Itamar Kremer, a Masorti Shaliach working for work MERCAZ USA, spent the last Shabbat at Rutgers. In addition to spending time with the Koach (Conservative) community at Rutgers, Itamar was the featured speaker at a lunch for both the Koach and Kesher (Reform) communities.
At the lunch he spoke about the current status of the Reform and Masorti communities in Israel and the issues they face in the political sphere. He also led a discussion about what Zionism means to each student. Avi Smolen, a Rutgers College Sophomore, told CampusJ that Itamar “made us, as campus students, think about how we should feel about Israel and [made us] ask the hard questions — like what needs to be changed in Israel.”
Itamar told CampusJ that his goals are to help educate the American Conservative community more about Israel and to help those who want to make Aliyah find a Masorti community where they can live. He said his goal is not to have all Conservative Jews move to Israel, but to educate them on the issues and work with them to help foster Jewish pluralism within the Israeli government and public.