Ner Israel oleh MK to speak in Five Towns, YU

After only eight years in Israel as an American oleh, Rabbi Dov Lipman has leaped to the top there to sit in the Knesset as a member of the Israeli government in the new Yesh Atid party.

MK Lipman returned to the United States this week for a visit, speaking Wednesday evening, April 10th at Yeshiva University’s Furst Hall and in the Five Towns on Shabbat, April 13th. He will be speaking at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence at 11 AM on “Unity in Israel: No Longer Just a Dream.” He will also speak on Shabbat at the Irving Place Minyan (Morgenstern Auditorium-entrance on Central Avenue), at 111 Irving Place in Woodmere at 6:45 PM.

Lipman said in a phone interview that after he was elected he received many invitations for speaking engagements in the United States. He considered this a reaction to his “story” and that of Yesh Atid, a party founded in 2012 by former journalist Yair Lapid, intended as a centrist secular party. Yesh Atid placed second in the recent Israeli election in January 2013, garnering 19 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset, and signed an agreement to join the Israeli government with Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Naftali Bennett’s HaBayit HaYehudi Party.

“This is a feel good trip,” Lipman explained. “I’m not looking for money. I’m sharing the positive outlook with where Israel is heading and the positive changes along the way.” He said the changes he referred to are “in terms of internal Israeli society, policies for unity, religion/State issues that have been negative and economic issues.” He pointed out that in Diaspora Jewry “people feel disengaged” and he is seeking changes to “make a positive impact between Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora, enabling Jews all over the world and from all walks of life to feel comfortable in Israel.” He is seeking to “essentially return to core Jewish values of unity and the State of Israel.” He cited that some of the conflict is tied to the chief rabbinate and the religious sector being under the control of “extremist” elements. One of his goals is to make changes by returning the chief rabbinate to a “more Zionist, more embracing” candidate; he mentioned Rabbi David Stav, chairman of the 17-year-old national-religious rabbinical association Tzohar, as chief rabbi of Israel. Stav has already declared his candidacy; the election will be in June. Lipman said that Stav’s election would be the “first step.” He is “thinking about the broader Jewish people,” said Lipman regarding Stav. “A committee that includes members of Knesset chooses the chief rabbi.” When they conclude who is the consensus candidate in the government that is a major step toward insuring who is elected to the position, explained Lipman.

“My goal is to create unity in general, to break down the walls in all the various groups, to function as one people,” he emphasized. “I saw it in Beit Shemesh; we worked together. That’s how to succeed as a people. People don’t have to change. We have to respect one another, on both sides of the equation. No one has to be forced to change or to do anything.”

Lipman became involved in Yesh Atid after hearing a speech by Yair Lapid “I didn’t know much about Yair Lapid,” he said. “He’s a secular icon. He reached out; he said that he wanted to work with the religious. On my side, I sought to grab the hand that he reached out, to lead our country to unity as I understand and as our tradition said it should be.”

He noted that Yesh Atid had a small staff then and as they grew he became more involved. “They asked me to run for the Knesset,” he said. “It’s an honor to be serving.” He is number 17 on their party list.

Lipman said that he will be speakingin the Five Towns about the concept of “we were like dreamers” his “personal experiences as a member of Knesset, the goals we have, the changes in Israel that are important to the United States and the Jewish people, to excite the people about what is in Israel and to hear first hand about the changes we are making, strengthening every sector in the Jewish community to be a proud unified Jewish nation.”

With his strong background and experience in education, Lipman stressed that a major part of his campaign is to revamp education in Israel. He plans to “increase Jewish studies on the secular side and increase general studies on the religious side and in general, think out of the box and adapt the education plan in place since 1948 and upgrade it to 2013, to bring it up to the top ten in the world in education.”

Born in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1971, Lipman was a student at the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington and the Yeshiva of Greater Washington. He studied for two years at Yeshivas Mercaz HaTorah in Jerusalem. He returned to the U.S., graduating from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore receiving smichah from Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg, zt”l. He has an M.S. in education from Johns Hopkins University and has held many educational and administrative posts. Lipman married Dena Abramowitz of Elizabeth, NJ in 1994; they were part of the Cincinnati Community Kollel for three years, and spent six years in Silver Spring, MD. The Lipmans and their four children made aliyah in 2004 and currently live in Beit Shemesh.

He gained notice for his efforts at mending the rift between different streams of Jews in his community of Beit Shemesh, becoming active politically in the 2008 mayoral elections there. He has written a number of books on religious and educational topics and often writes for the Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel.