Rabbi Gilad Kariv—a pioneering, serious legislator in Israel’s parliament |
Not long ago, I was giving a zoom talk to adult members of a Reform synagogue in the USA in which I was trying to explain to them the basics about the complicated and convoluted political system in Israel. When I discussed the political parties which are currently in what is called here “the opposition” (those who are opposed to the parties in the coalition that makes up the government), I mentioned that the party that currently has some of the best parliamentarians is the former Labor Party, now called “The Democrats” (a merger of Labor and Meretz), which is currently comprised of four legislators, the most prominent one being an Israeli Reform rabbi by the name of Rabbi Gilad Kariv.
They were shocked! A Reform rabbi in the Knesset? Is it possible? Doesn’t the Orthodox Establishment forbid this? How and when did it happen in Israeli society in which Orthodox Judaism has so much power? Moreover, I was surprised that they didn’t know about him by now, since he has been in the news a great deal in Israel in recent years and since he made history when he was the first Reform rabbi to be elected as a member of Knesset in 2021.
So, who is Rabbi Gilad Kariv? And why has he become one of the most important members of Knesset in the left/liberal/progressive /humanistic Zionist camp in Israel?
Rabbi Kariv was born in Tel Aviv 52 years ago. He grew up there and became involved with the Reform movement in Israel when he was in high school, through the Beit Daniel synagogue in North Tel Aviv, the main Reform synagogue in the big city, where he later served as a young rabbi. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University and of the Israeli rabbinic program of the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. In addition to being a rabbi, he is a lawyer. He also received a master’s degree in constitutional law from Northwestern University in Chicago, through a combined program with Tel Aviv University.
Between 2003 and 2009, Kariv served as the director of the Israel Religious Action Center, an organization which I know well since I served on its board for five........