A Message To the Jewish
Community
Text of an advertisement by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in American and The Rabbinical Council of America published in The New York Times, Sunday, April 6, 1997, Section 4--Week in Review, p. 7.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, also known as the "Orthodox Union," representing hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews, and the Rabbinical Council of America, representing over 1,000 Orthodox rabbis serving world Jewry, are highly critical of the statement recently released by a Jewish organization whose name is easily confused with that the Orthodox Union. While we acknowledge divisions with non-Orthodox movements on core theological issues, we consider them disagreements within the family. We also repudiate the erroneously reported implication that Conservative and Reform Jews are not Jews by virtue of their religious affiliation.
Such statements reflect negatively on our efforts to project an Orthodoxy of inclusion. We deal with the deep religious disagreements in a constructive communal manner rather than in a public display which, while achieving headlines, pains the Jewish soul.
We consider the statement particularly inappropriate in light of the the risks currently facing the Jews of Israel and other communities worldwide that cry out for Jewish unity. We must never lose sight of the fact that we are one people. To publicly and recklessly emphasize that which divides us harms the Jewish community.
We call upon all responsible leaders to speak in the spirit of ahavat Yisrael, love of all Jews, so that despite the issues on which we differ, we remain united.
5/16/98
© Rosemarie E. Falanga, Cy H. Silver