Skip to main content

Member of Isreali legislative government being attacked for saying ''Reform is not Jewish''

A member of the Israeli legislative government was slammed for his alleged comments about Reform Judaism on Wednesday, after media outlets reported David Rotem stating, "The Reform movement is not Jewish … they are another religion."
The statement shocked members of the Jewish community worldwide, especially as characterizing the Reform movement as another religion has political implications relating to Israel's Law of Return, which prevents non-Jews from making aliyah, or immigrating to Israel. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that a statement released by Israel's Reform movement explained that by using the term "another religion," Rotem effectively stated that "Reform Jews have no place in Israel."
Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, called on the Knesset speaker to reprimand Rotem, who is the Knesset Law, Constitution, and Justice Committee chairman. He said, "An assertion such as this makes it impossible for lawmaker Rotem to continue to chair discussions on sensitive issues such as conversion, who is a Jew and other topics that are associated with religion and state matters, and the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora," according to Haaretz.
ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman wrote an open letter to Rotem that said, "We are deeply disturbed by reports of comments attributed to you about the Reform movement 'not being Jewish.' Such views are inappropriate, offensive and unjustified," reported The huffpost
In a Wednesday statement, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld of the Rabbinical Assembly and Rabbi Steven Wernick of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, as well as other Conservative leaders, lamented “the utter lack of leadership that makes these outrages so frequent and undermines the very aspirations that are the foundations of Judaism and the Jewish state."
On Thursday Rotem responded to the uproar, writing on Facebook, "Comments attributed to me regarding the Reform Movement have been misinterpreted by elements within the media. I have never said belonging to the Reform Movement makes anyone less Jewish."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Califonia pastor has been arrested for having sex with one of the teenage girls he took into custody, injuring his dog too

BCCN1 A California pastor was arrested for allegedly injuring his dog and having sex with one of the two teenage girls he had taken under his wing.33-year-old Hyo Bin Im, known in San Ramon as Pastor John, was charged with child concealment, unlawful sexual intercourse and animal cruelty on Tuesday. The bizarre list of charges were a shock for members of Im’s Contra Costa Korean Presbyterian Church. The youth pastor announced his resignation on Sunday, but didn’t explain why he was leaving. He told the police that he was the founder of The Living Well Ministries, a Christian non-profit that allegedly helped widows, homeless, and orphans.But he apparently never brought these high-minded goals home. The  Police also found two 17-year-old runaways living in the youth pastor’s house, BBCN1 reports. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Frankenstein and the Bible

Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein  was published in London in the early 1800's well after the Jewish legend of the Golem-creature who protected 16th century Jews in Prague Although there are some differences between the story lines, the similarities between Frankenstein and the Golem are striking: For starters, they were both big and scary with superhuman strength. Plus, they both had to be Jewish. I mean, most of my Jewish relatives have names that end in "-stein"... Goldstein, Silverstein, Frankenstein... you name it. And my own Grandma swore that my Grandpa looked like a Golem. And just to drive home my logical deductions even more, the Talmud talks about a Golem being created who couldn't communicate verbally (Sanhedrin 65B) and it seems pretty clear that Frankenstein doesn't utter any intelligible language known to man. Either that or Frankie works as a NYC subway operator. Although the Talmud may have spoke about Golems, Isaiah spoke about "wearying...
Post a Comment
Read more