כ' לחודש העשירי תשע"ד
Anniversary of the Passing of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon
(Ramba"m/Maimonides)
Arutz 7: Anger at Netanyahu for 'Embracing' Reform Judaism
Hareidi leaders quoted as saying PM 'deepened the damage to the hareidi public' with address to Reform movement.
Gil Ronen, December 17, 2013
Unnamed hareidi leaders expressed their anger Tuesday at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for what they said was his public recognition of the Reform Judaism Movement.
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| "Bibi folded up" ie. caved in (Image Credit: Baruch Marzel) |
Netanyahu addressed the Reform movement's US conference through a live video link, and said that “Israel needs to be the home of all the Jews, including Reform ones, and I will do all I can so that everyone feels we accept them.”
The hareidi leaders, who are quoted in hareidi newspaper Hamevaser, claim that previous prime ministers have always resisted Reform leaders' “heavy pressure” to address the biennial conference. “It is too bad that Netanyahu is adding fuel to the raging fire and pushing the cart further into the abyss,” they said.
"This is even more serious because these are very sensitive days, in which hareidi Jewry is fighting for its life because of the decree for forcibly enlisting yeshiva students. On days in which the tension needs to be lessened, the prime minister elects to deepen the damage to the hareidi public, and strengthen the Reform movement that has led to grave assimilation in the Jewish people.”
"By so doing, Netanyahu proves that the struggle is not for 'equality in bearing the civil burden' or other cliches. This is a clear plot to destroy religion, Torah and the mitzvot [commandments]. That is the true aim and there is no other.”
Reform leaders expressed great satisfaction with Netanyahu's speech, calling it “a historic shift in the relationship between Israeli prime ministers and the Reform movement.” They added that the change does not satisfy them and that they demand equality in status with the Orthodox Rabbinate.
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| Naftali Bennett Minister of Religious Affairs |
Unlike most previous coalitions headed by Likud, the present Coalition does not include hareidi parties. It does include the religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi, headed by Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, who forged a surprising alliance with secularist Yesh Atid's leader, Yair Lapid. Bennett initiated the construction of an extension of the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza, especially for use by Conservative, Reform and other non-Orthodox streams, called Ezrat Yisrael. The move was a compromise deal to diffuse tension at the Kotel amid agitation by the Women of the Wall organization for non-Orthodox prayer arrangements. (cont.)
Esser Agaroth (2¢):
Compromise? More like
And yet, from Bennett's own party, and not only that, but from his own Deputy Minister...
Arutz 7: 'Reform Jews have Gone Too Far'
Dep. Min. Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan says only Orthodoxy can keep Jews in Israel from being split in two.
Gil Ronen, November 13, 2013
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| Rb. Ben-Dahan |
The Reform representatives attacked Israel's attitude toward the Reform Jews living in it, and called on Israel to learn from the American government and allow the same kind of freedom of religion.
"Here in Israel, there is no separation of religion and state," answered Ben-Dahan. "Rather, the religion is part of the state. Therefore, the attempts to compare Israel and the US on matters of religion are incorrect."
Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, he said, "was from the Labor party, not from a hareidi party," yet he "decided that he wants to bring about a situation in which all of the Jews coming to Israel can live together in the state, with the aid of the widest common denominator, and that is the Orthodox common denominator. Unless it remains that way, we will turn into two nations," he warned.
Rabbi Ben-Dahan criticized the Reform movement. "I want to stress," he said, "the only place in the world where the Jewish nation is growing and not shrinking is the state of Israel, unlike America, where the Jewish nation is shrinking. You wanted to be liberal, but you went too far."
Esser Agaroth (2¢):
Again, in my opinion, Rabbi Ben-Dahan was much too nice when relating to these Galuth (exile) oriented, assimilationists.
After all, Reformism is not even Judaism.
Apparently, the Prime Minister never received the memo.
Or, maybe, just maybe, it was covered up by something else, like a check.
3 comments:
For decades, I have been in favor of Torah true camps joining together to start computerizing Sifrei Yichusim, just like back in the good ol' days of Ezra and Nechemiah.
The only condition I have is that the conditions of entry for such records are the most lenient possible according to halacha (not according to some lone rabbi's whims) and that the data contained therein is nothing more that a YES, without historical records of any kind from previous generations.
Just imagine the abuse and misuse of such data were it otherwise.
B"H - If you push the issue one step further, it's clear that the Zionist mission is to de-Judaize the Jew and to normalize him into the nationalistic framework of the nations of the World. That this is being done on the G-d-given Land of Israel and in the name of the very Judaism they are out to destroy makes it only worse. Worse than the Nazis, actually. The Nazis were and are clearly seen and visible as the enemy. The Zionists on the other hand, pose as saviors, making it very difficult to fight them: Clever!
This is the "cleverness" of the Yetzer HaRa. He's had eons to learn from past mistakes and adjust his tactics accordingly. These erev ravians are just his minions.
And don't forget, this is going to be one of the tasks for Eliyahu HaNavi when he comes with Mashiach. He will identify each Jew with his ancestral tribe. Furthermore, Hashem knows who the real Jews are and they will be the ones left standing when the evil ones have been uprooted.
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