Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Urges All Jews to Avoid Abortions

The Israeli Chief Rabbinate has sent an appeal to Jews all over the world to avoid abortions because they are “contrary to Jewish religious law.” A letter signed by Rabbi Akiva Gottlieb, chief secretary of the Rabbinate in Jerusalem, will be presented tonight to a meeting sponsored by the Long Island Right to Life Committee, a group comprised of Catholics, Protestants and Jews opposed to legalizing abortions. The text of the letter was made available to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today by Rabbi David Hollander, vice president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, an association of Orthodox rabbis. It reported on a conference on the problem of abortions sponsored by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate at which abortions were denounced as “the taking of human life” and “a threat to national security.” The letter assailed “woman activists who, supposedly for the sake of improving the circumstances of families with many children, are urging women to employ various means to limit their birth.” The letter claimed that “while there is a struggle to bring immigrants from other countries to Israel, there is a reckless attempt to reduce the population internally.”