Rabbi Gilad Kariv believes Reform Judaism holds the key to reviving the moderate center in Israel, which many commentators in recent years have noted may has been hollowed out and lost to extremists.

“I strongly believe Reform Judaism can be one of the main players in strengthening this central group in Israeli society that does believe in the ability to have a Jewish and a democratic state,” Kariv said in an interview with the Jewish Light.

This state, he added, can serve “as a center for the Jewish people” that at the same time can be “a strong and vibrant democracy that welcomes all religious communities and all ethnic communities inside Israel.”

He said things are changing rapidly in Israel “in regards to religious pluralism” in a positive direction.

Kariv, 38, is a former secular Jew who is executive director of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism and a resident of Tel Aviv. He was guest of Shaare Emeth last weekend, where he gave several lectures and answered questions at the temple about how Reform Judaism can serve many Israelis who are not affiliated with the several forms of Orthodox Judaism.

The more than 3 million secular Israeli Jews, of a total population of nearly 8 million citizens, often do not attend services regularly, Kariv said, but as many as half have been exposed to lifecycle events. That means, he said, they may want to be married and become a bar or bat mitzvah in Israel, regardless of how or if they practice their religious beliefs.

Yet, he said, those Israelis often feel uncomfortable with what they see as the control the Orthodox rabbis have over their rituals, which he called a “monopoly” on religious Judaism that has its origin in the founding of the state in 1948.

“We were not there in 1948,” Kariv said, in part because some Reform Jews were unsure about the rationale of creating a Jewish state.

It took decades, he said, for many in the Reform movement to understand and appreciate the role of Israel in the future of the Jewish people.

In the first half of the 20th century, Kariv said, many in the Reform movement “stood aside” and were not sure the Zionist movement that led to the founding of Israel was what was needed at the time and that Israel was the right solution for the Jewish people.

Today, he said, the Reform movement in the United States, the largest of the four major movements of organized Judaism, is building stronger relations with the state of Israel.

“The reality in Israel always is a complicated one,” Kariv said when asked if he and his movement were facing a daunting challenge. “We have much to be proud of what we have created in 64 years. But we have reason to be concerned by the trend toward the more extreme views from both sides.”

Rabbi James Bennett of Shaare Emeth said that bringing Kariv to his congregation and opening his lectures to the public was part of his own continuing effort to inform the Jewish community about the role Reform Judaism can play in Israel. He estimated that several hundred people attended Kariv’s discussions.

Bennett emphasized that building stronger ties between Reform Jews and congregations in the United States is not about getting involved in politics as much as it is about strengthening what he – and Kariv – see as progressive, and therefore more tolerant, ideas in Israel.

But both rabbis want to see Reform Judaism recognized by the Israeli state as a form of the faith that is equal to the status now held by the Orthodox. About 20 percent of Israeli Jews are Haredi who follow a strict interpretation of Torah, Bennett said. Another 30 percent is traditional or modern Orthodox, which leaves half of the Israeli Jews potential members of the Reform movement, which is said to be growing in recent years.

The Reform congregation Kariv attends in Tel Aviv, but does not lead, is Beit Daniel, which was where 300 families held bar and bat mitzvahs last year.

A primary effort of Kariv and the Reform movement in Israel is to use the Israeli courts to eventually recognize Reform Judaism as an equal to Orthodox Judaism. At present, he said, some 3,000 Orthodox rabbis are paid by the state, yet the rituals of Reform Jews are not recognized by the state.

His goal is to have Reform rabbis also receive salaries from the state, which would establish that they are on an equal footing with Orthodox Judaism.

Proof that the Reform movement is growing is reflected in the number of congregations: from 12 at the end of the 1980s to about 35 today, with more than 100 Reform rabbis active in Israel today.

He said these Reform congregations are “from Nahariya in the north to Eilat in the south.”

In most big Israeli cities, Kariv said, there are “one, two, three, sometimes four non-Orthodox congregations.”

He said both the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel are not connected organizationally, but they usually agree in fighting for religious pluralism and making non-religious Israeli Jews their target audience.

These are Israelis who want a strong attachment to Judaism but they don’t want that attachment to be through Orthodox institutions.

A survey five years ago, he said, showed that half of secular Israelis attended “more than once” a service, bar or bat mitzvah or a wedding, which he called “a surprising number.”

“More and more Israelis are living apart from both Orthodoxy and secular life,” Kariv said. “Today the non-Orthodox denominations have a real place on the Israeli map.”

Thirty years ago, Kariv said, both the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel were small.

“In the 1980s, Reform and Conservative movements played a more marginal role in Israeli life,” he said. “Slowly, we are changing it, by numbers, and there is a real growth in both movements and we are changing it in the public influence we are gaining. It’s not a dramatic shift, but it’s a process that today is evident in Israeli reality.”

He said this is a process that will take many years, several generations, to become fully effective in Israeli life.