|
|
April 1, 2005/Adar II 21 5765, Volume 57, No. 31
Rabbi's insult publicizes Chabad-Reform dispute
LEV KRICHEVSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
MOSCOW - An article in Chabad's main Russian-language magazine blasting Reform Judaism has outraged Reform leaders in Russia and the United States.
Reform Judaism "embodies an approach toward things that is opposite to the approach of the Torah," Rabbi Berel Lazar, the leading Chabad official in the former Soviet Union and one of Russia's two chief rabbis, wrote in the February issue of Lechaim.
Tension between Chabad and the Reform movement has been simmering in the former Soviet Union, but Lazar's broadside has intensified the conflict and put it squarely in the public eye.
Leaders of the Union for Reform Judaism, as the movement is known in the United States, and of the World Union for Progressive Judaism called Lazar's attack on Reform Jews deplorable.
"Rabbi Lazar cannot request American Jewish support for his work and profess to speak in the name of all Russian Jews while simultaneously proclaiming that Reform Judaism is not Judaism and Reform rabbis are not rabbis," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
Lechaim is a monthly magazine published by the Federation of Jewish Communities, a Chabad-led umbrella group and the largest Jewish organization in the area.
The article, "Do Not Bargain with God, Gentlemen," attracted the attention of Reform leaders in Russia in March. Reform leaders in the United States, Israel and around the world joined in the denunciation.
"'Reform Judaism' cannot be seriously called a religion," Lazar wrote. "There is no God there."
Lazar argues that over the past 100 years Reform Judaism developed primarily in the United States and therefore reflects American values, which grow out of a secular society. Those values make it hard for Jews to fully observe the Torah's commandments, he writes.
Russian Reform leaders say Lazar is wrong about their movement not being successful in Russia.
As of press time, Lazar had not responded either to the Reform letter or to JTA's request for comment.
|
|
