Reform Jews open Israel's first state-funded non-Orthodox synagogue | May 06, 2008

A highly important and largely neglected area for "interfaith" and "interreligious" relations is the pursuit of harmonious and cooperative relations WITHIN religions. In fact peace among religions and across the boundaries of entire faith traditions cannot be pursued effectively nor sustained in the presence of the internal strife and divisions that plague every world religion.

This Israeli supreme court decision represents and extremely important development in the world of religion, as well as in the potential for the development of a wider arena of peace in the region.
Frank Kaufmann

Reform Jews open Israel's first state-funded non-Orthodox synagogue

Israel's Reform Jews dedicated the first non-Orthodox synagogue to receive state funding on Monday, after a long court battle that accented the rift among streams of Judaism in Israel...

Leader of the Reform Yozma congregation in Modi'in, Kinneret Shiryon

"This is a substantial step in recognizing different streams of Judaism in the state of Israel," said Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon, who leads the 240-family congregation...

"Religion in Israel has traditionally been an either-or proposition," said Rabbi Uri Regev, president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. "Most Israelis consider themselves religious or secular and don't accept the liberal streams."
Groups like Regev's want to change that. "There's more than one way to be