The recently launched Shadarim Department of the Union Of Community Rabbis initiated a joint call by senior rabbis in religious Zionism to address the state of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora in their speeches this Shabbat.
The organization called on rabbis to discuss the fate of the Jewish people in exile and the challenges facing Jewish communities around the world with the aim of connecting the Jews of Israel with their brothers in the Diaspora and bringing a sense of responsibility and partnership for world Jewry..
"We call with a holy voice to all the rabbis in the parishes and synagogues to raise this issue on Shabbat Parashat Vayeshev in which we in public read the great cry of Yosef the righteous: "I seek my brothers." For this he first needed to know their situation: "Tell me, where they are grazing?""
Among the signatories to this call are the the Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Aryeh Stern, Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Chaim Druckman Chairman of the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Rabbi of the Beit Yehuda community and Chairman of the Brit Olam, Rabbi Uri Amos Sharkey, Chairman of the Community Rabbinical Association, Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu and more.
Shadarim director Rabbi Haim Markowitz said: "Yosef's statement 'I seek my brothers' guides the Union of Community Rabbis, who seek to prevent the loss of Jewish communities abroad. The general state of Judaism and the high percentage of assimilation exacerbate the worries of the important rabbis of the national religious public in the country. They feel that we are not doing enough to address this great challenge, and moreover - we feel no responsibility whatsoever for those who are there."
He further stated: "That is why they are appealing to the rabbis of the community across the country, asking them to raise public awareness of the issue this Saturday.