Washington — A remarkable apology by the newspaper that inadvertently began an international attack on a distinguished rabbi should lead to some serious soul-searching among the rabbi’s critics.
The newspaper’s staff forthrightly acknowledged that they misquoted and mischaraterized the remarks of Israel Religious Action Center director Rabbi Uri Regev. Those misquotes have been used to suggest that Regev equated haredi and Orthodox Jews to the Sept. 11 terrorists.
Since these critics republished so widely these misquotes, and harshly attacked him for them, hopefully these critics will now offer a good faith apology to Regev, one of the heroes of the struggle for religious liberty and religious pluralism in contemporary Israel.
It is a particular source of sadness to me that leaders of Agudath Israel, whom I have long respected, have notified us that they will continue in what is now clear to everyone is a mischaracterization of Regev’s remarks.
What is the controversy about? Regev, a highly respected rabbi and attorney, has won numerous Israeli Supreme Court cases protecting the rights of members of all streams of Judaism — including the Orthodox.
His legal successes, his inspiring gifts as a Jewish teacher, his political acumen, and his courage and eloquence in arguing for the rights of Reform and Conservative Jews have made him an embodiment of the growing momentum for religious equality and pluralism.
During the High Holidays, Regev gave a sermon to a large synagogue in Cleveland, incisively addressing the urgent need for religious pluralism in Israel and the dangers of all forms of religious fundamentalism — Christian, Moslem and Jewish.
Media attack campaign
Instead of grappling with Regev’s compelling arguments, some Orthodox leaders launched a media attack suggesting he had equated Orthodox Jews with the Sept. 11 terrorists.
Articles and letters by prominent Orthodox Jewish figures and full-page ads in major American Jewish media — ads that cost thousands of dollars — were aimed at disparaging Regev’s integrity. Seeing his speech through this filter, more responsible Orthodox leaders joined in the criticism.
Out of fairness to these Orthodox leaders, their original assertions were based on two erroneous quotations published in the Cleveland Jewish News (CJN). The newspaper, to its credit, apologized recently for misquoting, with the result of mischaracterizing Regev’s speech. It is now undisputed that neither of the statements in question were ever said by Regev.
In its attack ads, however, Am Echad (which describes itself as a “coalition of Jews across the Orthodox spectrum committed to genuine Jewish unity”) went far beyond the error in the Cleveland newspaper.
Their ads suggested, astonishingly, that in these manufactured quotes Regev “equated the Orthodox with [terrorist leader Osama] Bin Laden’s cohorts” and “lump[ed] Orthodox Jews who express their commitment to tradition … with terrorists who fly passenger jets into buildings.”
Similar accusations were made by Jerusalem Post columnist and Am Echad Israel director Jonathan Rosenblum (who subsequently denied that anyone had accused Regev of exactly what his own ad accuses him of).
But even if uttered as reported, to suggest that such assertions would be the same as equating all Orthodox, or all haredim, or even haredi desecrators of non-Orthodox shuls with the terrorists of Sept. 11 is absurd.
If you give a speech about the dangers of botulism in all food, including non-kosher and kosher food, it is intellectual nonsense to condemn you for having given a speech “equating” kosher and non-kosher food.
Lest anyone think that this is only a semantic debate, the CJN apology responded explicitly to the attacks on Regev, concluding that the accusation of the equating of all Orthodox or haredi Jews with those who drove the planes into the World Trade Center “does not reflect the tone or substance of Regev’s remarks.”
Regev asked: What are the potential results of verbal vitriol — rising in degree and in frequency — directed against non-Orthodox Jews by some ultra-Orthodox leaders?
What is being done by responsible haredi leaders to deny the religious legitimacy of the views that spurred Dr. Baruch Goldstein to murder 29 Arabs in Hebron in 1994 and Yigal Amir to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995?
How should we understand Chief Rabbi Bakshi Doron’s equation of Reform Jewry with the Jew Zimri, whom the Bible suggests was legitimately killed by the zealot priest Pinchas (Numbers 25)?
We have heard none of this addressed by Regev’s critics.
All Regev wants is that the vast majority of Israelis who support recognition of Reform and Conservative rights in Israel can have a democratic voice in addressing these issues.
Passionate argument is a defining characteristic of the Jewish tradition. From the time of the prophets to the age of the Talmud, from early Zionism to today’s Knesset, vigorous debate has always exemplified our community’s intellectual vitality.
As Regev argued in Cleveland, the events of Sept. 11 brought our common humanity into sharper relief and cast a harsh spotlight on the potential effects of unchecked fundamentalism mutating malignantly in the minds of a few.
Let us all in the Jewish community agree to redouble our efforts, to address our differences with civility, and to preach and practice tolerance.
And let those who tarnished Rabbi Regev’s reputation begin by joining the CJN in correcting the record and affirming his good name.
Rabbi David Saperstein is director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
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