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March 16, 2001/Adar 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.24
Liberal Jews wary of Shas role in coalition
AVI MACHLIS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The ink had hardly dried on the coalition agreements binding Israel's new national unity government together when Shas began flexing its muscles on religious issues.
Upon entering his new office, Eli Yishai, the political leader of Shas - the fervently Orthodox party now in control of several key ministries - made clear that he would move quickly to scrap any hint of civic reform instituted during the previous government.
"I will cancel any decision made that contravenes the status quo," said Yishai, Israel's new interior minister, referring to the set of informal agreements that have given the Orthodox establishment control over marriages, divorces and burials in the Jewish state.
Yishai said Shas will seek to cancel Israel's recognition of civil marriages in foreign consulates located on Israeli soil, one of the few changes made during the previous government's tenure.
It is too early to say if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will allow Orthodox parties to pursue an agenda that could exacerbate tensions between Israel and Diaspora Jewry at a time when many believe Palestinian violence requires Israel-Diaspora cooperation.
Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of Israel's Masorti, or Conservative, movement, warned the new government that it risks an uproar among non-Orthodox Diaspora Jews if it reverses recent moves toward pluralism.
"Unity must not only be between the political parties inside Israel, but also the entire Jewish people," Bandel said.
In the United States, Reform and Conservative leaders said they are dismayed by Shas' role in the new government, where the party will control five ministries: Interior, Religious Affairs, Health, Jerusalem Affairs, and Labor and Welfare.
However, the leaders also recognize that security matters are now a higher priority in Israel than domestic matters, and they need to support the government.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of the Reform movement's ARZA World Union, said he expects Shas to use its new posts to create "mischief" for Reform and Conservative Jews.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said he does not expect any gains for the liberal movements under the new government, but hopes "that neither will there be any significant retreat."
JTA staff writer Julie Wiener in New York contributed to this report.
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