Modiin: Who is Ofer Glanz?

.....And Does He Want You in Modiin?

It's hard to live in Modiin and not have heard the name Ofer Glanz. Glanz, is one of a number of religious members of the city council and holds the education portfolio in Mayor Moshe Spector's coalition. Glanz, is a member of the Meimad (Religious Leftists) faction of the Labor Party and is ranked 33rd on the Labor list in the upcoming elections. Religious Jews in Modiin should view Mr. Glanz as an ally in their efforts to see an increase in the number of synagogues, religious schools, and other religious institutions. He is a passionate advocate of religious "pluralism" which is certainly admirable.

I would define pluralism, as an acceptance toward multiple view points or even "open mindness". In the educational arena, I guess the best example of this concept would be the community day school. Jewish community day schools tend to describe themselves as being Orthodox in practice, but having a student and parent population that is largely non-religious. These schools when teaching a certain subject might present a plethora of view points specifically Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. Such a school existed in Baltimore and it certainly met the needs of many in the Jewish community and that's fine. The Mesuat Neriah school in Modiin is very similar (at least in philosophy) to the school that our kids went to in Baltimore. Glanz for some reason is no fan of this school and has not made life easy for what we call Dati Leumi Torani (Nationalistic, Religious, Torah oriented) schools. I have written extensively on the other school in town, Netiv Zvulun and the horrible experience our kids had there last year.

Recently, Glanz has been sounding more and more like a member of the secular Shinui party then someone that wears a kippa. He believes that many of the new olim (immigrants) who are primarily religious North Americans should not be moving here because the city can not offer the services that they seek and has clashed repeatedly with Deputy Mayor Harlop on this and other religious topics. Harlop has worked hard on efforts to advance the needs of the olim as well as the religious.

This past week, one of the local papers, Zman Modiin did a hatchet job on our beloved Chief Rabbi, Rabbi David Lau, son of the renowned Rabbi Meir Lau, who is the former Israel Chief Rabbi and current Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. It appears that Glanz was behind an effort to paint Rabbi Lau as some type of zealot by taking an answer that Lau gave to a question posted to him on an internet forum and then applying to a certain situation here in Modiin. The paper does not appear to have interviewed Rabbi Lau to address or clarify his remarks to the situation, but quotes Glanz extensively in means of vilifying Rabbi Lau. Glanz, should be ashamed of himself.

More to follow at a later date.