, he said the daughter of a Reform family has no place to hold her bat mitzva, since the way it is practiced by the Reform community is unacceptable to the Orthodox.

"We're not asking to be the first synagogue in Modi'in, or even the second or third," Kariv said. "After six Orthodox synagogues, it's time to build a liberal one."

Just this December, IRAC presented a second petition, arguing that other Housing Ministry allocations for synagogues have become available and were going to be apportioned elsewhere, thus the process for all allocations needed to be frozen.

Modi'in responded last week, arguing, among other points, that the Orthodox congregation would get priority because its members are concentrated in the neighborhood for which the funds are intended, while Yozma's members are scattered around the city.

"With this rationale, we won't ever get a synagogue," said IRAC attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski, since Yozma would be rejected on these grounds each time new funds were made available despite its long-standing bid to build a synagogue.

"We feel we are next in line," Erez-Likhovski said. "We've been waiting for such a long time, something must be done. We should get a synagogue."

Letter to the Editors
Victoria Elsberg, Modi'in, Israel:  I would sincerely like to thank The Jerusalem Post for this accurate thoughtful article reporting on the trials and tribulations sustained by The Reform Community in Modi'in in their quest to build a synagogue in "The City of the Future."

Kehillat YOZMA is a young, vibrant, active congregation that numbers more than 400 members. There are 192 children in YOZMA's preschool program with long waiting ists. The community offers study, religious services, youth group, a single parent group and after school activities to its members. Currently, every Friday afternoon one of the temporary preschool caravans is turned into a Bet Knesset.

I have watched at least 6 Orthodox synagogues go up in Modi'in with government support at the same time as I have watched the YOZMA community petition for and been denied a home of their own. The myriad excuses offered by the municipality denying funding to The Reform Community for its synagogue are nothing more than a smokescreen for outright discrimination.
 

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