February 6, 2010 | 22 Shevat 5770 

Imagine yourself standing at Mt. Sinai amidst all of the people, sights and sounds described in today’s Torah reading. Imagine what it felt like as God revealed God’s self in a way never repeated. No moment in the early history of our people was more significant than Ma’amad Har Sinai, receiving Torah at Mt. Sinai.

The purpose of the Exodus was all about this moment. The purpose of entering the Land of Israel was all about this moment… the moment when the core narrative of our people took hold. From that time on we would be a community, a people who shared a relationship with the God of Israel founded on mitzvot, holy obligations, that we believe express God’s desires.

According to one of the most prominent rabbinic interpretations attached to this moment of receiving Torah, every single one of us was present at Sinai. That’s right. It wasn’t just the 600,000 plus people counted in the Torah. Every Jew in every age stood together at Sinai.

The midrash adds another dimension. Each and every one of us stood equally before God, and none of us perceived God precisely like our neighbor did. In this week in which we read Parshat Yitro and stand again at Sinai, Scott Kaplan, one of our congregation’s past presidents, and I spent four days in Israel on a Masorti (Conservative) Movement Leadership Mission.

On the one hand, Scott and I came to better understand the challenges that result when a significant segment of Israel’s people reject the midrash I just cited and say, in effect, “No, you did not stand at Sinai!” We saw the excruciating pain this rejection can cause. But on the other hand, we saw new, exciting and uplifting examples of how increasing number of Israelis are standing anew at Sinai.

Jews who defined themselves as “secular,” who likely never saw themselves as having “stood at Sinai,” are now interacting in serious ways with Jewish tradition. They no longer see mitzvot as only the empty, rigid rituals of the ultra-Orthodox community. Instead, they now see beauty and find relevance. It is that latter impression of how our Masorti movement is enabling Israelis to find meaning in Jewish life that is most important.

I would be remiss, though, if I did not share a thought about the challenges the Masorti movement faces. The spiritual leadership of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community continues to reject any Jewish expression that differs from its own. Sometimes it expresses that rejection in unconscionable ways.

Many of you are familiar with the less than second-class status of non-Orthodox rabbis in Israel. Rabbi Gil Nativ, Masorti rabbi in Omer, a relatively hospitable community to our movement’s congregation there, told us about a cat and mouse game he plays with the Orthodox rabbi. The Orthodox rabbi changes the lock on the community mikvah. And then Rabbi Nativ prevails upon the municipality to change the lock again and give him a key.

Most recently, many of you have heard about a November incident at the Kotel involving a young woman, Nofrat Frankel, who was arrested for wearing tallit and tefillin and carrying a Torah scroll. We met with Nofrat on Monday. She is an unlikely candidate for the position into which she has been thrust. Nofrat grew up in the Masorti congregation in Kfar Saba where she began to wear tallit and tefillin at age 15. She is hardly an agitator. She’s a slight, rather quiet, medical student.

While we stand in solidarity with both our Israeli Conservative and Reform brothers and sisters as they face the senseless insults that some ultra Orthodox Jews heap upon them, we recognize that ultimately it is Israelis who must bring about change. The inequities that the Masorti movement faces are rooted in long-term political realities…namely, the inordinate power of ultra-Orthodox political parties in Israel. That will change if and only if Israelis prevail upon their elected officials for change via the ballot box.

Dan Meridor, a long-time member of the Knesset, didn’t mince his words when he spoke to us. Meridor was sympathetic. He’s a smart man who sent his children to schools that are connected to our movement. He gets it. He’s worried about Israeli’s spiritual future and its sense of people hood. But he said it quite plainly – “Democracy is about votes.”

He meant that as long as ultra-Orthodox parties hold on to power, change will not occur. But the power and actions of the ultra-Orthodox cannot stem the growing tide of Israelis who are finding meaning in a progressive Judaism.

More and more Israelis see themselves as standing at Sinai. The leadership of our Masorti movement is doing great things, and the movement is poised for significant growth. Five, ten years ago – the Masorti movement was waning. It was still largely a native English-speakers’ group. The numbers of participants was stagnant, and the financial deficit was growing.

What a difference today!  We were amazed at what we saw! As we went from one synagogue or program to the next, the cumulative effect became progressively more impressive!

In many of the synagogues we visited, we sat in buildings whose new additions had just been dedicated. In Tel Aviv, we talked amidst the welcome noise of an entire building under construction. In Herziliya, we stood in a yard that will hold a new building within two years. And in Kfar Vradim, we dedicated a cornerstone message for another new synagogue building, years in the making, that will soon become a reality. We participated in another dedication – this one the very first structure an Israeli municipality has ever given to the Masorti youth movement known as NOAM.

Outside Beer Sheva we spoke with young people in a community tied to Masorti’s program for 18-30 year olds, MAROM. In a short time, MAROM has grown from 2500 to 3500 members!

We spoke with young rabbis, many of them Israelis from birth, who are very effectively reaching out to their communities. Israelis, who in the past have only been “slapped” by the hand of an intolerant Orthodoxy, are feeling the warm embrace of a relevant tradition.

Through children’s programming, B’nai Mitzvah and adult study opportunities, Israelis are coming into contact with a Judaism they never knew…and they are resonating to it. We were told that one of my colleagues, Rabbi Mauricio Balter, comes into contact with 8000 people each month!

With relatively small effort we can help Masorti to continue its amazing gains among Israelis. In the weeks ahead, Scott and I will be speaking with our congregation’s leadership about the importance of this work. We will continue to educate you and, eventually, invite you to join us in helping Masorti in its sacred pursuits.

Why should you even care? Quite simply, because we are rapidly losing our substantive connection to Israel. I shared that message with you in detail a year and a half ago when I first spoke about the Masorti movement.

Oh, yes, we will maintain our superficial, “romantic” connection to the Land – We’ll plant our trees in JNF forests on Tu B’shvat. And some of us will go to Israel on tours to see the holy sites. Some of us may even find a connection with Israel through an individual special program… But serious interaction with Israelis? Nurturing the relationship of a people, of Am Yisrael? Forget it! Ultra-Orthodox excess will frustrate us. Eventually it will turn off an entire generation of Jews.

If you care about what your children and grandchildren will think about Israel; if you care about their relationship with the State, you must help the Masorti movement as it brings a progressive and relevant Judaism to more and more Israelis.

As we do so, I am convinced that more of our people will truly join us in standing at Mt. Sinai anew to experience God’s Presence even as all of us stood there on this day so long ago.

May the good work of our Masorti movement help to truly transform the State of Israel, and may our support bring benefit to that necessary and holy pursuit.

Amen.