Orthodox Jews Urged to Support Chief Rabbinate

The head of the nation’s largest rabbinic body issued a fervent plea today to the American Orthodox Jewish community to “support the institution of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel and the two distinguished scholars who are at its head.” In remarks prepared for delivery tonight to 500 delegates attending the national conference of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Louis Bernstein, president of the RCA, stated that “We are fortunate in having two spiritual leaders who see in the State (of Israel) a spiritual dimension, namely, that it represents the beginning of potential redemption as foretold by our prophets.”

Rabbi Bernstein also declared: “We send forth our unstinted expression of confidence and solidarity with Chief Rabbis Shlomo Goren and Ovadia Yosef. We ask them to stand stalwart, unswerving, in meeting the great challenges which confront them. We, the rabbis of the Council stand ready to follow their leadership.” A Council spokesman said that this is the first rabbinic body in the United States to take a public stand in support of the Chief Rabbinate. He also stated that the Council’s Executive is expected to adopt a resolution stating, in part:

“Today we are witness to attacks against the Chief Rabbinate and the Chief Rabbi. These attacks threaten the authority and continued existence of the institution of the Chief Rabbinate. It would be a sad day. if God forbid, the Chief Rabbinate were weakened and its position made untenable in the Holy Land. We call upon those to whom the Torah is dear to desist from conflict,…It is perfectly proper to dispute any halachic decision rendered by any halachic scholar but the dispute must not involve personalities or utilize methods which take away from Torah and are not in keeping with its dictates.”