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CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110
Thursday, Aug. 3, 1950
Page S
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Writer Replies to Israeli
Denial of Religious Bias
By WILLAM ZUKERMAN
FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS reports have appeared and specific
charges have been made in the Jewish press all over the world
to the effect that the government of Israel, in conjunction with the
Religious Bloc of Israel with which it has entered into a political
agreement, has been violating the democratic principle of separa-
tion of religion from state and was forcing Orthodoxy on all Israeli
citizens, whether they believe in it or not.
Last week, a spokesman for'
the Israeli government, I. L. very walls with their outcries
Kenen, director of information against this discrimination . . .
and delegate to the UN, issued If there is a single Jew in Israel
what may be described as the who is deprived of his civic lib-
first detailed official reply to erties because of his religion,
some of these specific charges. then there is injustice in the
Writing in the "Nation" (June land of Israel. There can be
15) in reply to this writer's no compromise with wrong. We,
letter in a previous issue of the as liberals, as rabbis, as Jews,
magazine (June 8), Kenen de- as humanitarians, protest."
nied the general accusation of
theocracy and dealt with sev-
RABBI P. LAZARUS of Haifa,
eral specific charges.
one of the three Reform rabbis
Since the subject is of tre- in Israel, in a recent letter to
mendous importance and since this writer, asserts, "Briefly
this is the first One that the stated, Israel is now an Orthodox
government of Israel has con- Clerical state. Not one of the
descended to voice its view of- three small Liberal congregations
ficially on the subject, the reply in Israel has been recognized by
deserves close scrutiny:
the Orthodox Rabbinate, and not
Kenen denies in the first one of the four Liberal Rabbis
place that Liberal and Reform may officiate, for instance, at a
Jews in Israel are being discrim- marriage ceremony.
inated against. According to him
Only the Liberal rabbi of
these groups enjoy the same Jersualem was granted, by mere
rights as Orthodox Jews and, if accident, defacto recognition, but
they were numerous enough and not de jure privilege of officiating
wanted to, they could build at marriage ceremonies. At best
Temples and follow their re- we are permitted to officiate un-
ligion exactly in the same man- der the supervision of some
ner as the Orthodox Jews. This Orthodox Rabbi .. We Liberal
is not in accordance with the Jews have been unable to this
facts. I shall simply reproduce day, after 12 years of existence,
a few quotations by leaders of to erect a House of Worship for
Liberal Jews in Israel and in our congregations. We worship
this country which speak. for in basements."
themselves.
Space does not permit quota-
At the 61st annual convention
of the Central Conference of tions from all the speeches, ser-
mons and articles in the English-
American Rabbis, an organiza-
tion of more than 500 Reform
Rabbis in the United States, held
at Cincinnati from June 17-22,
Dr. Jacob R. Marcus stated in his
presidential message:
"We ask that Liberal Robbis
(in Israel) be granted the same
rights as all other rabbis and
the same rights as Christian and
Moslem clergymen. L i be r a I
Rabbis, with one exception, are
not permitted to preside at mar-
riages, divorces, or to perform
other functions which are not
denied to other groups, Jewish
or Gentile, in the land of Israel.
If such a condition existed in
this country, the rabbis of this
conference would shatter these
Jewish press in this country and
in Canada protesting against this
most flagrant discrimination
practiced in Israel against a sec-
tion of Jews.
I shall merely mention the im-
portant speeches by Dr. Milton
Konwitz, of Cornell University;
Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, presi-
dent of the Union of Hebrew
Congregations; Rabbi A. Feld-
man, former president of the
American Rabbinica' Council;
and numerous editorials in the
"Jewish Examiner" (Brooklyn),
"Jewish Exponent" (Philadel-
phia), "Jewish Advocate" (Bos-
ton), "Jewish Chronicle" (De-
troit), "Intermountain Jewish
News" (Denver) "Israelite
Press" (Winnipeg) — all Zionist
newspapers.
Yet, Kenen says there is no
discrimination.
who is right?
but nearly a million non-Ortho-
dox Jews who are controlled
and directed not only in their
synagogue services, but also in
marriage, divorce, inheritance,
diet, Sabbath-rest and other
vital matters of every day life.
Kenen further confuses the
entire issue by citing facts that
Orthodox Jews in the U. S. are
also obliged to live under the
same restrictions of Orthodoxy
as the Jews of Israel (such as
segregation of women in the
synagogues, dietary limitations,
etc.).
What he fails to say is that
in this, or in any other demo-
cratic country, a Jew who is not
Orthodox and does not want to
follow these laws, can escape
from them easily by either join-
ing a Liberal Synagogue or by
leaving the Synagogue entirely,
while in Israel, he must obey
the Orthodox laws because the
state gives him no other choice.
Kenen is correct in one state-
ment that he made, namely that
the present theocratic rule in
Israel was not initiated by the
Israeli government but by the
Mandatory Power. But since
when is everything that the
Mandatory Power has done
sacrosanct for the government of
Israel?
Why could Israel sweep ayay
economic and political iniquities
of the Mandatory Power and not
the religious?
Whether for the latest news or
the best In advertising, it always
pays to read the Jewish Chronicle
the year round.
• • •
KENAN CLAIMS that there
are only *700 Reform Jewish
families in Israel. The rest of
the population comes from coun-
tries where Reform Judasim is
not known.
The implication is that the
issue is insignificant because it
affects only a very small section
of the population and that Orth-
odoxy dominates in Israel be-
cause it is the religion of the
bulk of the population. This,
too, is incorrect and misleading.
For while it is true that the
majority of Jews in Israel come
from countries where Reform
Judasim was not known, they
were not all Orthodox. On the
contrary, they were mostly
further from Orthodoxy than
are the Liberal Jews.
They were neither Orthodox
nor Liberal, indeed, they did not
belong to any synagogue, and
at best could be described as
non-sectarian.
Thus, this is not a matter
which affects only 700 families,
This Is Your Challenge
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On the back page of this week's
Chronicle is an Absentee Ballot.
FILL OUT YOUR BALLOT
It doesn't matter how you vote .. .
As Long As YOU VOTE!
Say . . .
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