In these places with state-supported synagogues and Hebrew schools, Jewish children are taught that there is only one kind of Judaism.  They see - at public events where the leaders of the Jewish community have a role - only Orthodox rabbis.  Adherence to Orthodox Judaism is sanctioned and institutionalized by nothing less than the state.
 
In these cities and countries, then, is it so surprising that these young people see the only alternative to practicing Orthodox Judaism as leaving Judaism?  Only if they have been fortunate enough to have stumbled across some Progressive Jews, they may find their way to a new minority community and, as we have seen over and over again, find their own sacred place.

On the URJ Facebook page, this blog post was referred to under the title “the struggle of Progressive Judaism worldwide”. Here in South Africa, we have often witnessed the efforts of organised Orthodoxy to deligitimise and sideline Reform Judaism, so I can relate to what’s being said.

I’ve attempted to summarise the issues and some possible responses below. I hope that a coordinated approach along these lines will eventually find a place on the agenda on the WUPJ.

Issues:

- Access to funding from all levels of government
- Appropriate representation on Jewish community bodies
- Access to Jewish community resources
- Exclusion from community publicity and inventories, e.g. schedules of congregations
- The perception (both within and outside the Jewish community) that only one form of Judaism exists; Orthodoxy (the Big Lie of Authentic Judaism)

Possible responses:

- Set up a dedicated Equal Time response team within the WUPJ to tackle these issues, country by country, both proactively and reactively
- The response team should include legal, communications and PR specialists, and should work closely with progressive communities in the affected countries/regions
- Pressure the responsible government entities to provide funding for the progressive community on the same basis as for Orthodoxy
- Demand appropriate representation on Jewish communal bodies and access to community resources, or set up parallel institutions for the alternative streams of Judaism
- Campaign to ensure that progressive Jewish resources (e.g. congregations, schools, camps, etc.) are included on databases or inventories of overall Jewish resources, e.g. on Jewish community Websites
- Publicise and advocate to raise awareness that Judaism is not monolithic or monocultural; that many forms exist and all should be embraced (in the same way that Christianity embraces many churches). This should be addressed to both the Jewish community and the wider audience

This will require funding, which is unlikely to be available immediately. The main thing, however, is to identify and prioritise the issues, identify a range of responses, draw up a budget and begin looking for funding. In the meanwhile, the issues will have to be addressed reactively, on an ad-hoc basis and mainly by the communities concerned.

It’s difficult to think of which countries are not (at least to some extent) affected by these issues (with the exception of the US and possibly the major English-speaking and Western European democracies). It certainly applies to South Africa and Israel, with Israel being a special case.