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RCA Practicing '111cCarthyism,'
Liberal Orthodox Rabbis Claim

JONATHAN MARK

Special to The Jewish News

A

n assault on liberal
Orthodox rabbis has
been mounting
within the Rabbinical Coun-
cil of America, according to
prominent rabbis who have
compared the tactics being
used to the McCarthyism of
the 1950s.
Those tactics, the rabbis
say, include blacklists, a
committee investigating
"un-Orthodox" activities
and personal attacks on the
exponents of the liberal
theology known. as "modern
Orthodoxy."
Two recent targets of
repressive activities who
confirmed the charges are
Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Green-
berg, president of CLAL, the
National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership,
and Rabbi Avi Weiss, spiri-
tual leader of the Hebrew
Institute of Riverdale and a
well-known political and re-
ligious activist.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin,
founding rabbi of Lincoln
Square Synagogue and chief
rabbi of Efrat, a west bank
community, when asked if

Jonathan Mark writes for the
New York Jewish Week.

he agreed that there was
McCarthyism within the Or-
thodox world, said: "Yes, I
do. I think there's a right-
wing extremist mood
wherever you go now."
Rabbi Marc Angel, newly
elected president of the Rab-
binical Council of America,
the largest Orthodox rab-
binical group in the world,
confirmed that the RCA has
an un-Orthodox activities
committee known as the

"What sort of
hatred leads one
to misrepresent
and use
McCarthyist
methods . . . to
destroy the
credibility of
someone else?"
Rabbi Greenberg

Va'ad HaKavod (the Com-
mittee of Respectability)
that investigates those who
are "considered not Or-
thodox."
Rabbi Angel told the Jew-
ish Week that he par-
ticipated in secret hearings
held by this committee to
decide whether to expel
Rabbi Greenberg from the

organized Orthodox rab-
binate. Rabbi David
Hollander, a former presi-
dent of the RCA who says he
is "outraged" by Rabbi
Greenberg's positions, is an-
other who admits to being on
the committee.
Rabbi Greenberg, one of
the pre-eminent modern Or-
thodox philosophers, is
under attack for his efforts
to find common ground bet-
ween the Jewish denomina-
tions and his theological
essays on the Jewish-
Christian ecumenical pro-
cess. The rabbi is also under
fire for the activities of his
wife, Blu, a leader in the
movement to expand the
spiritual and ritual
possibilities for Orthodox
women.
Though Rabbi Angel
claimed the Greenberg hear-
ings were not hostile or "a
witch hunt," Rabbi Green-
berg's friends in the RCA
advised him to protect
himself by seeking legal
counsel.
Rabbi Angel's committee
also targeted the Fellowship
of Traditional Orthodox
Rabbis, a group founded in
1988 by rabbis who felt the
RCA was stifling dissent.
The FTOR says it seeks to
provide an Orthodox forum

Rabbi Weiss:
Told to resign.

Rabbi Greenberg:
Attacked for efforts.

"without fear or recrimina-
tion," and has supported
Rabbi Greenberg.
Rabbi Angel said he issued
an "ultimatum" to members
of the FTOR stating that
membership in the group is
incompatible with member-
ship in the RCA. The
ultimatum suggests a
blacklist aimed at the re-
quirements of Orthodox con-
gregations that a rabbi
cannot be employed if he "is
ineligible" for RCA mem-
bership. Loss of RCA mem-
bership would also affect the
halachic status of anyone
who then used the services of
these rabbis.

The blacklist would extend
to Israel, for example, since
Jews who convert under the
supervision of non-RCA
rabbis are considered not
Jewish according to those
who suggest a change in the
"Who is a Jew" law. The
Israeli government recog-
nizes only the authority of
RCA rabbis or those af-
filiated with more rigidly
Orthodox organizations.
Young modern Orthodox
rabbis who do not have
pulpits or security in the
rabbinic community told the
Jewish Week that they have
been warned by RCA in-
Continued on Page 10

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ROUND UP

Pamphlet Focus
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Anti-Semitism in the Age
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while Soviet Jews now enjoy
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Soviet Jews protest in Moscow: A
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Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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