Editorial
גלות אויסטראליס
Galus Australis – The
Southern Exile
Galus Australis is a forum
for discussion and debate about Australian Jewish life. We’re interested in
identity, culture, politics, religion, sociology, food and humour (to name a
few). Sometimes even sport.
Galus Australis does not
subscribe to any particular ideological viewpoint, and is committed to the value
of robust and challenging debate. We endeavour to publish a range of viewpoints
and welcome well-written, considered (and controversial!) submissions from
across the religious and political spectrum.
Each writer is responsible
for the opinions expressed in their own posts, and the views expressed do not
represent any Galus Australis editorial position.
The editorial committee of
Galus Australis consists of:
Alex Fein
(Editor-in-chief)
Bracha Rafael
(Editor)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: alex fein <alex.fein@gmail.com>
Date: 16 February 2015 at 14:46
Subject: An open letter to our Rabbis
To:
From: alex fein <alex.fein@gmail.com>
Date: 16 February 2015 at 14:46
Subject: An open letter to our Rabbis
To:
An open letter to our Rabbis:
Dear Rabbis Kennard, Goodhardt, Genende, Caplan, Freilich, Baroda, and Waks.
Dear Rabbis Kennard, Goodhardt, Genende, Caplan, Freilich, Baroda, and Waks.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Royal Comission into child sexual abuse
has confronted our community with an appalling reality. Many of our rabbis are
simply not fit to lead us.
They seek to represent us to government. For example, the Organisation of Australasian Rabbis (ORA) has submitted to government opposing marriage equality and has attempted to get Rabbi Rabi's hechsher banned, without any prior community consultation.
They seek to represent us to government. For example, the Organisation of Australasian Rabbis (ORA) has submitted to government opposing marriage equality and has attempted to get Rabbi Rabi's hechsher banned, without any prior community consultation.
They meet with the Prime Minister and send out media releases in which they
claim - falsely - to represent Orthodox Jewry
They elect leaders such as Yossi Felfdman and MS Kluwgant.
This is not just a Chabad problem. This is a problem for all Orthodox
Australian Jews.
Currently, the Melbourne Beit Din is composed solely of judges who come
from the same religious persuasion as Rabbis Feldman and Kluqwgant.
Chabad comprises a tiny part of our community, yet we allow our religious
lives to be dominated by the sect and by its rabbis - too many of whom equate
homosexuality with paedophilia.
While most Australian Jews know that homosexuality is not a disease to be
cured, too many of our Rabbis do not.
After the revelations at the Royal commission, many of us within Orthodox
Jewry can no longer stay silent on these matters.
Rabbi Kluwgant may have stepped down as President of ORA; however, that
organisation is still a body that saw fit to elect him as its leader, and it is
composed of rabbis who do not reflect the spiritual makeup of the majority of
Jews in this country.
I am writing to you to request you form a rabbinic body that better
represents Orthodoxy as it is practiced by the majority of observant Australian
Jews.
We need better representation and we need an Orthodox Beit Din that is not
populated by men of a minority sect who have demonstrated time and again that
they are not in step with the sensibility of Australian Jewry.
I ask you all - men of good faith - to begin building institutions that
will serve our community better than the existing, crumbling edifices.
If there's any way in which I can assist, please call on me any
time.
Yours sincerely,
Alexandra Fein.
Indeed – a reasonable paradigm has it thatone should essentially never use the word!
Look at my secondary blog – socialistdystopia.blogspot.com.au
All the best
East St Kida