When I first read the headline, “Voices Divided Over Israel” (April 20) and the claim that the article concerned a “not exactly pro-Israel shul in Brooklyn,” I was dismayed. But after reading the article, I had one big chuckle and thought it was a belated Jewish Week Purim shpiel.
To summarize, this “shul” does its “davening” in a Presbyterian church and is led by a lesbian rabbi who favors boycotting products made by other Jews living in Israel’s West Bank settlements. By its own admission, the synagogue does not “explicitly” support Israel, omits the prayer for the welfare of Israel and the United States on Shabbat, and is a haven for those who “reject Israel as a Jewish state.”
The synagogue’s school curriculum includes the “Palestinian perspective” and the rabbi and her members apparently have no issue with Palestinians describing Israel’s creation as a “catastrophe.” This description of an American synagogue and rabbi sounds more like a sitcom playing on Arab television than a mainstream Jewish house of worship. As the saying goes, with friends like these who needs enemies. Thankfully, their views on Israel do not reflect the majority of Americans in general or Jewish Americans in particular.
Staten Island
The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
