Over the last century, Reform and Conservative Judaism have met with enormous success, first becoming the dominant forms of Jewish observance in pre-Holocaust Central Europe, and then becoming the largest Jewish denominations in the United States. Yet they have largely failed in Israel, where their adherents are few and their influence over Jewish society marginal at best. The question is, why?
It is undeniable that the Reform and Conservative movements do have a presence in Israel, where Orthodoxy remains the only recognized, state-sponsored form of Judaism. A 2013 Israel Democracy Institute study found that four percent of Israeli Jews feel they belong to the Reform branch of Judaism, and 3.2 percent to the Conservative branch. There are established Reform and Conservative synagogues in Israelâ??s metropolitan centers, including the trendy Beit Daniel in northern Tel Aviv, where Yair Lapid observes Yom Kippur. The Reform movement has also founded two kibbutzimâ??Lotan and Yahelâ??in Israelâ??s south.
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