The next time a rep.of Israel comes to my Reform Shul to Beg for money for Israel.I will not give money. Y. Hardisty

First of all, I'm closer than you think. And number two, it's not me or a community who decides who is a rabbi but the Torah, and third of all, I think a lot of people have a lot of nerve complaining about this when they are not complaining about how the families of Gush Katif -- MOST OF WHOM HAD SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO FOUGHT to protect Israel -- were not only not welcomed to a speech, but were kicked out on their A-ss.. We can live in denial all we want. After all, if we weren't -- we wouldn't all be here in the hellbasket of YNET. Peace, bro! B'emet!!:)

the Orthodox are beneath contempt- they stand for nothing but themselves and are a blight on the name of Judaism

and join an Orthodox Shul.

Breaved father not excluded. Reform Rabbi demanding recognition as a Rabbi excluded. They are not the samething.

of the Torah, Talmud and Halacha. If you don't believe in these and make up things what are you teaching? Certainly not what a Rabbi should be teaching.

it is very sad Israel must change this kind of issues, hotdox are the problem they don't don't pay taxes don't go to the TZAL and the still disturbing please AM ISRAEL JAI, tolerant , open mind, reflexove not dictatorial like orthodox

Rabbis do not make a prayer more kosher. A rabbi is a man, be he orthodox or be he reform. If he is a Jew, he can say a prayer and its effect will be felt if it is to be felt in this universe.

1. Reform Rabbis do not believe in G-d 2. They do not believe that Mosus ever lived or received Torah 3. They do not believe that was ever exodus from egypt 4. They consider Hanukka a wrond Hollyday and big mistake in the Jewish history 5. They formed to promote Tikkun Olam which means fighting agaist social injustice, fo minimum wage, Darfur, for Gay rights, same sex, etc.

I've heard that Reform is basically Jew-lite, that it doesn't require it's members to keep kosher and allows for interfaith marriages. What is it exactly because I'm confused?

This is dispicable, and immoral. The protesting and intimidating Haredim that played a role in this should be ashamed to call themselves Jews by any definition. And, those that gave in to pressure need not be proud of their courage. How dare they all ? Their disrespect and intolerance for differing interpretations of Judaism should be punished, and their religious monopoly should be ended. Rabbi Boyden's son gave his life, and this is the thanks he gets from an unappreciative and arrogant group of misguided inhabitants of sweaty, black suits who are military dodgers, believing themselves to be the guardians of Judaism. HOW ABSURD THE ENTIRE SCENARIO HAS BECOME !

I assume this "Orthodox community" means the Religious Zionists...since the chareidim wouldn't be participating in this ceremony in the first place... They cry "Ahavat Yisroel" when it suits them, but then behave like this.

I have my opinion on reform "rabbis" many tbs already know He may not make the choisest "rabbi" but certainly he is a choisest father of a choisest son and as such he is entitled to pronounce any prayer he wishes ....

Reform. Are we not one people? Is the country that we defend not the same country? When our enemies aim to eliminate us, physically, each one of us, do they ask of our affiliations? Any how many Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) soldiers have ever defended our country, and died in its defence? How sad, how sad indeed!!!

THE HEAD OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

against the reform rabbi who wished to honor his fallen son. cruelty is against the jewish religion. are the orthodox rabbis not aware of this?

It was agreed that he can say the prayer as a father not a rabbi but it was preferable to make a big deal of the matter. Shame on that father who takes advantage of a such an event to feed his ego.

Good grief, Ellen First of all, you say you're in Florida. Are you lying? Number two, the Torah says absolutely nothing about rabbis. NOTHING! It is the community who picks its rabbinical leaders and the rabbis go out and give smicha (ordination, in case you haven't heard of the word) to rabbis. Go look in the Torah and show me where it says what a rabbi is. carumba! And thirdly, Gush Katif has absolutely nothing to do with this incident. NOTHING. What you're doing bringing it up here is beyond comprehension - stick to the issue, will you? The issue is the haredim and their often disgusting behaviour. It has nothing to do with halacha and everything to do with money and power. If you lived here, you'd understand that, and you'd understand that snubbing a man who's child died in the service of the IDF and country is simply disgusting behaviour and has nothing to do with Judaism, halacha, or rabbis.

For all you who think that you know what a Reform rabbi believes or doesn't believe, here's a true story and it happens to be about Rabbi Boyden. When Rabbi Boyden's son lay in a coma for weeks after being wounded in Lebanon, Reform congregation members and rabbis and well wishers in Israel and in the golah offered numberless prayers for r'fuah shlema. When Rabbi Boyden's son died, someone asked him how could God not answer so many prayers? Rabbi Boyden replied, "He did answer. No is also an answer". Stop casting dispersions on honorable rabbis like Rabbi Boyden and many other Reform and Conservative rabbis who are dedicated to their communities, to Judaism, and to the State of Israel.

Shame on you Tzviah ! how do you dare to write such a disgusting sentence . He was denied to say a prayer as a Rabbi , that's already more than disgusting . The fact that he is reform don't takes away that disgusting decision . And if there was a Christian Israeli who fell ? would they also ban a priest to say a prayer ? If those fallen Israeli soldiers are good enough to defend their country , let them have prayers said in their memory , it be by an orthodox , reform , Druze or Christian .

Shame on your lashon hara! I am sure you never met Boyden and never asked him about what happened otherwise you wouldn't commit such an avera as to write what you did. You have no idea what kind of ego he has, yet you smear his name here. Since you have slandered him here publicly, you are obligated to go ask for his forgiveness. Shame on you.

This article is a sad reminder of the power of the Orthodox. What a disgrace to the the nation as a whole. How many sons of the Orthodox have given their sons in war. I am certain very few. They are to busy finds faults with the Jews protecting them.

and may we merit to see only Religious Jews in the Israeli government. Amen!

The religious in Israel are divided into many different camps, but you can draw a large line between the "ultra-orthodox" and the "national-religious". Both are very religious and send their sons to religious seminaries to study the Torah. The ultras for the most part do not serve in the army. The national-religious not only serve in the army, but emphasize army service. So much so that a large percentage of the national religous males serve in combat units, and of consequently sufferred higher casualites. You're welcome to come to my community next time you're in Israel to see this first hand and talk to my neighbors and friends who have lost children who were serving. For many of us, a visit to a cemetary is always a good reminder of how mortal we all are. Unfortunately as this article shows, others don't seem to be affected at all.

You wrote: "the Torah says absolutely nothing about rabbis. NOTHING! It is the community who picks its rabbinical leaders and the rabbis go out and give smicha (ordination, in case you haven't heard of the word) to rabbis." Either you follow the contra-Orthodox heresy that Torah does not include Halakhah or you are astonishingly ignorant that Halakhah defines semikhah and rabbis. Either way, your views concerning rabbis and semikhah are NOT those of an Orthodox Jew. You make it sound like the community elects whomever they want (a Reform guy? a Jews for J*esus?) and then Orthodox rabbis have to rubber-stamp the democratic vote of the community. LOL Your suggestion that yours is the Orthodox National Religious is your community ("As a member of an orthodox community here in Israel...") is deceit. Orthodox what? Greek? Karaite? You are a hypocrite who charges others with leshon ha ra (slander, #81) while you spew unmitigated leshon ha-ra yourself: charging that the ultra-Orthodox only care about a mourning father "simplhy because he is a Reform rabbi and a threat to their powerful control over the country" and "It has nothing to do with halacha and everything to do with money and power." I frequently criticize the ultra-Orthodox community but you go way beyond accurate criticism to generalizing and stereotyping born of hate-spewing leshon ha-ra. Ynet's headline was a misrepresentation and you comprehended nothing further. "The rabbi was given an option to participate as a private individual and not as a Reform rabbi. He refused, and his participation was consequently cancelled." A father focused on grieving for his son would have chanted the prayer as a private bereaved father, NOT use his son's funeral as a lever to wedge his heresy into the mainstream community. The only thing sad about the Reform Apostasy "in this country []being a very small minority with almost no power" as you whine is that these heretics, who brought about the Holocaust, are present in Israel at all. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

For an anti-Judaic, anti-religious, anti-Orthodox slanderer and hate-mongerer to shout shame on Tzviah for conveying the truth is what is shameful and disgraceful. The Reform cleric was thinking either about his own ego, leveraging the "event" of his son's funeral into an opportunity to impose the defilement of his Reform heresy into the mainstream community. What is sad is that he was NOT focused on grieving for his son. Charles wrote: "And why not allow a priest if there is a non Jew who gave his life for Israel ?" Your line of reasoning leads to a Jews for J*esus officiating if "one of theirs" is killed in the IDF. This is the same direction in which the Reform heresy led the Jewish community into the Holocaust -- and the Reform cleric and Charles, in his boundless myopia and consequent hate-spewing slander, would have us retrace these steps yet again. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

How do you dare to tell me that i'm hatefull anti Jewish , you who unther the mom of a "israeli orthodox jew" writes always in the way jews for jesus do , you who need to add this lie after your name in order to convince yourself and others that you are Jewish . This is not the first time i tell this , and i'm not alone . And you know i'm right , you never answered this . You say you are converted , but for me , due to your writings , you are only a fake jew . If someone was good enough to give his blood for my country , he has the right to have prayers said at his grave . And it is not a paqid , a pseudo convert who can deny this right to him .

You wrote : the reforms who brought about the Holocaust . How do you dare to write such a disgusting sentence . This can only be said by a disgusting bipede . I'm sorry but this is revulsing me . And for this 1.5 million innocent children were murdered ! I understand this coming from a "convert" [ as you say ] who did not loose all his family members as many of TRUE Jews did .

And so as one orthodox Jew to another, I thought to myself, yes I can salute the logic here of sophisticated pilpul, not some screaming hysteric, spitting bile and hatred. Until the conclusion. And that is what is worse than all the other blinkered ignorant fundamentalists who have Talked back. You apply logic and careful thought even to suggesting that perhaps Rabbi Boyden was using this awful time for him as an attempt at a PR stunt, which when examining all possibilities is feasible. And then you become just like all the rest with your conclusion. You need to know that when standing on the platform at Auschwitz it didn't make a single difference to the SS whether you were Satmar, Gerer, Lubavitch, Boyden or Paqid - Reform or Orthodox.