Six Orthodox rabbis and deans of yeshivot issued a statement here today denouncing “violence and terror” by Jews as a transgression of Torah law. The statement, released to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by the Agudat Israel of America, was issued in the name of the Council of Torah Sages (Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah).
An Agudat Israel spokesman, who described the signatories as “a group of the foremost Torah scholars in the world,” said the statement was “a clear reference to recent acts and threats of violence against Russian officials and property in the United States.”
VIOLENCE TERROR CONTRARY TO HALACHA
Their statement read: “In response to widespread queries regarding the viewpoint that our Jewish brethren can be helped in their distress through violence and terror, whose advocates perpetrate various acts of assault and destruction on persons and property: We herewith proclaim that such acts are contrary to halacha and that according to Torah law they are to be viewed severely as very grave prohibitions. We therefore declare that whoever follows their ways will suffer extreme retribution. Needless to say, he is considered a transgressor of Torah law. The general community should distance itself from them and their ways.”
The statement was signed by Rabbi Yaacov Kamenetzky, dean of Mesivta Torah Vodaath; Rabbi Yaacov Yitzhak Ruderman, dean of the Ner Israel Rabbinical College of Baltimore; Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner, dean of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin; Yisrael Spira, the Hasidic rabbi of Bluzov; Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, dean of Mesiva Tifereth Jerusalem; and Nachum Perlow, the Hasidic rabbi of Novominsk.
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.
