To the Editor:
The one thing that you don’t mention in your piece about Richard Jacobs is the elephant in the room: His appointment represents a sharp turn to the political left for the Reform movement.
A member of J Street’s Rabbinical Cabinet, and an enthusiastic supporter of its program, Rabbi Jacobs is proud to have taken part in an anti-Israel demonstration of the Sheik Jarrah Solidarity Movement, which The Jerusalem reported has a manifesto that "calls for an end to the ‘occupation’ and the ‘liquidation or fundamental change of organizations that contribute to the dispossession of Arabs, including the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and the Israel Lands Authority."
Rabbi Jacobs has said also that he "agrees with" the thesis of Peter Beinart’s controversial New York Review of Books article that young Diaspora Jews don’t relate to Israel because it is becoming undemocratic and theocratic,
and doesn’t treat Arabs like human beings.
The Union for Reform Judaism has made a serious mistake in picking a leader who is at the leftmost extreme of the movement.
Vic Rosenthal
Fresno, Calif.
