Gun control is far from the only area where Yoffie foolishly conflates leftist politics with Judaism. Promoting the homosexual agenda is another.
Yoffie, and other Reform rabbis who openly engage in similar political activities, take undue advantage of their positions, knowing that in the Jewish tradition, the rabbi is a leader of his flock, and thereby can be an important influence on the way rank and file Jews may think on these issues.
As for the National Jewish Democratic Council, which also takes leftist stances under the color of "Jewishness," they are infamous for their smearing of Republican politicians with charges or innuendos of antisemitism for no logical reason whatsoever. One such instance was their blasting of Mitt Romney for kicking off his presidential campaign at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, noting that the late Henry Ford was unquestionably an antisemite. (Apparently the NJDC dodged the inconvenient truth that Henry Ford was also a Democrat.) Another was an attack on Sarah Palin at an NJDC sponsored event, at which Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) stated that Palin was likely antisemitic because she carries guns and hunts moose. The NJDC never rebuffed Hastings for his inane comment at their event.
Barrf. It makes my life so hard attempting to deal with the idiocy that comes out of Yoffie's mouth, but I don't even try to deal with what comes out of Sapperstein. Yoffie is a decent Rabbi when it comes to religious issues but completely clueless about politics and the world.
URJ's Rabbi Sapperstein is just clueless, and perhaps worse. I met him once and that was plenty too much.
Regardless of what these two do, Reform Jews do not have any say in who gets these positions. These folks are chosen by the CCAR, and for a number of reasons of which political leadership is actually and reasonably low on the list. Nevertheless, I will not live with folks bashing Reform Jews just because Yoffie or some other Reform Rabbi makes a fool of him or herself. Be warned.
NJDC bashed Romney for appearing at the museum of a dead EX-antisemite (noting that Ford repudiated The International Jew). NJDC had nothing to say about Obama, Edwards, and Clinton posing arm in arm with a live and unrepentant one named Al Sharpton.