On Wednesday 18 Kislev, December 6, US President Trump announced that he will acknowledge that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. In response, Agudath Israel of America, with the guidance of its rabbinical leaders, issued the following statement:
Israel is a sovereign state. Sovereign states have every right to determine where their capitals are. Israel has designated Jerusalem as its capital. Jerusalem is the seat of Israel's national government. Yet nations of the world refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This is nothing less than a travesty.
The United States of America is Israel's closest ally. For years its political leaders have acknowledged Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Indeed, in 1995 Congress passed "The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995," which explicitly establishes the position of the United States that "Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel," and requires that the American Embassy in Israel be moved to Jerusalem. President Trump's welcome announcement today reaffirms that longstanding commitment, and deserves to be warmly commended.
To us, as believing Jews, the special status of Jerusalem is not dependent upon the formal recognition of governments or the nations of the world. To us, Yerushalayim is the Ir Hakodesh, the holy city, the place where the Holy Temples stood thousands of years ago, the place that has been in the prayers and hearts of the Jewish people wherever they may have been through their long years of exile, the place that has been our glorious history and will forever remain our ultimate destiny.
Justice Kennedy Raises Weighty Points in Masterpiece Cakeshop Case
Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court took place on Tuesday December 5 in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which involves the rights of a Christian baker who was punished by the State of Colorado for refusing on religious grounds to bake and design a wedding cake for the "marriage" of two men.
A particularly noteworthy comment came from Justice Anthony Kennedy, who told a lawyer for the state that "tolerance is essential in a free society, but it's important for tolerance to work in both directions."
"It seems to me," Justice Kennedy said, "the state has been neither tolerant or respectful" of the baker's views.
The Justice also quoted from the remarks of one commissioner on the state civil rights panel that ruled against the baker, who called the cake shop owner's position "despicable," citing that inflammatory characterization as evidence of "hostility to religion."
Justice Kennedy, who has written major rulings in favor of gay rights, is widely believed to be the key vote in this case. His concern about Colorado's denigration of the baker's religious beliefs reflects an important point of the amicus curiae brief filed by Agudath Israel of America in the case.
Authored by Washington-based attorney Jeffrey Zuckerman, the Agudath Israel brief points out that the constitutional protection for free exercise of religion has been diluted in recent years by a number of court rulings that have severely limited its scope. Colorado should not be allowed, the brief contends, "to punish a religious believer because he adhered to his core religious beliefs by refusing to do something that was anathema to him."
"American society stands at a crossroads," commented Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudath Israel's executive vice president. "The outcome of this case could well determine whether the United States remains faithful to the Founding Fathers' unwavering commitment to the religious freedom of its people, or whether it reverses course and relegates religious practitioners to the ranks of second-class citizenry."
