Why Israel’s Religious Leaders Oppose Reform Judaism

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/11/why-israel-s-religious-leaders-oppose-reform-judaism.html

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For once I'm actually interested in what NY Jew's take on something would be, though he isn't here now. But I found the article pretty interesting, even if somewhat depressing and with vile implications (especially as the author seems to agree with the sentiment, as evidenced by his bit in the middle about how children raised in Reform Judaism often...marry non-Jews! Oh the horror!) The concern the Orthodox rabbis in Israel have with racial purity is kind of ironic if you think about it, but something I was a bit familiar with due to ag's postings on Israel's discriminatory marriage laws. Even most American Jews would agree with the whole thing is pretty disgusting.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Interesting, because my rabbi, a gay marriage performing, DNC speaking, high profile Rabbi refuses to marry Jews and non-Jews.

Then it's pretty sad that we let such a bigot speak at the DNC. Imagine if some pastor refused to marry Christians and Jews. Neither party would want anything to do with them.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Such an attitude is restricting on freedom for anyone raised in that religious minority.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Such an attitude is restricting on freedom for anyone raised in that religious minority.

Meh. To be sure it is. There are however often (not always, but often) reasons, good or bad, why people are 'bigots' (scare quotes used here because in this particular case I'm hesitant to use that term, not because it's not usually applicable), and especially when those people are members of a historically persecuted minority it behooves us to try to understand them.

I'm a little sensitive toward such attitudes because according to my mom some of her relatives (very old at the time and none are alive today) were fussy about her getting married in a Lutheran church and even marrying a Lutheran at all. To give an even more extreme example of this that happened about 20 years earlier check out his first anecdote here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCJDXPV3xpU

 I don't know anyone in my family alive today who'd be like that, but then you still have people like the rabbi mentioned above. I just really dislike "ethnoreligion" in general. It gets even worse in other contexts, look at LDS culture, or lots of Muslim countries, or the BJP in India.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It has been my experience that Orthodox and Reform Jews really, really don't like each other. It's not just theological. It's personal. And it doesn't help that they largely live in different worlds where they are unlikely to encounter each other. Orthodox Jews are all about the bloodline. If your mother is Jewish, then your Jewish. And if she's not, you're not.  And before any Orthodox couple gets engaged, each family will do thorough research on the other to ensure a proper background. And not just to ensure the other party is Jewish. A history of divorce or mental illness or a "conversion" to practicing Orthodoxy are huge red flags, even if the conversion was many years ago. Orthodox personal ads seek FFB. Frum (religious) from birth. Reform Jews are usually just culturally Jewish. They are encouraged to question doctrine. They'll probably light candles at Hanukah and may attend Yom Kippur services, but are largely very liberal with an ACLU view of the world.

Well yeah just look at NY Jew and what he said for an example of how Orthodox feel. Basically he believed Reform Jews were equivalent to Nazi supporters. Enough said.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It has been my experience that Orthodox and Reform Jews really, really don't like each other. It's not just theological. It's personal. And it doesn't help that they largely live in different worlds where they are unlikely to encounter each other. Orthodox Jews are all about the bloodline. If your mother is Jewish, then your Jewish. And if she's not, you're not.  And before any Orthodox couple gets engaged, each family will do thorough research on the other to ensure a proper background. And not just to ensure the other party is Jewish. A history of divorce or mental illness or a "conversion" to practicing Orthodoxy are huge red flags, even if the conversion was many years ago. Orthodox personal ads seek FFB. Frum (religious) from birth. Reform Jews are usually just culturally Jewish. They are encouraged to question doctrine. They'll probably light candles at Hanukah and may attend Yom Kippur services, but are largely very liberal with an ACLU view of the world.

Well yeah just look at NY Jew and what he said for an example of how Orthodox feel. Basically he believed Reform Jews were equivalent to Nazi supporters. Enough said.

I'd be wary of considering NY Jew representative of, uh, anything.

His views and what he spoke of obviously came from somewhere and his environment, as Xahar noted frequently he was clearly quite sheltered (Do you think he had ever met an openly gay person for instance?) Of course he was clearly a bit, eh "unique" despite all this.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Amish aren't really the question here per se as they tend to completely ignore those outside of their community but rather some church that ostracized people for marrying Jews or non-Christians.

Here's a hypothetical. Let's say there's a couple of a Jew and a Christian. They decide to get married, and the Christian is OK with a Jewish wedding, so they go to the asshole bigot rabbi benconstine mentioned. He refuses to marry them. So they get married in a church instead from a Christian pastor.

Between the rabbi and the pastor, who was more restrictive on the freedoms of the Jew involved in the wedding?

Similarily the Israeli religious leaders opposing intermarriages are enemies of freedom to Jews and Israeli citizens (and unlike the aforementioned bigot unfortunately they aren't irrelevant, since Israel doesn't have a separate civil marriage law.) The victims of these people include Jews who wish to marry non-Jews. It's not a big a problem in the US where close to half of Jews marry non-Jews anyway and it's usually not controversial but read this about Israel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interfaith_marriage_in_Judaism#Jewish_opposition_to_mixed_marriages_between_Jewish_women_and_Arab_men

Anyone else reminded a bit of pre-Civil Rights Era south warning white women about the evils and dangers of black males?