The photo accompanying Robert Goldblum’s essay, “The Year Of Living Divisively” (Dec. 29), showed Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, in the middle of a melee at the entrance to the Western Wall Plaza. Your caption claims that he was “getting roughed up”; this is a biased misportrayal of events.
The simple fact is that Rabbi Jacobs was breaking the law.
Rabbi Jacobs could have prayed at the space allocated by the government for his use, but he spurned it, bent upon imposing his diversion from Jewish tradition upon those who follow it. Although but one Torah scroll is required for a weekday morning service, he led a group carrying eight, misusing them as props in his political theater.
And, of course, he knew that it is against the law to bring outside scrolls to the Western Wall. He forced his way past the guards, needlessly accosting them. So to whatever extent Rabbi Jacobs was “roughed up” — and those guarding the security barrier tell a different story — this was entirely the result of his own misbehavior.
President, Coalition for Jewish Values
Manhattan
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