A call for the abolition of all religious parties in Israel was voiced here today by Rabbi Samuel A, Turk, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, in an address opening the organization’s three-day annual convention. The Alliance represents some 400 Orthodox rabbis in the United States and Canada.
Rabbi Turk urged both secular and religious forces within the State of Israel to halt the cultural strife which, he said, has prevailed since the inception of the Jewish State. This could be accomplished, Dr. Turk asserted, by a mutual declaration recognizing Israel as a secular state in no way representing the fulfillment of Jewish hopes for the millennia.
The rabbinical leader suggested that such a secular state, which would have complete autonomy for local Orthodox communities, would assure that Orthodox Jews could live a full Jewish life as they saw it. At the same time, he said, secular Zionists must cease to speak of Israel in terms of Jewish redemption and the religious Jews must not try to use the coercive power of the state to enforce religious legislation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
