Ha'aretz has an encouraging report about a rise in Israel in the numbers of secular Jews celebrating Friday night with 'a mix of traditional prayer and modern Hebrew poetry.'
Many of the participants found their inspiration in NY's Bnei Yeshurun Synagogue -- yet another proof that Israelis, if only they are willing to be open to it, have something positive to learn from American / Diaspora Jewish life and that just in the same way as we encourage Diaspora youth to visit Israel, there is merit in encouraging Israeli youth to visit and experience Diaspora Jewish communities.
The article also shows that, contrary to popular perception, there is a demand for community life in Israel as well, and that there is a spiritual thirst in some corners of secular Israel which can be quenched within Jewish (and not, say, Indian) culture. One of the participants explicitly tells Ha'aretz that the specifically did not want to join a Reform congregation because they were not interested in its ideological or political agenda; are these communities the tiny buds, perhaps, of some new, uniquely Israeli religious stream?
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