A spokesman for the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada has reported that Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik of Boston, the organization’s honorary president, condemned the National Religious Party for joining Israel’s new coalition government. Rabbi Soloveitchik, speaking March 19 to the organization’s administration, said the NRP had not adhered to the command of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and of rabbinical authorities throughout the world who opposed the NRP’s joining the coalition as long as the Israel Law of Return was not amended to bar acceptance of Jewish immigrants converted under non-Orthodox auspices. He said the NRP had also desecrated the honor of the rabbinate.
Rabbi Soloveitchik was quoted as saying: “My opinion is the same today as I expressed myself a few weeks ago, that it is prohibited to enter the government, because it concerns an issue which determines whether halacha can be affected in the public life of Israel. I have not changed my opinion because in such a vital issue there is no alter native.” Rabbi Soloveitchik also said: “All achievements with which the NRP is boasting about have no value. If they wanted to justify their entrance in the government because it was a time of ‘crisis,’ and therefore they had to overlook the ‘Who is a Jew’ law, the question immediately rises, why didn’t (Premier). Golda Meir become frightened. She did not overlook anything and remained by her stubbornness.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
