The J Street Rabbis

Two and a half months ago I posted a blog titled, “World Zionist Congress Elections, ARZA and J Street — Sending the wrong message.” I received a response from a former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) defending the Association of Reform Zionists in America (ARZA) and the important work it does in Israel.

After reviewing my blog and his response I decided to look into the relationship between J Street and the Reform rabbinate (which I believe represents the Reform movement).

According to the J Street website there are more than 700 Rabbis who are members of the J Street Rabbinical Cabinet. We researched the affiliations of this group and found:

0 – Orthodox
1 – Secular
1 – Athiest
3 – Deceased
5 – Kabbalah
73 – Conservative
110 – Reconstructionist
400+ – Reform

We know that the significant majority of members of the J Street Rabbinical Cabinet Executive Council are Reform Rabbis. We know that the current President of the Union for Reform Judaism was a member of J Street. We know that one of the co-Chairs of the J Street Rabbinical Cabinet, Rabbi John Rosove, has compared Israel to an addicted drunk.

Such significant support from the Reform rabbinical community reinforces my belief that the Reform Movement is soft on Israel, to say the least. The fight over the Iran deal, with J Street being the only visible American Jewish organization supporting this fiasco, reinforces this belief.

I stand by what I wrote in my July blogpost.

Sad.