Tel-Chai Nation

More hostility to Reform representatives in Israel may have turned up. This incident took place in Raanana:

Condemnations have poured in from senior political leaders against death threats made to three senior Reform leaders at a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana on Wednesday night.

Three envelopes bearing the names of the Reform leaders were found at a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana Thursday morning, along side a large kitchen knife.

On the knife was written a reference to Jewish laws regarding murder, and the synagogue itself was graffitied, including the quotation that the divine spirit never moves from the Western Wall, seemingly in reference to the struggle of the progressive Jewish denominations for a pluralist prayer space at the site.

The names of the three Reform leaders named on the envelopes are Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Reform Movement in Israel, Anat Hoffman, director of the Reform Movement’s legal lobbying arm in Israel and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Reform movement in the US.

If this is for real, then no matter who carried it out, they have effectively proven they're not followers of Judaism, Orthodix or otherwise. It's quite possible this was Haredi extremists, emboldened by the slapdash way authorities have dealt with any cases at the Western Wall. So now, are the police going to search convincingly for and jail the culprits who committed vandalism and even threatened murder? It makes no difference whether they're serious or not, it's abominable to make murder threats, and the culprits should be held accountable for what they did. Not to mention the Haredi movements opposing Reform Judaism in this country should apologize for the atmosphere they created.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism, Moonbattery