Dear Friend,

The past six weeks have felt like an emotional rollercoaster. Elation, when the names of hostages to be released were announced. Unbearable anxiety for their well-being until they were safely home. Joy and relief for each who came back alive. And heartbreaking sorrow for those who came back in coffins. The hostages' families and so many in Israel fear that the Israeli government is preparing to back out of the agreement, return to the war and block the return of the remaining hostages. Therefore, we recently joined with others in the movement to call upon on the government to move forward with a deal to secure the release of all the surviving hostages in one coordinated effort. We know that they don't have any time left and we must do everything to bring them back home.

As we continue our advocacy for the hostages, we cannot concede to the forces of intolerance, inequality, and extremism. We must make sure that the Israel that the hostages come home to is a state that lives up to our values of democracy, pluralism, and equality. For the sake of the hostages and for the sake of our society, we remain steadfast in our fight for democracy, which the government's judicial coup seeks to undermine. We closely monitor the state budget, set to be approved by the end of March, in order to expose and fight the distorted manner in which the government is allocating funds to programs and policies that are discriminatory and violate the rights of women, progressive Jews, the LGBTQ community, and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

In such a time of ongoing struggle and worry, it's important to take a moment to recognize where we've made progress. One of our longest running struggles involves what should have been simple and obvious in a Jewish state, the establishment of a synagogue for a community in need. As I wrote just two months ago, we have been assisting the thriving Reform Congregation Kodesh v'Chol in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon in its efforts to secure the allocation of a plot of land to build its permanent home for over a decade.

As the only liberal congregation in Holon, the only egalitarian synagogue where women can participate fully, and the only one that welcomes LGBTQ families, the membership of Kodesh v'Chol is growing. Beyond its permanent membership, many non-Orthodox families seek it out as the most appropriate address for holidays and life-cycle events. It must not be forced to continue to serve so many people without a permanent address, perennially deferred because of discrimination.

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After turning to the courts twice in the past five years, we finally reached what should have been the concluding stage of the process, exchanging drafts of the allocation agreement with the municipality, when the city elected a new mayor. Unfortunately, the winner of the election has made anti-Reform comments and depends on the support of the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Shas party, which had declared its staunch opposition to the building of a Reform synagogue in a city with 77 Orthodox synagogues. Still, we were shocked when in January we found out that the municipality had cancelled the allocation. We asked people both in Israel and abroad to send emails to the mayor, stating how important it is to give the residents of Holon the option of a Reform synagogue. Many of you responded and the mayor received thousands of emails – we thank you for that.

In February, we filed a petition on behalf of the congregation, demanding that the allocation process be finalized. The court immediately issued an order prohibiting the allocation of land to others  and scheduled an urgent hearing. Before the hearing, the municipality submitted a response denying it had canceled the allocation. Rather, it claimed that it had only frozen the process for additional inquiries and was exploring other alternatives to determine the proper place for the congregation.

We attended the hearing yesterday, and I am happy to share with you that it was very successful. The judge hearing the case took a no-nonsense approach, telling the municipality that it cannot continue to drag its feet in order to avoid allocating land for a Reform synagogue. We insisted that, after a decade, we would not agree to begin a new allocation process on a different plot of land, that would take years.

The judge made it clear that the municipality must expedite the process. He ordered the municipality to conclude all the necessary inquiries, submit it to the allocations committee, and then to the city council for final ratification by June 1 at the latest. A follow-up hearing on our petition is already scheduled for July 1, after which the court will render its final decision.

Today's hearing proved once again how important it is for Israel to have a strong and independent judiciary. It is the only way to protect our rights from government abuse and discrimination. This is why we are fighting the government's judicial coup, which it is continuing to push - the latest development calling to fire the Attorney General – instead of focusing on securing the hostages' release, bringing the war to a close, and rebuilding communities along the Gaza border and in Northern Israel so displaced citizens have homes once again. We left the hearing today feeling heard, knowing that we have judges who protect our rights.

Several hostages who were released have spoken about how Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z"l) encouraged them over the months before he was murdered, reminding them of the life waiting for them and sharing an idea from Viktor Frankl, the philosopher and Holocaust survivor, who said "if you know the why, you can find the how". Amid this storm of existential crises, we must continue to fight, not just for survival, but for our values, for the "whys" that give our survival meaning. So, we will keep on fighting…until we win.

Sincerely,

Orly Erez-Likhovski

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