Did Your Rabbi Make The List?
I am not concerned about Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s “Blacklist” of about 160 rabbis it does not trust to confirm that immigrants are identifiably Jewish… but I am shocked that no female rabbis made the list.
Sounds sexist, to me.
Or perhaps the rabbinate is okay with documents from female rabbis.
The JTA compiled and translated parts of a list of rabbis whose letters were rejected during the prior year 2016.
The “blacklist” is not official, per se, but it is reportedly used by Israel’s government agencies that make immigration decisions. The list below contains the American rabbis, but the full list covers rabbis in 24 countries, including Cuba and Guatamala.
Below is the list that JTA translated. Some of those listed are no longer among the living, which would make their ability to currently confirm the Jewish identity of an immigrant even harder (although they may have written a document attesting to a person’s Jewish identity during their lives).
They are (alphabetized by first name):
( The full list by country can be found HERE )
Alberto Zeilicovich, Conservative
Alexander Davis, Conservative
Alfredo Winter , Conservative
Amos Miller, Conservative
Arthur Rulnick, Conservative
Arthur Weiner , Conservative
Arthur Zuckerman, Conservative
Avi Weiss, Orthodox
Barry Dolinger, Orthodox
Baruch Goodman, Orthodox
Bernard Gerson, Conservative
Dan Ornstein, Conservative
Daniel Kraus, Orthodox
David Rosen, Orthodox
David Wortman, Reform
David Zaslow, Renewal
Eli Kogan, Orthodox
Eliezer Hirsch, Orthodox
George Nudell, Conservative
Gerald Serotta, Reform
Gil Steinlauf, Conservative
Harold Berman, Conservative
Irwin Groner, Conservative
Isaac Lehrer, Conservative
Jacob Max , Orthodox
Jason Herman, Orthodox
Jay Rosenbaum, Reform
Joseph Potasnik, Orthodox
Joseph Radinsky, Orthodox
Josh Blass, Orthodox
Joshua Skoff, Conservative
Ken Carr, Reform
Kenneth Roseman, Reform
Leonard Gordon, Conservative
Leonid Feldman, Conservative
Marcelo Bronstein, Conservative
Mario Karpuj, Conservative
Melvin Sirner, Conservative
Michael Pont, Conservative
Michael Siegel, Conservative
Morris Allen, Conservative
Paul Plotkin, Conservative
Paul Schneider, Conservative
Paul Yedwab, Reform
Peter Grumbacher, Reform
Pinchas Chatzinoff, Orthodox
Sam Fraint, Conservative
Seth Adelson, Conservative
Seymour Siegel, Conservative
Shay Mintz, Orthodox
Shimon Paskow, Conservative
Shimon Russel, Orthodox
Stephen Denker, Reform
Stephen Goodman, Reform
Stephen Mason, Reform
Stephen Steindel, Conservative
Steve Schwartz, Conservative
Yaakov Kalmanofsky, Conservative
Yaier Lehrer, Conservative
Yehoshua Fass, Orthodox
i have said it before, and I will say it again: G-d and G-d alone has the authority to decide who is a Jew and who isn’t, not man!
The only thing that is achieved by these kinds of “blacklists” is to further fracture an already deeply divided Jewish people, both within Israel and among the Diaspora. Prime Minister Netanyahu should be ashamed himself for letting the Haredi Orthodox hijack the faith for his own political gain! FOR SHAME!