Sunday’s conference was the first attended by the new Eretz Hakodesh, a group catering for the right of the Orthodox community.
“It was quite something to have Orthodox rabbis… attend an event chaired by a Liberal rabbi,” she said.
Rabbi Muhlstein said there was “a real need for a space that organises events that brings diverse views on Israel together”. The organisation aimed to hold regular events on “an Israel-related topic presenting different views. It is important that we can have a dialogue on Israel even if we don’t agree.”
While the federation had previously organised “great” programmes like Israel Science Week, she said, that might be difficult to do at present in light of the Israel-Hamas War. “I’m not sure if there are many non-Jewish schools that would host an Israeli speaker right now,” she said. “But we hope to restore successful programmes like this soon.”
