A female Reform rabbi took her place on the religious council of Mevasseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Alona Lisitsa said she did not feel hostility from the rest of the representatives — all Orthodox — of the local religious council, according to reports.

The Reform Mevasseret Zion Congregation put forth Lisitsa’s name to join the council nearly a year ago. The appointment was delayed in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, until the courts got involved and ordered the ministry to approve the appointment.

The community’s population is mixed secular-religious.

“I came with much optimism and hope, and indeed I found a different Mevasseret community,” Lisitsa said in an interview with Army Radio, “We talked about the need for cooperation and the need to ignore internal differences for the residents. This is a triumph for Israeli democracy. “

Lisitsa told Army Radio that the members all introduced themselves to her, and that she had a “long conversation” with one of the representatives of the haredi Orthodox Shas party.

Lisitsa works at the Hebrew Union College– Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem, according to her Facebook page.

Religious councils supervise kashrut, and are the central address in their communities for marriage registration, synagogues, mikvehs and burials. There are more than 170 religious councils in Israel.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT