Likud Member of Knesset Galit Distel Atbaryan sparked a storm on Monday after suggesting during a parliamentary session that adherents of Reform Judaism should not be considered part of the Jewish people.
The incident took place during a meeting of the Subcommittee for Jewish Thought in the Education System, where Distel Atbaryan serves as chair. In a heated exchange, she ordered MK Gilad Kariv of The Democrats party to be removed from the discussion, declaring, “Remove the Reformist, [the] Jews here want to continue.”
Kariv had voiced his support for permitting girls to don tefillin in public schools as part of a broader effort to allow tefillin stands in secular educational institutions. While halacha restricts the use of tefillin to boys from the age of bar mitzvah, Reform practice supports the inclusion of girls.
Reacting to the incident, Kariv criticized Distel Atbaryan and her political allies, saying, “The hateful attack and loss of composure by Distel testify to her and her coalition partners’ convoluted Jewish worldview – a zealous, misogynistic, isolationist, and resentful Judaism.”
He continued, “We will not allow this view of Judaism to take root in our children’s schools. We will introduce them to a tradition that embraces diversity, humanity, and inclusion and that serves as the meeting point between tradition and renewal.”
Later in the day, Distel Atbaryan addressed the controversy from the Knesset floor, issuing a strong rebuttal to Kariv’s remarks.
“Listen carefully, Gilad Kariv. As long as I am leading the Subcommittee for Jewish Thought in the Education System, I will personally prevent the takeover of the education system by Reformist organizations. No matter how much you talk about religious coercion, Israeli students will know the Bible. No matter how much you try to instill fear in the secular public, Israeli students will know the biblical story,” she said.
She went on, “No matter how much you lie, distort, incite, hate, and sow discord, Israeli students will return to learning about their identity and knowing their sources. Because of fear-mongering by people like you, schools in Israel have simply stopped teaching the Bible.”
“My committee is changing this reality and leading a real and exciting reform. And I am immensely proud of this achievement. The committee is inclusive and invites everyone: secular, traditional, religious, ultra-Orthodox – everyone.
“The only thing it does not include is populists like you, who hate Israel and try to impose the minority’s opinion on the majority, all in the name of pluralism. You are a joke.”
This is not the first time Kariv, a Reform rabbi, has faced dismissive or antagonistic remarks in the Knesset, particularly from members of the ultra-Orthodox parties, who frequently question his religious legitimacy either directly or through insinuation.
Reacting to the uproar, Gusti Yehoshua Braverman, who represents the Reform Movement within the World Zionist Organization, issued a condemnation of Distel Atbaryan’s words, calling them “not only offensive and cruel, they reflect a deep and deliberate alienation toward millions of Jews in Israel and around the world who identify with Reform and Conservative Judaism.”
She added, “As a Zionist woman, a Reform Jew, and a public representative of the World Zionist Organization, I utterly reject this statement, which disgraces the Knesset and the core values of the Jewish people.”
{Matzav.com}