These are exciting days in Israel. Well, just about every day is exciting, but for the Reform movement (called Progressive Judaism outside the United States), it’s really exciting. At the next election the first Reform/Progressive rabbi will (most likely) become a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. While there have been Reform Jews who were members, this is the first rabbi. Maybe you felt the earth shake; maybe you held your ears shut; maybe you stared in disbelief at the vile things the Orthodox rabbinate said about this momentous occasion. Trust me, being called a “pig with a kipah” is just about the least objectionable he heard in recent weeks.

Oh, who is “he”? He is Rabbi Gilad Kariv who has been in the forefront of the movement for years. He was the rabbi of Beit Daniel synagogue and community center in Tel Aviv. It’s been a life-long dream of his to be an integral part of the politics of Israel (why, I’ll never figure out), yet if Netanyahu wins again Rabbi Kariv and the rest of the Labor Party have said they will not be a part of his government. Believing that the failure of Netanyahu’s administration on so many fronts might signify the end of his “reign,” the Labor party in coalition with other center-left parties might find themselves in the majority.

But that’s not all…

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that Reform and Conservative conversions must be recognized for the purpose of the Law of Return. It’s about time. As the Times of Israel reported, “The bombshell decision which shatters the longstanding Orthodox monopoly on officially recognized conversions in Israel, was the culmination of an appeal process that began more than 15 years ago (emphasis mine), involving 12 people in the country who converted to Judaism through non-Orthodox denominations.” They waited this long because, it was reported, the Court wanted the State to settle the matter and that never happened. Remember, there’s no separation of “church” and state in Israel.

There are 50 Progressive synagogues in the Jewish State. Are they filled for Shabbat and Holidays? Surely not, but the crowning glory of these synagogues is the superb pre-school education they offer. We know that if you get to the kids you can get to the parents, and that philosophy worked. How I recall that in 1969 there were a handful of Progressive congregations; the future of liberal Judaism looked bleak indeed. But with the ordination of rabbis through the Jerusalem branch of Hebrew Union College, the Israel Reform Action Center (IRAC) that has championed the rights of minorities in the country including the LGBTQ community and, as I said, the far-thinking leaders who saw an “in” via education, it is no longer bleak. Good luck, Rabbi Kariv and the entire Progressive establishment!