Jewish Scene
100 rabbis protest recognition of non-Orthodox rabbis
Kobi Nahshoni
Published: 27.06.12, 15:17
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1. Re Last Paragraph, Nah, Haredim unrivaled #1 at that!
Israeili Jew ,   Israel   (06.27.12)
2. Amar is tearing the Jewish people apart
Carl ,   USA   (06.27.12)
I would suggest that the "attempt to tear the Jewish people into two nations" is being perpetrated by this "orthodox" rabbi with his intolerance and hatred. Conservative/ Masorti and Reform JEWS are no less Jewish in the eyes of He Who actually matters.
3. Somebody please tell me
Shalom ,   Ashdod, IL   (06.27.12)
where are the words orthodox, conservative and reform mentioned in holy writings? These were fig-leaf terms which were created by so called "Rabbis" to add a seal of kosher approval to their actions and of their fellow members of not upholding Halacha. Just like an aborted baby is called product of conception; this way it is easier to swallow tha he was "aborted" (mind you not killed). For example, Reform congregations do not even believe that the dead will rise again so please TELL me how do you even call them Jewish. They should call themselves by any other name rather than Jews and leave that title to the people who follow the Torah that Moshe Rabbenu ע''ה brought down in Mount Sinai. I can't wait for the Mashiah to see how he deals with these misguided charecters.
4. to #3 rising from the dead
iselin ,   Oslo, Norway   (06.27.12)
I do not understand how any rational being can believe that this could happen. And how will that messiah be recognized? Just because someone who thought the world was flat chipped it onto a tablet or wrote it on a scroll a few thousand years ago? Most of us need more convincing proof than that.
5. All the more reason...
Aharon ,   Holon, Israel   (06.27.12)
To not fund ANY form of religion. Religion and State should be separate! I don't want MY taxes going to any religion. THIS is what's keeping the Haredi in a position of power. They get State money AND they don't have to serve in the Army?!? This is tantamount to being an elite class!!!
6. "Reform Arrogance"
dr harry ,   Jerusalem   (06.27.12)
""Rabbi Amar describes in the letter how me and my colleagues trample the Torah, eradicate Judaism, destroy the religion and are responsible for the devastation of the people of Israel – all with the aim of harming the sanctity of the Torah."SIMPLE QUESTION???? CAN YOU PROVE HIM WRONG!!!!!!!!!!Typical again, right out of your handbook, quoting the Torah you don't believe in, "the Torah commands us to 'love your neighbor as yourself." I love all Jews, but that will not stop me from protesting against SCAMMERS. Outright FRAUD. You have rejected God & His Torah as the way of Life, so you have man made a religion, that you want to call Judaism.
7. Fairness and non-discrimination
R Narz ,   Toronto   (06.27.12)
Either fund all or fund none.
8. "all that is holy..."
mea   (06.27.12)
The Orthodox popes, oops I mean to say rabbis, have zero authority beyond what their flock pays them to have. No great scholars of Tprah have emerged from the current lackey system of freeloading and taking advantage of the welfare system for the religious. If it is a holy idea for an entire sector to freeload to study (and I use the word loosely because I doubt most study each and every day) then why are the yeshivas producing nothing in the way of scholarly work? Curently it is a political faction, browbeating the country into believing that they and they alone shall receive payment and authority. There is nothing holy about that and it is actually quite dangerous to tell the majority of daspora Jews that our religious is foul. See how soon it is before I send another dollar to any Orthodox cause. Let them carry on with their fake orphan charities drives targeting the nitwit Christians pandering toward the Jews. The Reform movement has a place at the table and has done MORE for diaspora Jews discovering Torah than any overweight bearded chap in Israel. MOre people find comfort in Reform simply because we are allowed to exercise our interpretation through dialog and learning and ultimately between ourselves and Hashem than being forced into ridiculous 13th century Polish Halloween costumes and sexist living. I had an Orthodox conversion but elf tit off since I don't believe God made me an inferior being to males.
9. Baseless Hatred is never good Jews!
(06.27.12)
10. #6 sinat khinam - Dr. Harry
David Cohen ,   Milwaukee, WI, USA   (06.27.12)
Dear Dr Harry, More apropos might be the question - "Can you prove him right?" The reason our people still exists is that, from time immemorial, there have been both conserving element and adaptive elements in the community. Today they are orthodox and liberal, respectively; a few hundred years ago, it was the mitnagdim and the khasidim; 2000 years ago it was the Saducees and the Pharisees. If we were reform and conservative, we'd be at a collective disadvantage. Yet, the same is true if we were all orthodox. It's the dynamic tension between these two approaches,coupled with our, as to date, our unwillingness to write each other our of the group altogether, that has made Jewish existence possible. So Ken Yirbu - let the shevim panim LaTorah - the seventy faces of the Torah continue, collectively, to illumine our path - and just as I tolerate your closed mindedness, please tolerate my adaptive take on Judaism's place in the world.
11. Talmud
Jake ,   Herzliya   (06.27.12)
Which Talmud is correct then? The Jerusalem Talmud or the Babylonian Talmud? Is it the one that the most people practice? What if most Jews practice the tenets of Reform Judaism? Moreover how can anyone Jewish believe in the afterlife? The afterlife is a Christian development that influenced Judaism. Bottom Line: keep religion out of politics. Israel should be a country with a Jewish flavor, not a theocracy.
12. Non-Jews
Bertram ,   London, UK   (06.27.12)
I do hope that those in Israel who believe that Conservative and Reform congregations should not be described as Jewish will encourage the rejection of any donations to Israel by such congregations in the Diaspora.
13. #10 David - Well said!!
Carl ,   USA   (06.27.12)
14. In the USA, some of the reformf are Jews.;
Susan ,   Kfar Saba   (06.27.12)
With rampant intermarriage and low requirements for conversion, about half of their membership is not Jewish. Enough said.
15. To those supporting Rav Amar.
Avishai ,   Tel Aviv   (06.27.12)
Throughout history there have been people with different levels of observance and different nusakhim. But according to Rav Amar, if one does not pray as he prays, then they must not pray at all. And to say that a man/woman is not Jewish, only because he prays according to a different nusakh is arrogant beyond my comprehension. Judaism is monotheistic, but it is not and never has been monolithic. Even among the so called 'Orthodox' there are huge differences. Fund all or fund none. To do otherwise is religious coercion. A Rabbi is only a man, a teacher, an adviser. He is not a king.
16. @11 don't know much do you...
EBZ ,   Israel   (06.27.12)
Your questions are not very well informed or intelligent. The concept of after life you say is Christian? I do believe that you are 100% wrong! Really I see that you don't know very much about Jewish eschatology because if you did you would be very familiar with the concept of "aḥarit ha-yamim" which makes its first appearance in the Tanakh. The first appearance of this concept is in Sefer Dvarim chapters 28-31 And as we all know Sefer Dvarim is the last book of the Torah and we all know that the Torah predates Christianity by a very large number of years. Bottom Line: keep your stupidity out of our religion because I can tell that you are a masquerading non-Jew flash dancing onto our pages with your foolish uninformed devisive statements.
17. #10 yes he can
Yosef ,   Boca Raton   (06.27.12)
Obviously he can. Is not against the Torah desecrating Shabbat? Is not against the Torah to eat treif? Is not against the Torah to enlist women as Rabbis? Is not against the Torah for women to wear male garbs (Tallit and Tefillin)? Is not against the Torah to not circumcise your sons? Is not against the Torah to marry Homosexuals? And all this disgusting acts Reform and Conservatives applaud. Yes he is right. And you and all your reform rabbis will die like the goys they want to be and loose their place in Olam HaBa.
18. against the heretics
Yosef ,   Boca Raton   (06.27.12)
For slanderers let there be no hope, and let all wickedness instantly perish. May all Your enemies be quickly cut off; and as for the malicious, swiftly uproot, break, cast down, and subdue quickly in our day. Blessed are You, L-rd, who breaks the power of His enemies and subdues the malicious.
19. bigotry
e Andrews ,   Belfast Ireland   (06.27.12)
100 bigoted rabbis, these men of god should be out protesting their countries policy of keeping Palestinian children in prison, instead of protesting other peoples view of religion
20. MA'Amarei Amar
philipmax ,   USA   (06.27.12)
Whether ou are modern orthodox,conservative or reform, you never hear hateful language against your fellow Jews. This Amar has all the signs of a raging Taliban. Regretfully, this is what they teach their children. Our tax money supports their vile institutions. WAKE UP!! and smell the coffee!!!
21. Rabbinate love...
basri ,   paris   (06.27.12)
I don't feel I am jew in front of these men, I feel I am jew with somebody that I can love. Rabbi or not at all. If this personne has a great heart, he may be jew like me. But he has to accept our thora and respect our rules. Each one may be proud of himself. And of the other one.
22. @11 what? c 16 but more important go study!
Ami ,   Jerusalem   (06.27.12)
honestly boyo #16 has got you pegged...no Jew (not even a secular one) would make the ridiculous statements you make in your post. Really how stupid do you think we are ... I mean its ynet and everything but we have brains!
23. @18 that was devisive & hateful of you!
Abraham ,   Rishon   (06.27.12)
therefore right back at you! and a suggestion...do go get involved in your own internal politics and religion...and leave ours alone.
24. How many Rabbis does it take to
shrinkDave ,   Miami USA   (06.28.12)
turn in a lightbulb? One. The Rabbi holds the bulb, and the WHOLE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND HIM.
25. RABBIS
TOM ,   NEW YORK   (06.28.12)
TO JUDGE WHETHER OR NOT REFORM & CONSERVATIVE RABBIS GO TO AMERICA. THE REFORM MOVEMENT DOESN'T KEEP KOSHER AND ACCEPTED THAT JUDAISM IS DETERMINED BY THE FATHER DUE TO THE HIGH RATE OF INTERMARRIAGE . THE CONSERVATIVE RABBIS DO OBSERVE MOST OF HALACHA ,SUCH AS KASHRUTH , SHABOS. WHERE THEY DEVIATE IS ALLOWING WOMEN RABBIS AND MIXED SEATING. .
26. real rabbis
avi ,   nyc   (06.28.12)
as long as reform , reconstruction's, gay, humanistic , j4j , and conservative rabbis have less Torah training than teen aged Yeshiva students and their twice a year followers less than 6 year old yeshiva students, they'll always be frauds,. also since so many of their adherents are not halachically Jewish they will always be a joke.
27. rabbi amar
naim ,   miami florida usa   (06.28.12)
I feel lots of respect for the jewish faith ,because is the religion that gave us the torah the book of my faith too ( i'm an evangelical christian ) ; but it so happens that being an arab , nothing remind me more of the mullahs of Iran than the attitude and the photo of rabbi Amar.
28. #3
Enoch ,   Toronto   (06.28.12)
Where is a "Chief Rabbi" mentioned in the Torah.
29. I favor rabbis who do not make me throw up when I see them.
Michael ,   California, USA   (06.28.12)
30. #17&18 another weekend Jew who wants to dictate Israels ways
John ,   Europe   (06.28.12)
If I remember, you are obligated to live in Israel? And, none of the 3 exceptions apply - Jewish wife is easily found in Israel, you can earn money in Israel as you can in America and you can practice religion in Israel. So, you staying in Boca is utterly two-faced. And your tendency to tell Israelies what to do with their religion is also low - cause you don't have guts to drop all and like real Jew move to Israel. Also, how do you comment that MOST of the Israel help from the outside - statistically, bout 80% of aid - comes from SECULAR Jews or REFORMS or CONSERVATIVES - i.e. people who DON'T observe mitzvot to the fullest? Ok, many of them have your way of seeing things - will never admit they are masorti, claim to be orthodox, but somehow always watch TV on shabbat or even drive to synagogue - but nevertheless, they are main sponsors of various aid to Israel, not only financial but also voluntary, political etc. I myself am quiet about somebody's way to worship G-d and in my community there is unwritten rule where you will WARN your fellow mate that what he do is "wrong", but - for insults to G-d, HE is more than capable to deal with them themselves. The fact that Reform Judaism is still not dead after all this time gives me thought that G-d have His plans about them and wants them alive. Which implies that He even have some sympathy for them. Then how can I hate them?
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