The Coalition for Jewish Values published an open letter on Monday denouncing a recent statement from a progressive Orthodox rabbinical association calling out Israel’s part in the humanitarian crisis as a result of its war with Hamas in Gaza.
“It was important that we stand up for the truth when the reality was painfully distorted, and when both Israel and traditional Judaism misrepresented,” stated Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of CJV. “Some of the rabbis still coming forward are those who avoid any hint of argument and avidly pursue peace, but who feel that the record needs to be set straight in this case.”
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The original statement—titled “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis” and published earlier this month—“ignored critical facts about the ongoing war against Hamas,” CJV stated.
“Whereas the earlier statement claimed that Israel bears some responsibility for the suffering of the civilian population, the letter rejected this as providing ‘unintended support to antisemitic inversions of this obvious truth,’ the group wrote.
In reality, the letter states, the current war and its impact upon civilians are all due to the Hamas terror organization and its genocidal agenda. Similarly, the first statement exaggerated the significance of isolated, inappropriate reactions to Arab terror attacks upon Jewish citizens, while entirely omitting those terror attacks themselves, CJV said.
The letter and its supporters also challenge the qualifications of Open Orthodox signatories to speak for traditional Orthodox Judaism.
The statement, signed by about 80 Orthodox rabbis, was published by Torat Chayim, “a rabbinical association of Orthodox rabbis committed to fostering a more pluralistic and progressive future,” according to its website. It is a program of Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox Social Justice movement.
“Far from reflecting a mainstream Orthodox opinion, the earlier statement was dominated by signatures from Open Orthodoxy, including nearly 20 women, multiple openly gay individuals, and other graduates and affiliates of Open Orthodox institutions. These groups are rejected by genuinely Orthodox bodies around the globe because, in the words of the CJV letter, they do not act ‘in accordance with Torah,’” according to CJV.
Although the CJV letter was introduced going into the weekend, it gained 160 signatories—double the number of the original statement, which included rabbis from across the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel, the CJV stated.