Non-Orthodox Jewish rabbis boycott President聽Donald J. Trump's call
All but the Orthodox rabbis boycotted a pre-holidays conference call meant for the president to wish them a good year.
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, CEO of the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly, said that while she will not participate in the call because of Trump's actions and comments, she hopes he will change his ways, reported The Jewish Forward.
Even before the onset of Judaism's High Holidays, several conservative Jewish commentators had sketched out the battle.
"An overwhelming majority of American Jews are liberals, and are likely to vote for Democrats. And a recent Yale University study of clergy affiliation showed that about 80 percent of Reform rabbis, 70 percent of Conservative rabbis and 40 percent of Orthodox rabbis are Democrats. Therefore, it isn't surprising that you are more likely to hear a sermon that inveighs against Trump's positions on immigration or some other issue if you belong to a non-Orthodox synagogue," wrote Jonathan Tobin in Algemeiner.com.
"As for President Trump, most non-Orthodox Jews deem opposition to him tantamount to a religious commandment," wrote Dennis Prager. "That is why the Conservative and Reform denominations announced that they would not participate in a pre-Rosh Hashana telephone call with the president (while the Orthodox said it would)."
While they may be winning the War on Trump, noted JPost.com's Caroline Glick, these rabbis are losing the battle for keeping their congregations intact.
"In 2013, 32% of American Jews under 30 said that they were not Jews by religion. Today the proportion of Jews under 30 who say they have no relation to the Jewish faith has ballooned to 47%.
"Not surprisingly, the wholesale abandonment of Jewish faith by nearly half of young American Jews has taken a toll on the two liberal streams of American Judaism. According to the study, the percentage of American Jews who identify as Reform or Conservative Jews is in free fall.
"Whereas in 2013, 35% of American Jews identified as Reform, today, a mere four years later, only 28% identify as Reform. The situation among Conservatives is even worse. In 2013, 18% of American Jews identified as Conservatives. Today, only 14% do. Among Jews under 30 the situation is even starker. Only 20% of American Jews under 30 identify as Reform. Only 8% identify as Conservative."
"One of the themes of these High Holy Days is an 'accounting of the soul,'" Prager writes; "Jews ask themselves: What type of person have I been this past year, and how can I be a better person next year? That is why the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are known as "The Ten Days of Repentance."
Funny, isn't it, that charged with taking an accounting of the soul, and facing demographic demise, liberal rabbis insist it's the president who needs to change his ways?