Rabbi Dr. Edgar Nof represents another non-traditional path to Reform Judaism in Israel. A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was studying toecome a Conservative Rabbi before he made aliyah in 1982. Shortly after his move, he attended a lecture that would change his career trajectory. Rabbi Uri Regev, who was then the Director of the Israeli Rabbinical Program and today is the President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), led a discussion about the status of women in liberal
movements. Regev’s passionate account of women’s equality in Reform Judaism inspired him and led him to enroll at HUCJIR. His classmates were other future Movement leaders, Rabbis Dr. Michael Marmur, Naamah Kelman, and Meir Azari. Shortly after he was ordained, he became director of the Israeli Rabbinical Program (1990-97). In 1997 Nof moved to Haifa to serve as rabbi of the Ohel Abraham synagogue. In 2000 he became the rabbi of Or Hadash, the largest Reform synagogue in
northern Israel, a vibrant congregation that conducts 350 lifecycle ceremonies a year and attracts 150-180 people on a typical Shabbat. There are a quarter of a million Jews in Haifa, and Nof is proud that 8% of them become b’nei mitzvot at Or Hadash. In just half a decade, the number of girls who have a bat mitzvah at the shul has grown from only two or three per year to more than 120-150 annually. What is most striking about the congregation and Nof’s vision is its tikkun olam (healing the world) agenda, a kaleidoscope of programs designed to meet the needs of Haifa’s ethnically and culturally diverse community. Among many others, the synagogue hosts “Soccer for Peace,” which brings together Christians, Jews, and Muslims to play Israel’s national sport; a pre-school and holiday meal program for Ethiopian
immigrants; a “bibliotherapy” program that helps traumatized children deal with emotional problems; and three support groups for more than 50 mothers
of children killed by terrorism. During the recent Second Lebanon War, when Hezbollah Katyusha rockets rained down on Haifa, Or Hadash operated one of the largest bomb shelters in the city, one of only five in all of Haifa with activities for children. The Union for Reform Judaism-funded initiative provided educational programming
for children and families from morning to night for the duration of the war. The synagogue is also the home and spiritual backbone of the only Religious Action Center (RAC) office in Israel’s north, with the first Ethiopian-born lawyer ever to serve in the Movement. Nof believes that Or Hadash is creating a better Jewish world and that Israeli society desperately needs Reform Judaism to become more pluralistic and egalitarian and more appealing to the younger generation. In his eyes, the challenges  that Reform Judaism faces in Israel are to be expected – change takes time, especially radical change. “I see myself as one of the pioneers,” Nof says. “If you compare
the development of Reform Judaism with the birth of the State of Israel, we’re still in the 1880s.” He believes that the hard work will eventually pay off. “Right now we are 25 Reform congregations up against 6,000 Orthodox synagogues. It will take 200 years to get equal rights in Israel, but it will come. Being realistic, we have to take what we have and make it stronger so that our work will pay off down the line.”