Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Calls Reform Jews ‘Like Holocaust Deniers’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar called Reform Jews worse than Holocaust deniers because they reject traditional Jewish law.
Amar, who is a former chief rabbi of Israel, in his weekly class last week referenced the Israel Supreme Court decision, handed down hours earlier, in which it called on the government to either reinstate the Western Wall agreement with non-Orthodox groups or explain why it should not force the state to honor the deal.
“They don’t have Yom Kippur or Shabbat but they want to pray [at the Western Wall]. But no one should think that they want to pray, they want to desecrate the holy. They are trying to deceive and say that extremist haredim invented” separate prayer at the Western Wall,” Amar said during his lecture, first reported Tuesday in the haredi Orthodox news website Kikar HaShabbat.
“It’s like Holocaust deniers, it’s the same thing. They shout about Holocaust deniers in Iran, but they deny more than Holocaust deniers. In all of the Mishna and Gemara there was a women’s section and a section for men in the Temple. Did we invent this?” Amar also said, referring to the Talmud.
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