In response to a strong protest lodged by Agudath Israel of
America's executive vice president Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, World
Jewish Congress president Edgar M. Bronfman backed away from
statements attributed to him in the London Jewish
Chronicle.
Mr. Bronfman, who also serves as chairman of Hillel's
International Board of Governors, was quoted in the
Chronicle as maintaining that the time has come for
the Jewish community to abandon its fight against
intermarriage.
The WJC head, according to the paper, called objections to
intermarriage "racist" and complained that "the whole concept
of Jewish peoplehood, and the lines being pure, begins to
sound a little like Nazism."
He was further reported to have opined that "we can make an
attempt to double the amount of Jews that there are, or we
can irritate everybody who's intermarried, and lose them
all."
In a November 3 missive to Mr. Bronfman, Agudath Israel's
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom expressed his "shock beyond belief" over
the reported comments, which the Agudath Israel leader
characterized as "profoundly offensive, incredibly
irresponsible, and entirely inappropriate for a person in a
position of Jewish communal authority."
While acknowledging Mr. Bronfman's subsequent letter to the
editor of the Chronicle in which he had apologized for
his "tasteless comparison," Rabbi Bloom nonetheless declared
that "my objection to your remarks goes far beyond the
insensitivity of your rhetoric."
Noting that the very fact of geirus conclusively
undermines any accusation of halacha's "racism" and that "the
traditional Jewish `attitude' toward intermarriage, is not an
attitude at all but an immutable aspect of Jewish law," Rabbi
Bloom suggested that Mr. Bronfman, if he indeed rejects
Judaism's teachings on intermarriage, "face the implications"
of the chasm between his personal views and Jewish truths:
"that you are simply not suited for any leadership role
perceived as representative of Judaism or the Jewish
people."
In a response Rabbi Bloom received on November 10, the WJC
president appeared to retreat from the statements reported in
the Chronicle.
He characterized the comments attributed to him as "both
regrettable and misrepresented," and contended that he had
often spoken "in opposition to intermarriage and
assimilation" and that, as "assimilation represents a clear
and present danger to the continuity of the Jewish people,"
he would "continue to do so."
Mr. Bronfman added, though, that "intermarried couples and
their children . . . pose many questions and challenges for
Jewish institutions and communities around the world," and
that Jewish leaders "must reassess our efforts to combating
assimilation and disaffiliation."
Rabbi Bloom responded the next day, thanking Mr. Bronfman for
his pledge to speak against intermarriage in the future. But
he went on to reiterate the need for the WJC leader to
counter the many subsequent media accounts of his original
reported comments by making "your true views known, loudly
and clearly, to the broader public."
The Agudath Israel leader pointedly wrote too that, while he
was in agreement that "the tragedy of intermarriage poses
serious challenges" to the Jewish community, meeting those
challenges can only proceed "on the clear understanding that
the immutable underlying religious prohibition against
intermarriage, and the unshakable stance the Jewish community
needs to take on the matter, can never be open for
`reassessment.'
"Throwing in the towel and declaring victory," Rabbi Bloom
asserted, "is not a strategy for addressing problems."
