A detailed response from Hiddush president, rabbi Uri Regev, to Rabbi David Eliezrie of Chabad, who held that the Israeli Rabbinate was right in opposing the planned Christian pilgrims prayer: I appreciate your interest and concern over this matter, and hope that once you [and others who are reading this post] know the facts you will join me in expressing strong criticism of the assault by the Chief Rabbis and other senior rabbinic officials, which is aimed at preventing the public prayer vigil planned by the International Christian Embassy for the thousands of Christian pilgrims that are coming to Israel under their auspices to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. I am sorry that I did not manage to respond before Yom Kippur, but am doing it now, nighttime in Jerusalem. I am appalled by the position taken by the Council of Christians and Jews in the UK, and am sorry that their haste and irresponsible statement, coupled with the misrepresentation by the “Christian Today” article [for instance, stating that what the Chief Rabbis did was to tell “Orthodox Jews in Israel they should not accept the invitation to attend”., misled you as to the facts and possibly other readers of the article and recipients of the CCJ statement. Unlike what you assume, for the Chief Rabbinate it wasnt the fact that this is a prayer vigil or that it takes place near the Southern Wall which prompted their vocal and sharp objection. They have already strongly objected to the annual pilgrimage organized by the ICEJ in the past, and for instance already back in 2007 they protested the gathering and a rally organized in the center of Jerusalem. [ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3448386,00.html]. When you read the description of the event on the ICEJ site [feast.icej.org/special-prayer-vigil] you wonder where the Rabbinate has gotten the notion that this prayer vigil is intended for missionizing purposes, and since these annual pilgrimages are held for quite some years, I would like to add also that I am not aware of any waves of baptism of Israeli Jews occurring as a result of this mass pilgrimage of Israel loving Christians. [One should only note the abundance of congratulatory letters and oral accolades to the ICEJ for its work on behalf of Israel by PM Netanyahu, Mayor Barkat, and other major Israeli leaders: int.icej.org/endorsements] Also of note is the fact that even if the organizers would have liked to see Jews joining their religious faith, there is nothing illegal about it as far as Israeli law is concerned. Needless to say, its quite clear that the law would have been different if the Chief Rabbinate had its way, when both the Christian missionaries as well as Reform/Liberal/Conservative and secular Jews who drive their cars on Shabbat would face potential criminal charges possibly entailing capital punishment. Rabbi Jonathan Romain, quoted in the article you linked, is absolutely right that the Rabbinate may issue an appeal to its adherents that they should not follow missionary outreach [and we find comparable appeals voiced in recent years by Orthodox sectors against each other as for instance currently by followers of Rabbi Steinman against followers of Rabbi Auerbach, by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zl and his successor against the HaBayit HaYehudi and Zionist Orthodoxy, by Rabbi Shach zl against Chabad etc. Of course - looking back at the battles between the Mitnagdim and the Chasidim make some of the current disputes pale in comparison]. But none of that excuses the attempt to prevent the thousands of Christian pilgrims from holding their prayer event altogether, nor does it diminish from the severity of the fact that this assault is launched by State employees, rabbis who are civil servants, drawing their salary from the State, in different senior positions. Furthermore, not only does there not seem to be substantiation to the claim that this prayer is designed to missionize Jews, the language used by the rabbis is outrageous, unacceptable and potentially criminal; See both the statement of the Chief Rabbinate [The purpose of the organizers is to dig their claws in the holy city and land and to cut off our Jewish brethren from the land of the living. One should also note the hypocritical nature of another point made by the Chief Rabbis: The mutual respect among religions should be safeguarded in a way that does not entail one religion hurting another ] and the Derech Emunah rabbis, who initiated the assault on the event, joined co-signed by a number of City Rabbis and Yeshiva heads, who published a proclamation using the biblical verse from Deuteronomy as title: “Make no alliance with them, nor show mercy to them”. [It states that the planned events involve “missionaries that attempt to deceitfully enter into Jewish souls and strengthen the church’s hold on more sites in the Old City. We hereby proclaim that it should be prohibited to conduct rituals of idol worship in the surroundings of the Temple Mount.” It refers to Jesus as That man, SRI (acronym for may the name of the wicked rot)]. As a matter of fact, the Derech Emunah rabbis did not need to wait for this pilgrimage in order to spew their anti-Christian venom, and already in May, for instance, they published a responsum, in anticipation of the historical Popes visit, in which their Chairman, Rabbi Efrati, who is the organizing force behind the current assault on the ICEJ pilgrimage, in which he presented their religious teaching that the Pope should not be accorded any language of respect, nor should he be looked at. Efrati suggested that when referring to the Pope, the title Hegmon Avoda Zara [a bishop of idol worship] be used. Needless to say, the Chief Rabbis, who are so careful about maintaining mutual respect between Judaism and Christianity, did not see a need to admonish Derech Emunah and publicly refute them. I have no contact with the ICEJ nor do I know anyone associated with it, but I was ashamed and concerned over the public assault waged by the Chief Rabbis and other senior rabbinic officials and fear its consequences at a time when hate-speech, especially when rooted in religious teachings, is so rampant. As you too hint, it is particularly disturbing when made just a few days before Yom Kippur. I felt the need to counter it to the best of my ability, and turned to PM Netanyahu, Minister Bennet and the Attorney General to intervene in their respective roles. I am appalled by the public statement issued by the CCJ, without bothering to learn the facts, in a way that both unjustly insults the International Christian Embassy and offends the thousand of Christian pilgrim expected to arrive to Israel next week, and rewards the Chief Rabbinate for their outrageous assault, violation of Israeli law and unacceptable undermining of religious freedom.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 05:16:33 +0000