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The state of the State of Israel: Rabbi Shalom Hammer

November 9, 20100

By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent

Rabbi Shalom Hammer admits right up front he’s not a politician or a political person, and that he doesn’t pretend to be.
What Hammer told the JTNews he is trying to do, as he has been speaking in several synagogues and schools around Seattle between Nov. 5 and 13, is to inspire Jewish togetherness and unity. In particular, he wants to foster connections to the land of Israel as the Jewish home that can never be compromised.
As a religious Zionist, this Brooklyn-born-and-raised is a father of six who moved to Israel in 1990. He served in the Israeli Rabbinate unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, is a frequent contributor to the Jerusalem Post, lectures on behalf of the IDF, teaches at a yeshiva in Israel, and is a school guidance counselor within the ultra-Orthodox school system. He defends the religious leadership there as fiercely as he helped defend his country.
“We believe strongly in two things,” Hammer said, “that we facilitate the redemption of the Jewish people, that it will not happen automatically, and that it will not happen without our active interest and investment into the land of Israel…and that everyone should try their hardest to continue that.”
That, however, may be more difficult than it sounds.
Israel is no longer a collective and uniform “melting pot,” according to models defined by the Israel Democracy Institute in 2008. Israeli society, the report said, now reflects multiculturalism and individualization due to the many ethnic groups that have immigrated there since 1950.
The IDI reported several factors that contributed to social divisions in Israel, including unequal governmental policies of assimilation for the newly arrived Jews of Asia, North Africa, the former Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States, tension between Ashkenazim and Mizrachim or Sephardim, and strained relations between early immigrants and those who came later.
In addition to the apparent racial and ethnic disparities is the ongoing tension between observant and non-observant Jews.
A 2006 YNet News poll of 40,000 people in Israel revealed that 71 percent of Israeli Jewish citizens believe in God, however, only 26 percent of Israelis want to see Israel become more traditional, and 27 percent want to see Israel become more secular, leading study authors to surmise that a majority of Israelis believe it is possible to believe in God without observing Jewish law.
“Yes, the Orthodox rabbinate has a monopoly on religious service in Israel,” said Hammer, “but at the end of the day, the fact is that they were given those auspices as representatives of the Israeli people. As far as conversions go, it’s run by the Orthodox rabbinate. As far as kashrut symbols in Israel, it’s run by the Orthodox rabbinate.
“Perhaps the Orthodox rabbinate could be a little more open understanding, and conversant with other denominations of Judaism,” he added. “I believe that if the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel was more patient, understanding, and tolerant, people would not have any objection to the Orthodox rabbinate running things. The problem is the way that Jews handle each other. That’s what it comes down to.”
Rabbi James Mirel, the senior rabbi at the Reform congregation Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, invited Hammer to speak to the students in his Introduction to Judaism class about religious Zionism. Although Mirel had been called out of town when Hammer spoke, Assistant Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg moderated the discussion and had some comments of her own.
“It is genuinely important to understand that there are different world views,” Kinberg told JTNews. Kinberg’s family lives in Israel, but she said she lives in the U.S. because, as a woman, she would not be allowed to be a practicing rabbi in Israel.
Kinberg said it is important for the young people at her temple to understand that theirs is a “big tent” approach to Judaism that accepts each denomination’s right to hold different views.
Hammer disagrees with critics of the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel, like the New Israel Fund, who he said claims it’s a theocracy, while they promote what he calls anti-Zionistic rallies, support the removal of religious texts from public schools, and advocate the incorporation of Palestinian history within the texts of Israeli schools.
“In the religious Zionist world, we think we’re now making a positive turn in the right direction to be less threatening and to engage in dialogue in order to demonstrate that that’s the kind of people we are,” said Hammer. “We have something very valuable and very beautiful to offer, which is not going to be forced upon you, but certainly, you should become more familiar with it.”

See the other articles in the state of the State of Israel series: