Rabbi David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, is the only rabbi who lives in Israel who was invited by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the World Muslim League to the conference that is slated for July 16 to 18.

Other rabbis representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism have also been invited.

Rosen said that the conference was the Saudis' first initiative to reach out to other religions in this way.

About 200 leaders have been invited to the conference.

Several months ago, Abdullah announced that he planned to hold a major interfaith summit in Saudia Arabia. The Madrid conference is a precursor to that much larger initiative.

Something, without a doubt, is happening among the knitted kipot (skullcaps) Jewish community. They sense they are fighting for house and home. The Chief Rabbinate – established by their own fathers, who also set its tone – has been grabbed away from them. The haredim are taking over! You knitted types are out. Any day now you'll also be disqualified from testifying in religious courts.

But there's no making light of the sense of dread among religious Zionists. They have good reason to worry. Given Israel's current legal structure, in which religion is interwoven with politics, the revocation of Rabbi Druckman's conversions has serious repercussions. Thousands of converts whose Judaism has been revoked will not be able to marry through the rabbinate. In other words, they will be prevented from registering their status as "married" in the State of Israel – a nation that chose to grant a monopoly to the Chief Rabbinate for every matter related to personal status.

It is tempting to needle the leaders of the religious Zionist movement by reminding them that, when the power was in their hands, they acted with the same lordship over the Conservative and Reform movements. But that is not the point. Religious Zionism has a large constituency, and its concern for the People of Israel as a whole – not just for those sporting knitted kipot – is heartfelt and genuine. We must all hope that, at this historic moment, they will act responsibly, according to the dictates of their conscience. It will require rabbinical courage to bring about the creation of religious Zionist courts that operate parallel to the Chief Rabbinate.

THE ESTABLISHMENT of a religious Zionist court that performs conversions according to its standards, and whose rabbis marry converts in adherence with the religion of Moses and Israel, would be a revolution in Israel. Early on, granted, couples married in this manner will not be able to change their martial status officially at the Interior Ministry. But when tens of thousands of couples follow suit, the law will change. Revolutions can also begin from the ground up. Today already, 20 percent of all "Jewish" couples marrying in Israel do not do so via the Rabbinate. The majority, to the dismay of all of us, do not even marry in a Jewish wedding. Modern Orthodoxy, which can amplify the outcry of "rejected" couples for all to hear, has the strength to steer this unfortunate trend in another direction.

Rabbi Barry Schlesinger is president of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. Atty. Yizhar Hess is executive director of the Conservative Movement in Israel.

America has long served as the world’s cultural trendsetter. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Israel.

Although English is a second language in Israel, this fact fails to convey the extent of America’s infiltration into Israeli society. It is not that you can get by without speaking Hebrew; indeed, it is difficult to embrace the society without speaking Hebrew. But English idioms have become commonplace in Israeli speech—and not just the “ya” endings of yesteryear (“televizya,” “protektsiya”). Listen to any Israeli speak—be it an ordinary citizen or a media personality—and he will sprinkle his sentences with words or phrases like “why not,” “time,” “time out,” “so what,” “OK,” “chance,” “conflict” (pronounced “con-FLICT,” plural “con-FLICT-im”), not to mention technical terms like “Internet,” “e-mail,” “fax,” “high-definition” and literally hundreds of other words, all of which are transliterated into Hebrew in the press. No doubt this is partly the influence of globalization, here known, of course, as “globalizatzya.”

Rather than grasp for a Hebrew word, it is often easier to just say it in English, with the occasional conversionary suffixes. Preparing for a public speech a few weeks ago, I looked up the word “speculative.” I need not have; the Hebrew is “speculativi.” Occasionally, the pronunciations and etymologies are humorous. Liat Collins, who writes a language column in The Jerusalem Post, reported an argument she had had with her commander in the army many years ago, who gave her an “ool-ti-mah-tum,” claiming it was a Hebrew word and correcting her (she is British) when she insisted on pronouncing it “UL-ti-mah-tum.”

As an aside, part of me wishes that “Saturday” would enter the Israeli lexicon in order to avoid hearing such non sequiturs as “On Shabbat, we drove to the Galil for a picnic.” Another part of me feels that at least use of the word “Shabbat” helps keep the idea of Shabbat alive, even if it is not observed properly.

The most amusing illustration of American influence that I have seen is “Halailah,” Israel’s The Tonight Show. “From Kikar Dizengoff in Tel Avivvvvv, it’s Halailah—starring Lior Schleiiiiiiiiin!” It is rank mimicry of the late night talk shows in America—featuring the host, the monologue (I never would have thought that Asarah B’Tevet could be mined for comic material!), the set—complete with the desk, the backdrop of Tel Aviv (instead of New York City or Hollywood), the sofa chairs, the band and the banter with the bandleader.

Certainly, the culture as it is has little general appeal to the more traditional elements in society. Religious Jews are blessed with a plethora of shiurim—every night of the week, and on an immense variety of topics—in almost every community in the country. But it is very difficult to combat a cultural behemoth like the United States. The revolution against Greek culture that occurred during the Second Temple era began right here in Modiin. Yet, it is worth recalling that despite the Chanukah victory, less than 100 years later, Simon the Maccabee’s own great-grandsons, who bore the fine Greek names Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, fought each other for the throne and self-destructed.

A country with its own culture shapes its own destiny, and develops a strong sense of national pride. American culture may be dominant in the world, but, in truth, it is scarcely felt in countries like Russia or China, each of which has a rich cultural tradition of its own. An indigenous Israeli culture exists, but it is overwhelmed by America’s. Israelis write books, yet the bookstores are mainly filled with Hebrew translations of American best sellers. In time and given the right circumstances, Israel will surely develop a culture that is uniquely Jewish and that touches the mind, heart and soul. It is part of building a state, liberating the Jewish spirit from centuries of exile and shaping the national character that will engender “a kingdom of priests and a holy people.”

He did come back, but only to say good-bye.

Berman is one of several prominent Orthodox leaders ranging from rabbis to Orthodox feminists in the New York area who will be making aliya this summer.

The annual sendoff organized by the Jewish Agency, which took place Thursday in New York, honored 250 of the 900 New Yorkers expected to move to Israel. That number is about one third of the 3,000 North American olim this year.

The sendoff follows recent calls by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a dramatic change in the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora.

"Now, for the first time since the destruction of the Second Temple, Israel is the largest concentration of Jews in the world and the overwhelming majority of Jews live in security. The era of mass aliya from countries of distress may have come to a close," Olmert declared.

To accommodate that change, the Jewish Agency has gradually shifted its approach towards aliya, moving from the all-or-nothing approach towards a more flexible one. Earlier this month, the JA and the government announced a co-sponsored program called "flexible aliya" under which Jews from around the world will be able to move to Israel for a period ranging from several months to several years, during which they will be able to work, study and volunteer in the country.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Jews continue to represent roughly 60 percent of North American olim.

Berman, who has been the rabbi at the Jewish Center since 2000, said he is moving to Israel because "the Jewish future is in the State of Israel." By that he does not mean the Diaspora has no place. Quite the opposite, Berman said Diaspora Jewry is critical for Israel. But he wants to raise his children in a "fully Jewish environment and culture." Berman and his family will move

Other Orthodox rabbis who are making aliya this year include: Rabbi Shalom Rosner, Rabbi of Woodmere Congregation in Long Island, who heads the Beit Midrash program at Yeshiva University, who is moving to Nofe Hashemesh, a new part of Beit Shemesh where he will be a rabbi of a new synagogue; Rabbi Dovid Wadler, principal at Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in Highland Park, NJ; and Rabbi David Silverstein, a teacher at SAR, a yeshiva school in Riverdale, NY and assistant rabbi at Riverdale Jewish Center, who will be joining Yeshivat Hesder in Petah Tikva.

Jenny Rosenfeld, 27, who has worked to break the taboos on talking about sexuality in the Orthodox world, will also be among this year's olim, with her husband Pinchas Roth, who made aliya at 10, and their three-month-old daughter, Neshama.

In 2005, Rosenfeld co-founded Tzelem, a special project of Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future that provides educational resources about intimacy and sexuality to the Orthodox community.