In an opinion piece on Israel Hayom titled The Reform movement saves Judaism, (http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1978), Uzi Baram writes "The decision to provide government funding for Reform and Conservative rabbis' salaries is a necessary step. All those who are fearful for the future of the Jewish people need to know that it is preferable to find a common denominator, even if it is relatively low, rather than have an exclusively Orthodox identity for Judaism. This exclusivity will lead to total loss in the end."
The authors credentials never are given.
I lived in Israel, There were, at the time, a few non-traditional congregations, primarily supported by Americans who viewed so called "orthodox" Jews as relics of the 18th century.
Some Israelis who remain unaffiliated with the non-traditional movements feel - and felt - the same way but they elected to remain unaffiliated helonim.
Since "my time," many of those Jews calling themselves "Orthodox" - the denizens of Bnai Brak, Mea Sharim, and those who vote according to Shas' ever hardening line, suggest that perhaps the 17th century might be too modern for these folks.
There are many "modern Orthodox" and many more "observant" Jews in Israel than there are extremists, "my way of the highway (but never on Shabat)" Jews.
The Jews who stand on a hill side and throw rocks at passing motorists on Shabat - driving (making a fire) is prohibited on Shabat, but causing a person's injury or death is OK ??? - and putting chains across roads that decapitate motorcycle riders - these are the reasons the non-traditional movements are gaining a foothold.
Good "Orthodox" Jews who shun both the army and national service are poster boys for the non-traditional movements.
Israel has gotten along nicely since its emergence as a modern state with essentially two options: observance or non-observance. I have both in my family. I have a brother-in-law who was married in a civil ceremony because of his dislike of the rabbinute. I have a son-in-law who, despite being generally heloni, was married by a rabbi who probably would be found acceptable even by my civilly-wed brother-in-law.
I'm not sure Israeli taxpayers should be obliged to support ANY rabbis or ANY congregation. If a congregation wants to build, let it do as congregations do in the U.S.; raise the money and build. If a community - Bet Shean, for example - wants a community rabbi, a "chief rabbi" if you will, let those in the community who want such a person pay that person's wages - and write his job description.
For all the noise the non-traditional Jews are making, I don't recall a similar noise from either the Sefardi/Mizrahi or Ashkenazi communities about funding "the other guys'" congregations. We had no intra-Judaism wars where I lived in Holon - in front of my apartment was a large Ashkenazi congregation; immediately in back was a small Temani congregation, and a few meters beyond that was my Sefardi/Mizrahi congregation. The congregations coexisted or perhaps simply ignored each other.
As an observant Jew in the U.S. I support "my" congregation.
I do not fund, nor attend, any of the other congregations within walking distance.
None of the congregants of the nearby congregations regularly contribute to my congregation.
Works for us.
What about a person too poor to "join" a congregation?
Somehow all the traditional congregations I know about - Sefardi/Mizrahi mostly - manage to accommodate the people unable to pay dues.
I don't know how traditional congregations operate outside of the U.S. and Israel so I won't address that.
I DO know that no traditional congregation ever asked for tickets at Yomai Noraim services. I also know that some non-traditional congregations demand payment - often over and above membership fees - for Yomai Noraim.
I'll admit I find bidding on Torah honors distasteful. I left one congregation because the bidding was more important that the service - pushing the beginning of Kol Nidre back into the night's darkness. Still, I recognize that because we - collectively - have so many "three-day" (often, now, "one-day") Jews, congregations need to fund their activities anyway possible and at every opportunity (but not, please, as the cost of the reason the congregation exists).
Maybe traditional Jews in Israel should be obliged to fund their own resources. Likewise yeshivot, especially those that prohibit their "boys" from joining the IDF or performing national service.
Perhaps because I grew up with a self-sufficient attitude, I am against government support for group-specific funding. Fund hospitals and schools from which we all benefit. Don't fund churches, synagogues, mosques, and meeting houses. Let the people who benefit from those places pay for those places (and the people who work there). It is enough that these places are tax free.
