By ELLI WOHLGELERNTER

                    JERUSALEM (February 24) - In a demonstrative show of unified
                    strength, a new broad-based umbrella organization of religious and
                    secular American Jewish organizations is being formed to fight for
                    religious pluralism in Israel.

                    The organization, tentatively titled The North American Coalition for the
                    Advancement of Religious Freedom in Israel, adopted its first mission
                    statement this week, which will be sent out to American Jewish groups
                    interested in joining.

                    "The current Israeli political situation has resulted in an Orthodox
                    monopoly and has circumscribed the right of complete religious
                    expression in Israel and matters of personal status, such as marriage,
                    divorce, conversion and burial," the statement reads. "We support the
                    right of full religious expression and worship for all streams of Judaism at
                    public religious sites such as the Western Wall in Israel."

                    Some 18-25 organizations are expected to join the North American
                    Coalition, including all the synagogue, rabbinic, women, and Zionist arms
                    of the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, as well
                    as many non-religious social organizations such as Na'amat, the New
                    Israel Fund, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

                    The coalition would represent some two and a half to three million North
                    American Jews - perhaps 80 percent to 85 percent of all affiliated Jewry
                    there - and would therefore wield considerable clout both politically and
                    financially in Israel-Diaspora relations. A formal announcement of its
                    founding is expected to be made in April.

                    "The idea of having a broad-based organization took time to work
                    through the consciousness of the whole American community," said
                    Philip Meltzer, president of the Association of Reform Zionists of
                    America, and one of the co-founders of the coalition.

                    "But events in Israel over the last few years centering around the
                    conversion bill, the religious council bill, the Women at the Wall, and
                    various other issues has galvanized the American Jewish community.
                    What we think the North American Coalition can do is to bring this
                    message first to the American Jewish community, and as the American
                    Jewish community becomes more concerned and more knowledgeable,
                    to bring this message to Israel as to our concerns for the character of the
                    Jewish state. Our concern is that Israel will remain a vibrant democracy,
                    and not a fundamentalist theocracy."

                    Nan Rich, national president of the National Council of Jewish Women
                    and the other co-founder of the organization, said the group is not trying
                    to impose its will on Israel's body politic. "What we're trying to do is to
                    educate, and to say to people in Israel that we believe that the state was
                    founded on basic principles of religious freedom."

                    Mark Seal, executive vice president of the Jewish Reconstructionist
                    Federation, said the issue confronting American Jewry is not just about
                    personal freedom of religious expression. "It's an issue about the nature
                    of Israeli society, the nature of freedom in public space, public
                    expression, the rule of the Supreme court, the nature of the relationship
                    between the rabbinic court and the Supreme Court - a whole series of
                    issues," he said.

                    "And as the issue gains in intensity, it becomes ever more central to the
                    ongoing debate and discussion about the future of Israel," Seal
                    continued. "I have never heard this kind of discussion with this intensity
                    about anything but the peace process. People are concerned, people are
                    talking about it, and I think it's a question of: where's the society going,
                    where's the culture going?"

                    Nan Rich, national president of the National Council of Jewish Women
                    and the other co-founder of the organization, said the group is not trying
                    to impose its will on Israel's body politic.

                    "Look, we don't live in Israel, we can't vote, we're not telling people
                    what to do. What we're trying to do is to educate, and to say to people
                    in Israel that we believe that the state was founded on basic principles of
                    religious freedom - it says it in the Declaration of Independence. And
                    we'd like people to recognize that, and when they think about who
                    they're voting for, to vote for people who do recognize those founding
                    principles, and do believe in religious freedom for all."