To Rabbi Andrew Sacks and Rabbi Barry Schlesinger of the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel:
I have been your supporter since my childhood, but now it's over.
As a secular Jew who was interested in getting to know more about Judaism, I have approached you several times since my early youth, and you have provided me with great opportunities. I have learned a lot from you. I appreciated your commitment to an open and friendly Jewish world-view that would not judge harshly my ineptness in Halachic matters, would not confront me with an all-or-none dogma, and would not - in contrast to some religious establishments - corrupt itself by meddling in issues outside its scope, such as Israel's defense policy.
I have met some wonderful people in your framework. Many were left-of-center in their political beliefs, others were not. Regardless of politics, they have been kind and welcoming, and I count them among my friends. I have enjoyed attending your prayers.
That changed on Rosh HaShanah.
Right after the Torah service, I happened to pick up this month's Kehilaton, your movement's Hebrew publication from this recent time of "disengagement". I was shocked to the point of nausea to see you posing gleefully on the front page, in front of a stack of pizzas, to be delivered as a courtesy, no, not to the victims of Ariel Sharon's expulsion, but to the soldiers and police, the pawns who actually perpetrated this disgusting crime. The accompanying article began by barraging the reader with a volley of absurd rhetorical questions that were seemingly phrased with one goal in mind - to do away with any trace of moral clarity.
Gentlemen, I do not care if you follow the ideologies of Shimon Peres, Marx, Lenin or Mao. You, as individuals, can think whatever you want.
But who gave you the right to represent all of your members and supporters in jumping on the Osloid bandwagon?
Did you make sure that there are no nationally-oriented people in any of your congregations? Or maybe our "minority" view just does not count?
Why did you feel obligated to take sides at all? Could you not just stay neutral and keep out of the debate altogether?
I do not know what favors you won with the Mafia in power by prostrating yourself in this manner. I do not care if what you did will be "smart" or "stupid" for your movement in the long term, because, for me, anyone who has lent his hand to the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza and Samaria has a bad case of moral blindness, and is not fit to be a soldier, a policeman or a leader, much less so a rabbi.
History will judge those who willingly took part in the expulsion of innocent people from their homes not for the sake of a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but only to make more room for a profitable, international, criminal enterprise. As for my humble opinion, the verdict has been reached.
Count me out.
I have been your supporter since my childhood, but now it's over.
As a secular Jew who was interested in getting to know more about Judaism, I have approached you several times since my early youth, and you have provided me with great opportunities. I have learned a lot from you. I appreciated your commitment to an open and friendly Jewish world-view that would not judge harshly my ineptness in Halachic matters, would not confront me with an all-or-none dogma, and would not - in contrast to some religious establishments - corrupt itself by meddling in issues outside its scope, such as Israel's defense policy.
I have met some wonderful people in your framework. Many were left-of-center in their political beliefs, others were not. Regardless of politics, they have been kind and welcoming, and I count them among my friends. I have enjoyed attending your prayers.
That changed on Rosh HaShanah.
Right after the Torah service, I happened to pick up this month's Kehilaton, your movement's Hebrew publication from this recent time of "disengagement". I was shocked to the point of nausea to see you posing gleefully on the front page, in front of a stack of pizzas, to be delivered as a courtesy, no, not to the victims of Ariel Sharon's expulsion, but to the soldiers and police, the pawns who actually perpetrated this disgusting crime. The accompanying article began by barraging the reader with a volley of absurd rhetorical questions that were seemingly phrased with one goal in mind - to do away with any trace of moral clarity.
Gentlemen, I do not care if you follow the ideologies of Shimon Peres, Marx, Lenin or Mao. You, as individuals, can think whatever you want.
But who gave you the right to represent all of your members and supporters in jumping on the Osloid bandwagon?
Did you make sure that there are no nationally-oriented people in any of your congregations? Or maybe our "minority" view just does not count?
Why did you feel obligated to take sides at all? Could you not just stay neutral and keep out of the debate altogether?
I do not know what favors you won with the Mafia in power by prostrating yourself in this manner. I do not care if what you did will be "smart" or "stupid" for your movement in the long term, because, for me, anyone who has lent his hand to the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza and Samaria has a bad case of moral blindness, and is not fit to be a soldier, a policeman or a leader, much less so a rabbi.
History will judge those who willingly took part in the expulsion of innocent people from their homes not for the sake of a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but only to make more room for a profitable, international, criminal enterprise. As for my humble opinion, the verdict has been reached.
Count me out.