Deputy Minister Hotovely: pluralistic Judaism "emptied Judaism of content"

At a conference of the American-Israeli community in Washington, the Deputy Foreign Minister said that non-Orthodox Judaism is not accepted in Israel. Director of the Reform movement: "Hotovely joins the wild campaign of incitement that has been going on in recent months against Reform Judaism."

08/11/2017 15:46

Tags: Tzipi Hotovely · Reform Judaism · Conservative Judaism

Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely (Likud), source: Wikipedia

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely spoke out harshly against the non-Orthodox Jewish streams. At a conference of the Israeli-American community in Washington, Hotovely said that the Reform and Conservative movements "chose to take the skin and the name of Judaism, all of its customs and traditions, and empty out it contents from within."

Hotovely also claimed that the pluralistic streams are not accepted in Israel. "I live in Rohovot, and there are two half-empty Conservative synagogues," she described to the Ma'ariv newspaper. "Maybe you'll ask yourself why it does not work in the State of Israel."

Some of those present in the hall, most of whom belonged to the Reform movement or the Conservative movement, were furious. "It was just shocking, a horror show. She was impudent and did not seem to understand at all who she was talking to and how to speak appropriately," said one attendee at the conference. "People in the audience rose up and asked her what right she had to interpret their Judaism so stridently and why she thinks she has a mandate to tell them what Judaism is."

Knesset Member Merav Michaeli, who heard Hotovely's words, said: "I was shocked by the demonstrative contempt of the Deputy Foreign Minister towards such a great portion of the Jewish people. From what she said, it emerges that the Israeli government really sees the Orthodox as more worthy Jews and the Reform and Conservative Jews as less worthy."

Attorney Yizhar Hess, the Executive Director of the Masorti Movement, said: "I wonder where Deputy Minister Hotovely learned all the things she knows about American Jewry. She's a product of the Zionist Orthodox Bnei Akiva youth program, who has never taken a step outside her [comfort zone], and she allows herself to speak with confidence, arrogance and naivete about a whole world of Jewish culture that she has no concept of."

Instead of bridging the gap, Deputy Minister Hotovoley compounded the divide among the Jewish people and joined the campaign of wild incitement that has been waged in recent months against Reform Judaism.

Gilad Kariv, Executive Director of the Reform Movement in Israel, said, "Instead of bridging the gap, Deputy Minister Hotovoley compounded the divide among the Jewish people and joined the campaign of wild incitement that has been waged in recent months against Reform Judaism."

Hotovely's office responded: "The Deputy Minister meant that Reform Judaism does not enjoy the support of the majority of the Israeli people, for the majority of secular Jewish Israelis do need alternative streams. They simply live their secular lives in Israel without the need for alternative frameworks." The office also reported: "The Deputy Minister has taught in Conservative Jewish schools in the past and she has many years of acquaintance with American Jewry."