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Email this pageIMPJ highlights renewal at biennial conference
Some 1,100 people attended the 19th biennial conference of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, held May 28-29 at Kibbutz Shefayim, on the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv. The biennial was chaired by Paula Edelstein and Rachel Alkalai.
The conference coincided with the weekly Torah portion of Beha'alotcha, in which 70 elders gather around the ohel moed, or desert meeting tent, and are confirmed as members of the Sanhedrin in order to assist Moses with governance and in passing on the sacred teachings.
“They became partners in a mission, partaking of the spirit, bearing the burden and seeking to bring God’s word to the encampment of Israel,” says Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the IMPJ. “Whoever strolled around the conference center at Shefayim, which on that Shabbat had become the ohel moed of the Progressive communities, could certainly feel how this story from Beha'alotcha suited the gathering and the prevailing spirit, which ennobled not just 70 people, but some 1,100, and not just elders, but individuals all ages, from infants to senior citizens.”
The biennial included dozens of study sessions and workshops, as well as discussions on such subjects as the IMPJ’s activities on behalf of the general public, its role regarding the environment, and outreach efforts toward the Russian-speaking community and other groups. Special guests and speakers included Welfare Minister Yitzhak Herzog, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and MK Yohanan Plessner.
“All of this indicates, says Kariv, “that we seek not to remain within an ohel moed that’s narrow and elitist, but to… work with everyone within the “encampment of Israel.”
The conference also saw the launch of a new publication on prayer in Israel, as well as “NiggunTube,” for documenting the prayer melodies of IMPJ congregations; the presentation of a new hymn for Noar Telem, the Israeli branch of Netzer Olami, the World Union’s international Zionist youth movement, and of a new branding and publicity effort for the IMPJ; and the unveiling of three new books by leading members of the movement. In addition, it marked the addition of two new congregations – Shirat Hayam-Carmel in Haifa, and Hashahar in Even Yehuda – and coincided with groundbreaking ceremonies for Progressive schools in Jaffa, Haifa and Modi’in.
Conference chairwomen Paula Edelstein (left) and Rachel Alkalai welcome participants.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky (top) and Social Affairs Minister Yitzhak Herzog are old friends of the IMPJ.
World Union COO Shai Pinto (far left) and Honorary Life President Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch (third from left) were among the hundreds of conference-goers who participated in the opening ceremony.
