Agudas Yisroel of America has welcomed the Israeli Knesset's
passage of legislation to preserve the integrity of the
country's religious councils, which serve the religious needs
of the general population. At the same time, the organization
expressed its dismay at what has been described as the
hysterically bitter reaction of Reform and Conservative
leaders to the law's passage. The legislation was designed
to restore an essential element of Israel's "religious status
quo"--the secular State's uncodified modus vivendi
with the country's observant population--which has been
severely undermined by recent rulings by the High Court of
Justice.
Agudas Yisroel's executive vice president, Rabbi Shmuel
Bloom, contended that the passage of the law was "both a
tribute to reason and a step toward ensuring true Jewish
unity." "It is nothing short of bizarre to imagine Jews who
do not subscribe to Jewish dietary laws overseeing
supervision of establishments claiming to observe those laws,
or people for whom a mikvah is a mere symbol treating
the construction of one as would someone to whom it is a
sacred ritualarium."
Rabbi Bloom stressed that a multitude of standards threatens
Jewish unity. A single standard--that of halacha has
always been, and continues to be, the only guarantor of
Jewish unity.
Rabbi Bloom also expressed his organization's dismay at the
"hyperbolic hysteria" of some who opposed the law.
"We are deeply distressed," he said, "at comments like those
of Knesset member Yossi Sarid, who called the legislation
"antisemitic" and asserted that it "discriminates against
Jews for being Reform or Conservative."
"Such rhetoric," Rabbi Bloom commented, "is precisely the
opposite of the careful, objective reasoning the Jewish world
so desperately needs today. Would a law granting only
scientists the right to sit on a `science council' be anti-
laymen? Would it be accurate to say that it `discriminates'
against non-scientists?"
Even more troubling, in Agudas Yisroel's view, were threats
made by Reform leaders against Knesset members who voted in
favor of the law. Uri Regev, who heads the Reform movement's
Israel Religious Action Center, was reported in the Israeli
press as having warned those members that they "would get
theirs" and would be boycotted by Diaspora communities.
The head of the Association of Reform Zionists in America,
Ammiel Hirsch, singled out former Defense Minister Yitzchak
Mordechai--a recently declared candidate for prime minister.
He said Mr. Mordechai's vote in favor of the legislation
would make it "very hard" for his fledgling political party
"to raise funds in the North American Jewish community."
The group also scored statements of Reform and Conservative
representatives who said that, to take their seats on the
councils, they would simply sign the loyalty oath regardless
of their true beliefs.
Thus, for example, in a statement quoted by The New York
Times, Conservative leader Ehud Bandel said: "We will
take the pledge required by law, though our interpretation of
it might be different than that intended by the
lawmakers."
"For Bendel and other Reform and Conservative representatives
who have made similar statements," said an Agudas Yisroel
spokesman, "it seems that though the law insists that
commitment to the Rabbinate is of paramount importance, it
all depends on what the meaning of `is' is."
