Orthodox Jewish leaders meeting here over the weekend fiercely attacked leaders of Reform Judaism for allegedly trying to undo the religious status quo in Israel and vowed to overturn a recent Jerusalem municipal court ruling allowing the opening of movie theaters there on Friday nights.
The leaders and nearly 3,000 delegates attending the 65th national convention of the Agudath Israel of America also heaped scorn on world Jewish leaders who enter into dialogue with the Vatican.
Rabbi Moshe Sherer, president of the Agudath Israel of America, declared in his keynote address that “Jewry’s face should flame with shame that a Jewish court in Jerusalem could issue such a decree against the Sabbath, particularly after the unchallenged acceptance of these laws for 30 years under the non-Jewish British Mandate and for 40 years under the State of Israel.”
He vowed “action and not just tears,” adding that “in Israel, they must know that religious Jewry throughout the world will not sit silently by and permit Jerusalem to be turned into another Paris.”
Sherer accused Reform leaders of supporting reversal of Jerusalem’s Sabbath laws and other “status quo” accommodations and “making a deal with Israeli politicians in order to import their ersatz brand of Judaism to Israel” and “cunningly manipulating the media to poison the minds of the public to resent Orthodox Jews.”
He expressed outrage at the Reform movement’s recent decision to bring its own “version of Judaism” to Jews in the Soviet Union. “The last thing needed by these heroic Jews, who are risking so much to reclaim the Torah. . . is to be misled by American Reform rabbis who teach that Torah is not inviolate,” Sherer said.
At another convention forum, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, a scholar, author and editor of Artscroll Publications, assailed “the so-called ‘Jewish leaders’ (who) scurried to Castel Goldolfo (the papal summer residence) to confront Pope John Paul with their angry protests and righteous demands, emerged from the audience with beatific smiles, then converged in Miami for the long-planned love-fest on television.
“They announced as a positive result of this meeting a conference on the Holocaust, and now, lo and behold, that too has not materialized,” Scherman said.
He observed that Torah scholars revered by Orthodox Jews have consistently ruled that it is permitted and often required to deal with the Church on issues of common concern, while they specifically forbid religious dialogue or extension of “craven honors” to other faith communities, often initiated out of concern for headlines rather than the true welfare of Jews.
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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.
