“People talk all the time about being post-denominational. But you can’t be post-denominational in Israel. We’re pre-denominational! We don’t have any denominations established here to transcend!”
(From the president of the Israeli branch of our movement who came to talk to us today in the practical rabbinics class. I’d attribute it to his name, but as it’s not an exact quote I didn’t want it to come up everytime the poor man got Googled. Logic and internet can get you the guy’s name if you want it.)
Um? Haredim and secular Jews and everyone in between and there are no denominations? Well, not in the Protestant sense, I suppose. But, er, it strikes me as a little blinkered to claim a lack of denominations just because there’s a lack of independently organized schisms setting up their own separate shops. — Hanne
Sounds to me as though there are denominations in Israel just as much as in the U.S. If he wants to be pre-denominational, though, good luck to it.