Guess I need another cup of coffee. I swear I thought this said:
"Non-Orthodox rabbits demand recognition"
Off for a refill.
Posted on 09/20/2005 7:46:49 AM PDT by Alouette
The Israel Religious Action Center, along with Kibbutz Gezer and Rabbi Miri Gold filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on Tuesday demanding to recognize rabbis outside the Orthodox movement and regulate the process of nomination of non-Orthodox rabbis to public positions.
The petitioners argued that at present, the state's religious institutions fund hundreds of regional, city, town, and neighborhood rabbis from public sources. The common denominator of these rabbis is that they are all Orthodox men, they added.
According to Israel Radio, the petitioners insisted that such a situation constituted flagrant discrimination against an entire sector of the population that desires what they termed liberal Judaism.
One of the petitioners, Rabbi Gold, is the leader of Kibbutz Gezer's Reform community, Birkat Shalom. However, Gold's position was not formally recognized, nor did she receive any public funding for her salary, in stark contrast to the 16 other approved and funded Orthodox rabbis serving on the Gezer Council.
According to Rabbi Gold, "The purpose of this petition is to change the current situation. We seek recognition and payment for a rabbi serving his congregation, whether he be Orthodox, Reform, or Conservative."
She added, "I believe I deserve payment to enable me to continue performing my work dutifully, as I have done thus far. There is no reason for a rabbi outside the Orthodox movement to be denied his proper status and working conditions."
Kibbutz Gezer also joined the appeal, as its members would like to see Gold acknowledged as a rabbi in every way, including position and salary.
We seek recognition and payment
She added, "I believe I deserve payment
its members would like to see Gold acknowledged as a rabbi in every way, including position and salary.
I just ordained myself a rabbi. WHERE'S MY MONEY?
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Since Orthodox Judaism is a pretty uncompromising way of life, it is self-policed.
No shul is going to accept an unqualified scam artist as a rabbi for very long, and it is very easy to check up on someone who claims to be a working Orthodox rabbi but who is deceiving the government.
If the government is going to pay Reconstructionists, then they might just as well pay anyone who claims to be Jewish a rabbinical salary.
It's Israel's business what denominations to recognize, but IMO it's inappropriate to refer to Reform or Conservative Rabbis as unqualified scam artists.
Here is someone that has perverted Torah, and demands that the rest of the world accept this. The same goes for the homosexual marriage proponents.
The arrogance of this just amazes me.
I didn't even imply they were, let alone refer to them as such.
What I did imply was that someone could get a degree in theology from a questionable source, claim that their group of friends who meets at their house on some Saturdays are their congregation and claim a rabbi's salary.
For example, a friend of mine in the US is an ordained minister from an internet seminary. He officiates at marriages from time to time, etc. - but he makes his living as a consultant.
If the US paid ministers outright, my friend could theoretically file a claim for a salary.
Does this mean that thousands of Baptist ministers out there would just be scam artists? By no means.
But such a system would encourage scam artists looking for free money.
I misunderstood. I believer the issue here is the status of legitimately ordained Reform and Conservative Rabbis.
If the US paid ministers outright, my friend could theoretically file a claim for a salary.
That misstates the issue. I don't think Israel "pays" Rabbis, rather they provide funding to the various recognized faiths, Orthodox Judiasm, Islam, and 12 or 13 others. Since, for example, Reform Judiasm isn't recognized, with 15 or so faiths recognized lots of denominations are left out, they don't receive funding for things like education. If they were recognized, which I don't care about either way, it doesn't open the door to the unqualified.
Guess I need another cup of coffee. I swear I thought this said:
"Non-Orthodox rabbits demand recognition"
Off for a refill.
I don't think they'd be rushing to to take advantage of the "opportunity".
Why is it that liberals, to whom "sin" and "wrong" are generally non-existent, are such prigs when it comes to "discrimination?" Why should that be any more wrong than homosexuality?
The point of course is that non-Orthodox "rabbis" aren't rabbis because non-Orthodox "Judaism" isn't Judaism. If you're going to recognize CRR (conservatism, reform, and reconstructionism), then why not recognize Qara'ites and "Messianic Jews" as well? Oh, that's right--they believe in G-d. "Mainstream Jews" can't believe in G-d unless they are Orthodox, and the only reason an exception is made for the Orthodox is because they are the only practitioners of True Judaism and thus essential to give a Jewish flavor to the G-d-denying heresies that want to use them as protective coloration.
I hope no Orthodox rabbi will sit on a board of rabbis with a heretical non-rabbi.
The thing is, the way the culture is spiraling downward in Israel and everywhere else (and considering the ideological makeup of the Israeli Supreme Court), I wouldn't expect the Orthodox monopoly to last too much longer . . . unfortunately.
G-d help us.
How about the `Eirev Rav? Does that sound better? I hope so, because it's nearer the truth.
The Israeli government doesn't have the right to violate Torah, so it's every Jew's (and every Noachide's) business who they recognize as rabbis.
There's only one One G-d, One Torah, and One Rabbinate.
No such animal.
Not a characterization I'd agree with, but it's not a topic I argue here.
Understood.
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