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Prejudice in Reform Judaism
Within Reform leadership there is clearly an element of both overt and covert animosity toward Jewish tradition
Recently Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, posted an article on his blog entitled “The Good and Bad of Chabad.” To his credit he acknowledges the monumental work of Chabad emissaries all around the world and the fact that Chabad is reaching Jews no one else does. However, he then moves on to criticize Chabad. It is not my intention here to defend Chabad against his rather weak attacks. But I do want to point out that Yoffie’s movement is itself far from perfect.
Clearly, as a traditional Jew, I do not agree with the doctrine of Reform Judaism and I do not condone its wholesale changing of the Judaism practiced by Jews for thousands of years. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that some modern-day Reform rabbis do share my concern for the future of Judaism in America and many have been attracted to their jobs by a sincere quest for greater Jewish meaning.
Since I arrived in the United States two years ago to work within Jewish communities, I have, however, been stunned by the antagonism many Reform Jews have toward both the tradition and Orthodox Jews. Just recently, a self-proclaimed Reformed Jew, who is close with his local, very prominent Reform Rabbi, asked me why there is rancor among Jews. “There are only 14 million Jews. Why can’t we all just get along?” he said. I asked him where he sees the division. He replied that his Reform rabbi talks about Orthodox Jews with obvious hatred and he assumed - falsely, I may add - that I, a traditional rabbi, had the same feelings toward Reform Jews.
To be sure, there are many Reform rabbis who openly respect the tradition and some prominent Orthodox figures who have inadvertently added fodder to negative stereotypes. No doubt ignorance also plays into these prejudices. Nevertheless, within the Reform leadership there is clearly an element of both overt and covert animosity toward the Jewish tradition they have rejected, and that feeling has been imparted to the layperson.
For many years now, Reform has dominated the religious Jewish landscape in the United States. In my outreach work I spend a lot of time dispelling the misconceived and sometimes vicious stereotypes about Orthodox Jews that have been inculcated by the Reform movement.
It is staggering that many liberal-minded Jews are open to ideas and practices from, for example, Eastern religions and Native American mysticism, but for some reason they are closed to ideas and practices that come from within the tradition of Judaism. This is obviously due to a deeply entrenched prejudice against tradition and Orthodoxy. The Reform movement has much to answer for in this regard.
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