\u201cYou cannot go to a place where the education distances Jews not only from the tradition, but also from the past, and therefore from the future of the Jewish people,\u201d Rav Lau said, terming the visit \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes those remarks all the more dismaying and perplexing is the double standard. He also recently visited a non-Orthodox school, one that originally held classes in a Conservative synagogue in Washington, D.C. During his October visit to the pluralist Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation\u2019s Capital, Rav Lau reportedly spoke of the \u201cconnectedness of all Jewish people\u201d and told the children: \u201cYou are Jewish life in this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to understand how Bennett\u2019s visit to Schechter is any different.<\/p>\n
Instead of criticizing Bennett, who also serves as Israel\u2019s minister of Diaspora affairs, Rav Lau should be praising him for reaching out to the non-Orthodox Jewish community, for recognizing that there is more than one way to be Jewish, for understanding that we are all part of the community of Israel. Isolating and denying recognition to non-Orthodox Jews will not inspire people to move toward the tradition, as Rav Lau would like.<\/p>\n
Israel’s core mission is to welcome and embrace all Jews, and we should be proud that a leader of the Jewish state is engaging Jewish students fortunate enough to attend any type of religious school. I encourage Rav Lau to listen to the speech Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave last month at our General Assembly, when he said that he was committed to ensuring that all Jews \u2014 regardless of denomination \u2014 feel at home in Israel.<\/p>\n
Just as all Jews should feel at home in Israel, so should all Israeli leaders feel comfortable getting to know Diaspora Jewry at any institution without fear of reprimand.<\/p>\n
It is difficult for me to reconcile Rav Lau\u2019s disparaging comments about Bennett\u2019s visit with the rabbi I met a year ago, who talked about reaching and connecting with the Jewish community. And I take such disparagement personally.<\/p>\n
While my wife and I belong to and attend an Orthodox synagogue, we sent our five children to the Solomon Schechter school in Boston. We found our children\u2019s education to be Jewishly inspiring and enriching, and it helped them build a strong foundation for their ongoing Jewish identity and love for Israel.<\/p>\n
As an observant Jew myself, I take no issue with Rav Lau encouraging Jews to become more observant and follow Jewish law more closely. I do take issue with his saying that anyone on a different path is \u201con the wrong path.\u201d Such comments are alienating and serve only to exacerbate tensions between non-Orthodox Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, and the Israeli religious establishment.<\/p>\n
Bennett\u2019s interest in learning about Jewish education modalities was absolutely appropriate, and visiting a school that promotes Jewish education, Jewish learning and Jewish living is in line with his ministerial responsibilities. We hope all Israeli leaders follow his example of reaching out to all Jews wherever they are \u2014 including at religious schools, day schools and camps affiliated with all Jewish streams.<\/p>\n
Rav Lau should follow suit. He would see, as Bennett tweeted after his visit to the school, \u201cso much love of Israel and so much love of Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n
We are hopeful that these comments criticizing leaders who believe in Am Echad, One People, will end, and we will move toward unity with civility.<\/p>\n
(Jerry Silverman is president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federations of North America.)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Share](\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\")