Time for Bennett to go to shul in America - analysis

• Published date: 26 September 2021
• Author: HERB KEINON
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

This is Bennett's coming out on the world stage, his first appearance in front of an international audience. He will seek to make an impression, to set himself apart from his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who used to love these "balls," and often shone at them.

This event, this "ball," is so important that Bennett is attending even though it means spending a religious holiday (Shmini Atzeret/Simhat Torah) abroad – something prime ministers rarely do – and away from his family. Bennett is scheduled to fly back to Israel on Wednesday, which is a yom tov (holiday) for Jews living in the Diaspora, but not for Jews living in Israel.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

Bennett should use the opportunity of being in New York not only to introduce himself to world diplomats and the international community – he has meetings scheduled with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield – but also to do maintenance work on bridges with the American Jewish community, bridges whose foundations are increasingly showing cracks.

The prime minister is acting wisely in setting aside time on Monday to meet with Jewish community leaders at an event hosted by the Jewish Federations of North America. But he should do even more – he should visit synagogues in the evening or the next day, on Shmini Atzeret.

And not only should he pray at a local Orthodox Synagogue, like Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan, which he attended when he lived in New York in the early 2000s and where his wife became more comfortable and familiar with a religious lifestyle through its "beginner's minyan," but he should also visit a Conservative or Reform synagogue.

While Bennett might not feel comfortable praying in an egalitarian minyan or a service led by a female cantor, going to a Conservative or Reform synagogue on Monday evening and addressing the congregants before services would send a powerful message to members of those movements.

Some of these congregants felt woefully disenfranchised from Israel during Netanyahu's reign because of his alliance with the haredi parties, which do not view their movements as legitimate.

Bennett need not fear haredi wrath, because he has already incurred it and has nothing to lose – Degel Hatorah and Shas are not exactly lining up to join his government.

Such a prime ministerial synagogue visit would send a symbolic...