This is being billed as an attack on President Trump by Orthodox Rabbis.
Twenty-two Modern Orthodox rabbis signed a statement last week urging their communities to commit “non-partisan acts of spiritual resistance” in order to push back against “an administration that poses a grave threat to our democracy.”
The problem is that these left-wing activists aren't Orthodox or Rabbis. They're being led by Shmuly Yanklowitz of Uri L'Tzedek, an anti-Orthodox left-wing group. Whatever degree Yanklowitz has comes from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a non-Orthodox institution that exists as an incubator for left-wing clergy for "Open Orthodoxy"..
Shmuly Yanklowitz came out against the Book of Esther just in time for Purim.
But the most shameful part of this isn't even Shmuly Yanklowitz.
Chaim Seidler-Feller, director emeritus of Hillel at UCLA and one of the letter’s signatories, said his goal in signing was not to recruit more rabbis to join up but rather to push Orthodoxy to take stock of its values and how they comport with the administration.
“We’re not making a movement; that’s not what I care about,” he said.
Instead, he sees the letter as a challenge to Orthodox communities to evaluate their Torah-bound responsibility to the vulnerable and needy.
“What are we going to be able to say to the next generation of Jews that are looking at us and saying, ‘You taught us that these are the core principles of Judaism, and now you’re silent?’ ” he said.
Chaim Seidler-Feller, an anti-Israel activist, is the last person to lecture Orthodox Jews or anyone else on their values.
Here's the story of his victim, Rachel Neuwirth.
On Oct. 21, 2003, in a corridor on the campus of UCLA, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, the director of UCLA’s Hillel chapter, suddenly assaulted me when I merely asked him a reasonable question. He kicked and scratched me while trying to throw me down a flight of nearby stairs.
Fortunately, I was saved from possible concussion by several bystanders who pulled him off me in time. When these Samaritans were finally successful in prying the rabbi off me, he attacked me again. He assaulted me three times in the course of several minutes, and each time I had to be rescued by helpful bystanders. There was a wall of students separating him from me when I finally landed on the staircase and the rabbi stormed off screaming and shouting incoherently.
I later learned that after he assaulted me, he also shouted and screamed at another woman, Allyson Rowan Taylor, and had to be physically restrained from attacking her, too.
I suffered physical injuries that required medical treatment, and I am still trying to overcome the emotional trauma I suffered.
This incident occurred as we were exiting from a lecture hall where we had just heard a speech by the lawyer and Jewish activist Alan Dershowitz. My sole communication with Rabbi Seidler-Feller before he attacked me was a brief question. I asked him whether he was aware that Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian Arab who was scheduled to speak on campus the next evening as a guest of Hillel, had worked as a spy for Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War. I also asked whether he was aware that Nusseibeh had contacted the Iraqi military suggesting targets in Israel for Saddam Hussein’s missile batteries to attack.
Instead of thanking me for this information, Rabbi Seidler-Feller began to assault me.
I think we all welcome being lectured on our values by the living embodiment of hatred for Jews and Israel.
UCLA alumnus David Hakimfar chronicled what he witnessed at the event:
“I saw my rabbi take swings to Neuwirth’s face and kicks to her legs. The only thing that saved Neuwirth from being pounded in the face was a notebook in Rabbi Seidler-Feller’s hand that didn’t allow his arm to make the full extension to punch her head,” Hakimfar wrote in the online magazine Jewsweek, and confirmed to me.
After attacking Neuwirth, the rabbi saw Allyson Rowen Taylor, former vice president of pro-Israel group StandWithUs, and lunged at her as well, according to Taylor.
“After he had attacked Rachel … he came after me and lunged at me and started screaming and (a student) literally put his arms around him and pulled him off of me.”
According to an article that collected testimony from a number of eyewitnesses, Dr. Roberta Seid says she saw Rabbi Seidler-Feller’s face contorted in rage as he dragged Ms. Neuwirth towards the stairs and tried to push her down. It took three students to pull off the rabbi from his victim, but as soon they separated him from her, he lurched at her again. If not for the fact that Ms. Neuwirth is an athlete with enough physical strength to resist his pushing, Rabbi Seidler-Feller could well have succeeded in shoving her down a flight of concrete stairs
It's very telling that Seidler-Feller remains a key figure in left-wing circles. Being lectured on values by leftists is like being lectured on morality by sociopaths.
UPDATE: The Coalition for Jewish Values, which is an organization of actual Orthodox Rabbis, has issued a statement disavowing the leftist activists.
ORTHODOX GROUP REJECTS "ORTHODOX" STATEMENT BY SHMULY YANKLOWITZ AND ASSOCIATES
Calls their views "unrepresentative of the Orthodox rabbinate or Jewish values."
The Coalition for Jewish Values today rejected the so-called "Orthodox Statement on Spiritual Resistance," issued yesterday by 22 people who self-identify as Orthodox clergy, as "unrepresentative of the Orthodox rabbinate or Jewish values."
Yesterday's statement was organized by Shmuly Yanklowitz, and presents itself as representing an "Orthodox" viewpoint. It called the current Presidency "an administration that poses a grave threat to our democracy" and exhorted readers to "pursue righteousness" and "challenge oppressive and dangerous policies."
"The Uri L'Tzedek statement is alarmist -- unfairly and inaccurately conjuring up grave and baseless imagery of oppression and persecution, in order to scare readers into concurrence," commented CJV Senior Rabbinic Fellow Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer.
CJV Senior Rabbinic Fellow Rabbi Aryeh Spero elaborated: "Judaism places profound emphasis on self-defense and protecting those whom we, as leaders, are assigned to protect. It is the duty of the President and those in leadership roles to protect the citizens of their country. The innocent citizens of Western countries have been repeatedly victimized by countless attacks, in both Europe and the United States. Jihadists took full advantage of our penchant for moral compassion, and unrestrained good will and noble intentions has led to atrocities. Those calling for open borders are acting irresponsibly, and seem indifferent or blind to the previous results of the 'open borders' they are demanding."
In this context, it is relevant to note that Shmuly Yanklowitz, director of Uri L'Tzedek -- and the majority of signatories to yesterday's statement -- are not recognized as Orthodox rabbis by any mainstream Orthodox organization. They are, instead, part of "Open Orthodoxy," a fringe group whose leading figures routinely express views markedly at odds with basic Jewish tenets and traditional practice. Yanklowitz in particular has called parts of the Torah "evil" and recently expressed his opposition to the reading of the Book of Esther on Purim, which falls this year on Saturday night and Sunday. Press coverage calling their words an "Orthodox statement" does a disservice to Judaism and factual accuracy.
The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), a national organization directed by prominent rabbinic leaders, articulates an authentic Jewish perspective on current events, and promotes Jewish values through writing and teaching derived from traditional Jewish thought.