Rabbi Ariel: Religious Jews Should Lead Social Justice Campaign
The religious community should be leading the social justice campaign and stood by too quietly in protests, says Ramat Gan Rabbi Ariel.
Tzvi Ben GedalyahuThe religious community should be leading the social justice campaign and stood by too quietly in protests, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel of the metropolitan Tel Aviv city of Ramat Gan told a conference of rabbis Monday.
He said religious Jews abandoned the “red flag” in last summer’s social justice protests that turned parts of Tel Aviv into a “tent city.”
Approximately 100 rabbis from throughout the country met at the first conference of its kind, dubbed “Social Justice and the Jewish State.”
Rabbi Yaakov said he and others from the Ramat Gan Yeshiva erected a protest tent but abstained from protests Saturday nights, which would have conflicted with the Sabbath because of the late hour before the Day of Rest ends in the summer.
He told colleagues that the “flag of social justice is the flag of religious Jews.”
Social justice activist Jackie Edry criticized rabbis for remaining too quiet during the campaign.
Rabbi Eliyahu Abrajil, who sits on the religious court in Jerusalem, criticized the government tax structure and said too much money is wasted on grandiose projects and not enough is spent on social services for individuals and public housing.
He said religious Jews abandoned the “red flag” in last summer’s social justice protests that turned parts of Tel Aviv into a “tent city.”
Approximately 100 rabbis from throughout the country met at the first conference of its kind, dubbed “Social Justice and the Jewish State.”
Rabbi Yaakov said he and others from the Ramat Gan Yeshiva erected a protest tent but abstained from protests Saturday nights, which would have conflicted with the Sabbath because of the late hour before the Day of Rest ends in the summer.
He told colleagues that the “flag of social justice is the flag of religious Jews.”
Social justice activist Jackie Edry criticized rabbis for remaining too quiet during the campaign.
Rabbi Eliyahu Abrajil, who sits on the religious court in Jerusalem, criticized the government tax structure and said too much money is wasted on grandiose projects and not enough is spent on social services for individuals and public housing.
Any "social justice" out of synch with the Torah should be shunned. This has long been a code phrase for the implementation of socialism, which has contributed to many of Israel's economic problems.
ReplyDelete"said too much money is wasted on randiose projects and not enough is spent on social services for individuals and public housing."
ReplyDeletethat is his advice - government handouts? building railroads, airports, communication infrastructures, is exactly what governments should be doing, not simply writing checks.
Since I'm basically a socialist (or, according to my son the economist, more precisely, a welfare statist) I am in sync with Rabbi Ariel on this.
ReplyDelete