Image by Getty Images

By Ron Kampeas October 5, 2016

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s joke at a rally, in which he singled out people who were not Christian conservatives, was “unacceptable,” said a top Reform rabbi.

“Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative,” Trump said at a Sept. 28 rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after assessing that the crowd was overwhelmingly Christian conservative. “I want to see this, right. Oh, there’s a couple people, that’s all right. I think we’ll keep them. Should we keep them in the room? Yes? I think so.”

Iowa is competitive for the Republican nominee, and he hopes to turn out the state’s religious conservatives to defeat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president. Ribbing his followers is part of Trump’s campaigning routine.

Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the director of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, said in a statement that even as a joke, Trump’s remarks were unacceptable, and linked the joke to Trump’s broadsides against Muslims.

“Singling out people in a crowd at a political rally, based on their faith or lack of faith, even as a joke, is unacceptable,” Pesner said.

“This should go without saying in the United States in 2016, but it evidently does not,” he said. “A candidate who has called for banning refugees based on their religious beliefs and increasing surveillance at houses of worship has established a pattern of intolerance and scapegoating. America was founded on the ideal of religious freedom.”

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief

You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.

And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.

That’s where you come in. Gifts of any size keep the Forward free and accessible to everyone and ensure we have the resources we need to power the Forward at this critical time for American Jews.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Will you support our work today?

, editor-in-chief

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT