Jewish Continuity Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game
Not only are the Orthodox not contributing to the implosion of liberal Judaism, but they are in the forefront of efforts to hold it back.
Not only are the Orthodox not contributing to the implosion of liberal Judaism, but they are in the forefront of efforts to hold it back.
Our self-identification as “conservatives” on a host of issues is not, in actuality, partisan, but the unavoidable consequence of being shomrei Torah U’Mitzvos, Torah-observant.
There is hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. It is easy to recognize the hate of 50 years ago; it takes discernment to recognize the hate of today.
There are multiple reasons why the demand from the American liberal movements for a place at the Western Wall “equal” to that provided to traditional Jews offends logic and reason.
Rabbi Gordimer, with all due respect, you’re mistaken. You didn’t have any explaining to do. You were gracious in your apology, but you cannot truly offer penance when you have done no wrong.
When it is the editor of The Forward who expresses her "dread, despair and embarrassment" that Israel avoided extermination in 1967, we can express our disappointment, but few of us are surprised.
Anti-Semitism is far too serious a matter to be used as a partisan political weapon. Objectively, this administration is shaping up to be the most philo-Semitic since George Washington wrote his letter to the Jews of Newport.
This conflict is probably the liberal movements’ last opportunity to export their failed models to the Holy Land. If current patterns continue, in a decade the future of Judaism in America will be obvious. Today, Israeli government officials often believe that the leaders of the liberal movements speak for “Diaspora Jewry.”
Jewish life in Judea corrects an historic wrong and reverses centuries of deliberate ethnic cleansing. And those of us living in the United States deserve to know that new immigrants are coming here, as our own ancestors did, seeking a life of liberty and the pursuit of mutual progress — rather than to hasten the expansion of the Muslim caliphate onto new territory.
Why are the American liberal movements trying to change prayer at the Western Wall? There is much more on their agenda, and the end result would have permanent and tragic consequences.
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