MERCAZ USA Newsletter — Fall 2004

Around The Worldwide Conservation/Masorti Movement

Mazal Tov...

. . . to Gloria Landy and Eytan Hammerman, members of the MERCAZ USA Board of Directors, who are being honored, together with Rabbi Harold Kushner, by Masorti Olami/World Council of Conservative Synagogues, in a gala evening of tribute on Monday, October 11th. Gloria has served as Masorti Olami's NGO representative to the United Nations, while Eytan, together with his wife Rebecca, worked as volunteer leaders at the Bet El Masorti Kehillah in Madrid, Spain.

Masorti Olami, the international arm of the Conservative/Masorti Movement, is charged with building and strengthening Conservative Judaism in all parts of the world outside North America and Israel. For further information about the tribute dinner or for the location of Masorti religious services throughout the world, contact the Masorti Olami office at 212-678-5319 or worldcouncil@masortiworld.org or visit the website www.masortiworld.org.

Schechter Celebrates Milestone

The Schechter Institute is celebrating this year the twentieth anniversary of its founding. Twenty years ago in 1984, the school was born in Jerusalem in makeshift quarters, with four rabbinical students and a handful of dedicated faculty members. Today, Schechter comprises four separate but related educational institutes – the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies Graduate School, the TALI Education Fund, the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary and Midreshet Yerushalayim — with more than 500 students in a dozen different degree tracks. Not only has Israel's Council for Higher Education granted full Israeli accreditation status to Schechter's graduate degrees in Jewish Studies but Ada Karmi-Melamede, renowned architect of Israel's Supreme Court Building, has been retained to design the new Schechter campus in Jerusalem. For more information about Schechter, contact the Institute's development office: 212-870-3173 or schechter@jtsa.edu or visit the website www.schechter.edu.

Sharp Rise in Israel Programs

Despite the ongoing Intifada, the two Conservative Movement youth programs that sponsor teen summer trips to Israel, United Synagogue Youth (USY) and Camp Ramah, saw a dramatic increase this summer in the number of youths participating in Israel programs, with more than 650 teenagers in either the USY Pilgrimage or Ramah Seminar. In addition, USY's NATIV program for 2004/2005 has more than 75 high school graduates enrolled, the largest number ever in the yearlong Israel leadership program.

With the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, together with the Jewish Agency's Education Department, preparing a major new initiative to establish long-term post-high school Israel programs as the norm within the Jewish world, the Conservative Movement, with its NATIV, Conservative Yeshiva, USY High and Ramah TRY Programs, is uniquely positioned to take immediate advantage of the funds ($10 million per year for five years) once the allocation guidelines are finalized.

Fuchsberg's Guest Center Opens

Reservations for groups, families and individuals to stay in Jerusalem in the United Synagogue's new Alan J. Tichnor Youth and Education Building are now being taken. The Tichnor Building provides visitors to Israel with 3-star guest room accommodations, complete with an auditorium, seminar rooms, and dining and social halls. For information about making reservations, contact the Israel Youth Hostel Association: 011-972-2-655-8442 (telephone), 011-972-2-655-8432 (fax) or iyhtb@iyha.org.il.

Named in memory of the United Synagogue's former International President and MERCAZ officer Alan J. Tichnor, the new Tichnor Building, located at 6 Agron Street, joins the other newly refurbished facilities at the USCJ Fuchsberg Jerusalem Campus, including the long-term youth residential facility at 2 Agron Street, the Moreshet Yisrael synagogue building at 4 Agron Street, the USCJ Rapaport office building at 8 Agron Street and the Conservative Yeshiva at 10A Agron Street. A gala dedication ceremony for the entire Fuchsberg Campus is planned for Thursday, October 21st. For more information about the Fuchsberg Center, contact Dr. Steven Huberman: 212-533-7800, ext 2207, or development@uscj.org or visit the website www.uscj.org.il.

Masorti Ratifies Principles

More than 100 delegates convened in Netanya this past spring to adopt, after 25 years of activity, a new Document of Principles for the Masorti Movement. The document, which was ratified after six months of discussion and deliberations, defines "[the] Masorti Movement [as] a pluralistic, Israeli, religious movement identifying with Conservative Judaism," whose principles, "based on belief in God, combine devotion to Jewish tradition and Halakha (Jewish Law) with an open and positive approach to the modern world, democracy and Zionism."

Among the Document's specific principles are affirmations of: the belief in one God; the dynamic and evolving character of Halakha; the coexistence of religious faith and science; the "vital" values of the Land of Israel, State of Israel and Hebrew language; the need for the State of Israel to be a model society; the obligations of Israeli citizenship including military/national service; the equality of men and women; respect for the democratic system; religious pluralism within Judaism; and tolerance for other faiths and religions.

For more information about the Masorti Movement, contact the Masorti Foundation office, 212-870-2216 or info@masorti.org or visit the website www.masorti.org.

top of page | Sitemap

MERCAZ USA
820 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10017-4504
tel 212.533.2061 | fax 212.533.2601
info@mercazusa.org | www.mercazusa.org