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With Jewry in crisis, Reform are still pushing disunity agenda. WHY!?
By Mandell I. Ganchrow
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THIS week saw the opening of
registration for the World Zionist Congress elections. As
mortars fell in Gilo, it seemed surreal to serve as the
chairman of the Orthodox effort for this election. On the
very day that I received calls from the Jewish Community
Relation Council and the President's Conference on the
need for unity, strength, diligence and an all-out effort for
our September 23 solidarity rally for Israel, I also
received a fax from Artza, the World Union of Reform
Judaism.
The Reform leaflet starts starts off with: "Ultra-Orthodox
politicians are threatening Jewish unity and the Jewish
community." Let us look at this headline and other
charges that the Reform movement makes in this
document.
Firstly, it creates a straw man - someone you always
love to hate, namely "the ultra-Orthodox."
We ask the question: Are there any ultra-Orthodox
slates running in this election? Do the "ultra-Orthodox"
belong to the Zionist Congress? Or, in fact, is
"ultra-Orthodox" code for all Orthodox parties, Modern,
Left, and Center?
Secondly, if there is such an entity as "ultra-Orthodox,"
then there must be a group of "ultra-liberal" Jews. Does
this refer to those clergy who marry gentiles, who do not
observe the Sabbath, who recognize patrilineal descent
and perform same-sex marriages? Are these members of
the "Jewish" clergy, who divorce themselves from Torah
and tradition?
Isn't it time to declare "ultra-Orthodox," a pejorative
term and discard it from our vocabulary?
"Reform marriages, conversions and burials are not yet
recognized," the leaflet declares. Does the Zionist
Congress decide these issues? Wouldn't the proper
forum for the solution of the Reform Movement's
problems to be to take 100,000 American Reform Jews,
convince them to migrate to Israel and then run Reform
candidates for the Knesset, where these decisions are
made?
"Registering and voting in this election will give you a
voice in critical decisions to finding 'who is a Jew' and
not leave the decisions to ultra-Orthodox politicians," the
leaflet continues. Again, these decisions are in the hands
of the Supreme Court of the State of Israel and the
Knesset. The declarations on these issues from the
World Zionist Congress are mere words.
"Ultra-Orthodox politicians call our rabbis 'clowns,'" it
cries.
In these elections, which member of any slate running
against Reform is guilty of such a crime? Who are these
so-called politicians? In fact, this is another example of
subjecting the reader to inflammatory and biased
suggestions in the hope that they will get angry, rather
than understand the issues and the need to vote as good
Jews. It is a campaign of hate - hate against all Orthodox
Jews.
"A Reform Jewish kindergarten was firebombed."
Who did it? Isn't the intention of this headline for readers
to assume that it was the same people who labeled their
rabbis "clowns," those "ultra-Orthodox politicians," who
threaten Jewish unity by burning reform institutions?
These innuendoes are meant to inflame and incite. Why is
it that we hear nothing regarding Orthodox schools and
synagogues in Israel which are damaged by vandals,
such as in Efrat? If they are not suggesting a culprit, why
raise the issue?
"The future of our Movement remains in doubt."
It is clear that voting for the Reform slate for the Zionist
Congress will not change the status of the Reform
Movement in Israel. The Reform Movement's problem is
that the Israeli people are not ready to adapt to a religion
that is so radically different from the Judaism of our
Torah and of their parents. They understand that,
whereas Reform Jewry in Israel does not practice
patrilineal descent, or approve of same-sex marriages,
the American movement does. When the Israeli
movement has gained some credibility they, too, will
adopt these changes. It is no wonder that there is only an
infinitesimal number of Israelis who have become Reform
Jews.
How sad that the Reform movement was the only
movement to cancel its Israel programs this summer. This
week, thousands of young Orthodox students arrived
here to spend at least a year of study. The contrast
speaks for itself.
If I had my way, I would forget these whole elections.
As long as Jews are dying on the road to Modi'in and in
Hebron, and it is unsafe to sit in a pizza restaurant in
Jerusalem, it is not the time to be spending millions of
dollars on a divisive campaign in America. But if we are
going to have an election, let's stop the character
assassination.
There is only one line in the Reform Movement's
message that should be taken note of... "we can instill
tolerance."
Reform should practice what it
Mandell I. Ganchrow is the executive vice president of the Religious Zionists of America. To comment click here.