Thursday, February 11, 2016

Israeli Tourism Minister Levin Rips Reform Jews; Says Reform Judaism "Dying World,"to End Soon

Israeli and American Reform Jews will boycott Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, after he made disparaging comments about Reform Jews, the Times of Israel website reports today (February 11, 2016).

During a cabinet meeting last month on a proposed expansion to the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall, Levin called Reform Judaism a "dying world" that has succumbed to assimilation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the statement.

In response, Israeli Reform Movement CEO Rabbi Gilad Kariv called on his American counterparts to shun Levin. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the American Union for Reform Judaism, has agreed.

In his comments last month, Levin, who is a secular Jew, cited the marriage of Chelsea Clinton -- daughter of Hillary and Bill Clinton -- to a Reform Jew as an example of the extent to which American Reform Jews have become assimilated, and said all Reform Jews would "disappear" in two or three generations.

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