600 Conservative Rabbis Protest Bibi ‘Betrayal’ Over Orthodox Control

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Image by getty images

By Daniel J. Solomon September 8, 2017

More than 600 rabbis affiliated with the Conservative movement have signed a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protesting the country’s lack of recognition and support for non-Orthodox Jewish movements.

“We ask you to lead; we ask you to fulfill your promise to us that Israel will be the homeland of the entire Jewish people – Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and secular,” wrote the group of rabbis ahead of the High Holy Days.

Calling Netanyahu’s actions a “betrayal,” the letter-signers pointed to Netanyahu’s choice to freeze a deal for an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall and bills that would strip recognition from non-Orthodox Jewish conversions performed abroad.

“We find it unconscionable that Israel, the Jewish State, is the only democratic state in the world in which not all Jews are recognized or supported equally under the law or in the public square,” the letter wrote, addressing the conversion question.

Organized by Rabbi Steve Wernick, president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, as well as Rabbinical Assembly leader Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the letter was presented by the two to New York consul-general Dani Dayan.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO