Rabbi Moshe Sherer, executive president of Agudath Israel of America, took issue today with Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, for his attack on the Law of Return amendment which passed its first reading in the Knesset last Wednesday. Sherer was particularly angered by the segment in Schindler’s statement which noted that new political efforts are underway “to disqualify two-thirds of world Jewry from membership in the Jewish people.”
Responding to Schindler’s statement, which appeared in the July 28 Daily News Bulletin, Sherer said that the Reform leader painted “a false picture about the consequences of this amendment” by failing to speak about “the single key issue at stake: how can one be converted from a non-Jew into a Jew.” Sherer said that the proposed amendment “does not in the slightest” disqualify two-thirds of world Jewry from membership in the Jewish people.
“The truth is,” Sherer stated, “that the amendment addressed itself only to non-Jews who sought to become Jews. It does not have the slightest effect on the status of anyone born as a Jew of a Jewish mother, who is considered a Jew in the fullest sense, regardless of whether he or she affiliates with any of the Reform or Conservative groupings.”
These Jews, Sherer continued, “have the status of Jew in the fullest sense of the word.” He urged that any dialogue on this question “stick to the pivotal issue: whether a non-Jew who seeks to be recognized as a Jew can simply join our ancient faith community through a non-halachic procedure, or whether, indeed halachic requirements must be met.”
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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.
