Half of Israeli Jews support state-funded Reform, Conservative religious services

Exactly 50% of Israeli Jews support the idea of state-funded religious services for the non-Orthodox denominations, a new poll for the Israel Democracy Institute has found. In addition, some 56% said the non-Orthodox denominations should be able to offer their own religious services to the general public. When asked whether the state should not take into account Diaspora Jewry when establishing policy on religious issues in Israel, 50% said that the state either need not take Diaspora Jewry into account at all or only to a minor extent. The poll was conducted in December on a sample of 502 adult Israeli Jews with a margin of error of 4.4%. The poll was released in conjunction with research by the institute on the deficiencies in the state-run kashrut system, and the work of local religious councils which provide religious services to the Jewish population. The IDI research on local religious councils identified numerous structural problems which have led to a lack of professionalism, nepotism in the appointment of staff and allocation of funds, and insufficient oversight of their activities. Local religious councils are bodies whose representatives are elected jointly by the Religious Services Ministry and the local municipal council (both of whom select 45% of the council members) and the local municipal rabbis who select 10%. Both sides can veto the other's selections, which often leads to a stalemate and the eventual appointment of a chairman of the council by the Religious Services Minister who singlehandedly makes decisions pertaining to religious services. Currently, a majority of the 131 religious councils across the country are minister appointees, appointments which the IDI said are often political in nature and lack professional management qualifications. The IDI study recommended the drastic step of abolishing all local religious councils and establishing religious services departments in all local municipal and regional authorities, just like the welfare and education departments of local authorities. This would provide clearer and more professional standards in the provision of religious services and allocation of resources, and their oversight, and would also be subject to the authority of the elected officials in the jurisdiction, providing for greater influence over the way religious services are provided by the local electorate. A separate study by the IDI on the kashrut system identified a number of legal, structural and operational problems with the current format. It noted that there are no nationwide standards for kashrut, and every local religious council and the serving municipal chief rabbi determine the standards for local businesses, meaning that the requirements for restaurants, food manufacturers and any other food business differ from one place to the next. The study also noted that municipal chief rabbis who oversee the local kashrut system do not have expertise in the field of Jewish laws pertaining to kashrut and are not examined on these matters in their ordination exams. The IDI study estimated that 60% of kashrut supervisors employed by the local religious councils to work in restaurants and food businesses do not even have a qualification in kashrut supervision. The fact that the majority of restaurants and businesses pay the supervisors directly is another critical problem which has led to corruption and fraudulent practices by both supervisors and business owners. The IDI study proposes a solution it says is drawn from the network of independent kashrut authorities in the US, and says that the state should withdraw from providing kashrut supervision and the determination of kashrut standards. Instead, the IDI recommended that the state provide licensing services to independent kashrut authorities and be responsible for the oversight and inspection of such authorities, a model which it said would solve the majority of the current problems.

Half of Israeli Jews support state-funded Reform, Conservative religious services

The poll was conducted in December on a sample of 502 adult Israeli Jews with a margin of error of 4.4%.

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Half of Israeli Jews support state-funded Reform, Conservative religious services

The poll was conducted in December on a sample of 502 adult Israeli Jews with a margin of error of 4.4%.

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