Har Halutz, Israel - Unable to find satisfaction in the rituals and rules of Orthodox Judaism, Yossi Pinchuk raised his daughter without religion on a secular Israeli kibbutz near the biblical battleground of David and Goliath.
But when his daughter requested a bat mitzvah, the celebration of a teenage girl's passage to adulthood not generally recognized by Orthodox Jews, Pinchuk sought an alternative. He found it in a modern movement that occupies the margins of religious life in Israel, but that constitutes the majority of Jewish practice in America. In Israel it is known as Progressive Judaism; in America it is known as Reform.
"More and more are realizing there is a third way," said Pinchuk, 54, who traveled to Chicago with a delegation last week to learn how to run a thriving Reform congregation. "I was looking for something more ... something that warms your heart ... I fell in love with it. It's a New World--an all new great, great world."
In Israel, liberal Jews are part of their own David and Goliath story, struggling to co-exist with the Israeli religious majority of Orthodox Judaism.
Since Israel's creation as a Jewish state in 1948, its population generally has been divided between those who practice traditional Judaism or practice no Judaism at all. Orthodox rabbis receive their salaries from the state, and Orthodox synagogues are maintained with government funds.
As a result, there are 24 Progressive congregations across Israel, but more than 1,000 Orthodox synagogues in Jerusalem alone.
Pinchuk was one of 10 emissaries in Chicago last week familiarizing himself with previously foreign concepts, such as teaching religious school, motivating volunteers and collecting membership dues--necessary components of a thriving non-profit and independent community. Such concepts are not normally part of Israeli religious institutions, where prayer is the center of worship, organizers said.
"To be an Orthodox Jew, the synagogues just exist, and the sole purpose is to go and pray," said Ilene Green, a regional coordinator for the Association of Reform Zionists of America, or ARZA, which sponsored the Chicago tour. "It's not a modern way to be a Jew."
For Lori Melman, 44, the Chicago trip was a return home. She and her husband, David, made Aliyah, their move to Israel, more than 18 years ago after he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles. Recruited to help populate the Galilee region with Jews, Melman and her husband built their home on Har Halutz, or "Pioneer Mountain," a budding Progressive Jewish community in western Galilee.
Since 1987, she has watched the community grow to 80 families. She describes the movement's progress in Israel as "slow but sure."
"In Israel, it's so marginalized," she explained. "Being in the middle puts you at the forefront. You're totally exposed to the questions."
The questions often stem from the liberties that Progressive Jews take with Jewish laws and religious life: Lighting the candles on the Sabbath does not take place precisely at sundown, a man's head does not have to be covered inside a sanctuary and boys are not the only ones who celebrate the rite of passage into adulthood.
"We say halacha [Jewish law] changes through the years," Pinchuk said. "It should be more flexible so it can touch more people."
But many Orthodox Jews in Israel and elsewhere do not believe that is true Judaism. Many Progressive Jews feel like second-class citizens in their homeland. All marriages, divorces and burials must be approved by Orthodox rabbis, ARZA Executive Director Rabbi Andrew Davids said.
Financially, Progressive congregations also must fend for themselves or draw support from American Jews. About 40 percent of ARZA's membership revenue goes to support the movement in Israel. Jewish federations across the U.S. provide millions of dollars to the Progressive movement.
Rabbi Dan Rabishaw, regional director for the Union for Reform Judaism, said liberal Judaism provides a middle ground. "The reform movement is really creating a bridge between total disinterest in religion and the rigid orthodoxy that is established," he said.
"This whole notion of Reform Judaism gives us a choice," Melman added. "You get to choose how to make religious practice relevant to your life. ... So often people are looking for ways to express their faith. It's a short step to Reform, while it's a big step to Orthodox."
The Chicago exchange was important for both the Israeli delegation and the American hosts, said Davids, who initiated the trip. It was just as important for the emissaries to see Chicago synagogues facing some of the same organizational challenges, as it was for American Jews to see the Israelis in a context other than political.
"It's purely about how someone goes about his or her day by being part of an intentional community," he said. "And add a little more meaning to the lives of their families."