WATCH: Lulav-Wielding 77-Year-Old Rabbi Dragged Away By Police At Climate Protest
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman is pulled away by police after being arrested for protesting against climate change in the middle of the street with Extinction Rebellion. Image by Guardian/YouTube
By Aiden Pink October 14, 2019
A 77-year-old rabbi protesting in London on Monday was arrested and dragged away from the protest by police.
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman was among dozens of Jewish protesters demonstrating in the streets outside the house of the Lord Mayor of London, the Jewish News reported. The group, affiliated with the Extinction Rebellion movement, was protesting what they see as governmental and corporate responsibility for climate change and their failure to properly address it.
Newman, who was wearing a kippah and tallit and holding a lulav and etrog – ceremonial plants used to commemorate the current Jewish holiday of Sukkot – was arrested by police for sitting in the middle of the road. After refusing to move, he was dragged away into a police van.
“It’s not okay!”
This is the moment Rabbi Jeffrey Newman was arrested and carried away for taking action with #ExtinctionRebellion outside the Bank of England pic.twitter.com/eMbkSDrbxl
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) October 14, 2019
Newman led a Shacharit morning prayer service, and protesters sang Jewish songs and held signs stating “Conservation is a mitzvah,” according to local reports.
Newman, the emeritus rabbi of Finchley Reform Synagogue, told the Jewish News that his and Extinction Rebellion’s actions were reflecting Jewish values. “The highest principle is the saving of life, pikuach nefesh,” he said.
Newman told the Evening Standard that his temple wasn’t connected to his actions. “I haven’t tried to involve the synagogue, because if you are asking for permission, you might not get it,” he said. “”I think it’s much more important to do what I’m doing, and they can approve or not approve at a later date.”
But it appears Newman’s fears were unfounded – a post praising Newman was shared on Finchley Reform’s Facebook page.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
