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Rabbis for Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel

A trans-denominational rabbinical network

Chief Rabbi Lau slams Minister Bennett, Winter 2015

Primary Sources

Hebrew

In an interview on Radio Kol Chai on Dec. 9, 2015, Chief Rabbi David Lau discussed Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett’s recent trip to the USA, during which he visited the Solomon Schechter of Manhattan, which is affiliated with the Conservative Movement. Among other things, Rabbi Lau stated that Minister Bennett should have consulted with a rabbi before planning such a visit, for by going to the school he legitimized the Conservative Movement, which distances Jews from Judaism. The transcript of the Hebrew interview can be found here and downloaded here in mp3 format.

 

Background Sources

English

It subsequently came to light that Chief Rabbi David Lau himself had visited two pluralistic, egalitarian schools in 2015: the deToledo High School in Los Angeles [click here] and the The Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital [click here].

 

Responses

English and Hebrew

Against Rabbi Lau Supporting Rabbi Lau
English
  1. The Rabbinical Assembly (International association of Conservative rabbis), Dec. 9, 2015
  2. Rabbi Dan Dorsch (Board member of Mercaz USA: The Zionist arm of the Conservative movement in America), Haaretz, Dec. 16, 2015
  3. Amichai Lau-Lavie (Rabbinical student and first cousin of Chief Rabbi Lau), The Forward, Dec. 14, 2015
  4. Rabbi Uri Regev, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 13, 2015
  5. Rabbi Uri Regev, Jewish Journal, Dec. 16, 2015
  6. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel), Jerusalem Post, Dec. 17, 2015
  7. Amnon Scharia (13 year old student at pluralistic Jewish school that Rabbi Lau himself visited), The Forward, Dec. 14, 2015
  8. Jerry Silverman (President & CEO of JFNA), Times of Israel, Dec. 14, 2015
  9. Elazar Stern (Member of Knesset, Yesh Atid Party), on ynet website, Dec. 17, 2015
  1. Rabbi Mordechai Neugroschel (popular ultra-Orthodox lecturer), radio interview (Heb.) quoted on Arutz 7, Dec. 16, 2015
Hebrew
  1. Rabbi Gilad Kariv (Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism) on ynet website, Dec. 13, 2015
  2. Rabbi Benny Lau (Rabbi of Jerusalem’s Ramban synagogue and first cousin of Chief Rabbi Lau) quoted on Srugim website, Dec. 11, 2015
  1. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu (Chief Rabbi of Tzfat) and Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel (Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, and former president of Tzohar) quoted on Srugim website, Dec. 13, 2015

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