50 Top Rabbis Sign Ruling Forbidding Renting Or Selling Homes To Arab Israelis

Three dozen top Israeli rabbis, including Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, threw their support Tuesday behind a religious ruling barring Jews from selling or renting homes to non-Jews — an indication of growing radicalism within the rabbinical community at a time of mounting friction between Israeli Arabs and Jews.

Top Israel rabbis: Don't sell property to non-Jews

JERUSALEM (AP) — Three dozen top Israeli rabbis threw their support Tuesday behind a religious ruling barring Jews from selling or renting homes to non-Jews — an indication of growing radicalism within the rabbinical community at a time of mounting friction between Israeli Arabs and Jews.

The action by the clerics — who are chief rabbis in some of Israel's largest cities and influential among the devout — quickly fueled charges of racism. It was also likely to deepen the feelings of alienation growing between Israel's majority Jews and minority Arabs, and widen the schism between secular and religious Jews.

The religious opinion first became a focus of controversy last year when the chief rabbi of Safed — a town in northern Israel that has a large concentration of devout Jews — urged that it be applied specifically to Arabs.

Nitai Morgenstern, an aide to Safed's chief rabbi, Shmuel Eliahu, said the town has "a problem of a lot of people renting and selling to Arabs, and that destroys the city's social fabric."

Recently, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews asked other chief rabbis to express their support for the ruling to prove it has widespread backing, Morgenstern said Tuesday. Thirty-seven rabbis signed it and The Associated Press obtained a copy of the ruling with their signatures attached on Tuesday.

Morgenstern said he understood how this attitude could cause friction with the Arab minority, which accounts for one-fifth of Israel's population of 7.6 million.

"But people have to see the other side," he said.

Amit Cohen said he and other Safed residents led the campaign to win other rabbis' support because clerics are "simply fed up with the fact that rabbis have to fear issuing or discussing religious rulings."

"Rabbis rule on the basis of existing texts," Cohen said. "But lately, rabbis are afraid to rule on the basis of what is written because they are afraid of the reaction from the media and the government."

The director-general of Israel's chief rabbinate, Oded Weiner, said the rabbinate hadn't seen the rabbis' action and wouldn't comment on it.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "condemn the incitement expressed by the rabbis and take disciplinary action against those who are employed by the state."

"It is unthinkable that they would use their public status to promote racism and incitement," the group said in a statement. Taxpayers pay the salaries of Israel's 126 municipal chief rabbis.

A Netanyahu spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.

Arab-Jewish relations took a major turn for the worse 10 years ago at the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel. Thousands of Israeli Arabs rioted for days in solidarity with the Palestinians, and Israeli police killed 13 Arab citizens while trying to quell the unrest.

Israel's ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, led his Yisrael Beitenu party to large gains in last year's parliamentary elections by playing on the perceived disloyalty of Israel's Arabs. He and other lawmakers have proposed a series of bills seen as discriminating against Israeli Arabs, including one that would allow small communities to exclude them.

Israeli Jews have increasingly been questioning the loyalty of Arab citizens, who legally enjoy the same rights but tend to be poorer and discriminated against in state funding and job opportunities.

Meanwhile, some members of the Arab minority have become radicalized by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and are openly speaking about turning the Jewish state into part of a binational state that would be home to Israelis and Palestinians both.

Salah Mohsen, spokesman of Adalah, an advocacy group for Arabs in Israel, said the rabbis' action was "not surprising" and blamed Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu party, which wants to redraw Israel's borders to exclude large Arab communities.

Rabbi David Rosen, the interfaith adviser to Israel's chief rabbinate, described the rabbis' action as "disturbing" but said he did not think that the majority of the country's rabbis would agree and called it a product of the lingering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The rabbinate as a whole isn't xenophobic or hostile to Arabs," Rosen said. "As long as the conflict goes on here, it's logical to assume that the attitudes of all sides will harden, which is deeply regrettable."

Sociologist Menachem Friedman suggested the ruling could also be applied against impoverished African migrants, such as Eritreans and Sudanese, whose influx has raised concern of many in Israel.

The government estimates that about 13,000 Africans will illegally enter Israel this year, joining more than 20,000 others who came between 2006 and 2009. Some are economic migrants and others are asylum-seekers.

Their growing numbers have created a great dilemma here with some saying that a state founded in the wake of the Holocaust shouldn't turn away people escaping persecution. Officials say they threaten to dilute the country's Jewish character and are working to stem the influx.

Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid and Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

The JTA reports that those rabbis signing the letter include:

the chief rabbis of Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rishon Letzion, Carmiel, Gadera, Afula, Nahariya, Herzliya, Nahariya and Pardes Hannah. Top national-religious Rabbi Shlomo Aviner signed the letter, as did Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of the Shas Party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Top haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv also signed.

But see the 12-9-10 update below where Ha'aretz has Rabbi Elyashiv opposing the ban.

Ynet puts the number of rabbis who signed at 50:

50 municipal rabbies: Don't rent flats to Arabs
Leasing land to non-Jews blasphemous, anyone violating ban may be ostracized, rabbis say
Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet

Dozens of municipal rabbis signed a manifest ordering a halachic ban on selling or renting land and apartments in Israel to non-Jews.

The document, which was endorsed by more than 50 national-religious and ultra-Orthodox rabbis working in municipalities across Israel, is slated to be disseminated through the religious press and fliers handed out in synagogues over the weekend.
 
The signatories include rabbis Dov Lior, Shlomo Aviner and Ya'akov Yosef. Most rabbis are public servants working in municipalities and cities across Israel including Eilat, Ashdod, Herzliya, Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Naharia, and Holon. 

The signatures were collected by a kolel student from Netanya who chose to appeal to municipal chief rabbies following the uproar caused by Safed rabbi's call not to rent apartments to Arab students in the city. He approached the public servants and not yeshiva heads in order to emphasize that the ruling does not reflect a political view but rather a standard halachic ban.

The statement quotes a variety of halachic passages referring to the issue and notes that in some cases persons renting apartments to non-Jews could be ostracized.

"The neighbors and acquaintances of the seller or renter must warn him personally first and later they are allowed to make this matter public, distance themselves from him, avoid commercial ties, and so on," the statement reads.

The rabbis presented various justifications for the ban, including fears of intermarriage and blasphemy. The statement added that sellers bear responsibility for the physical and spiritual outcomes of their actions.
 
'Lives on the line'

The document further warned that whoever rents apartments to non-Jews is causing great damage to his neighbors as "their way of life is different than that of the Jews." Among non-Jews one can also find enemies who may endanger the lives of Jews, the rabbis said.

Their statement suggested there was no difference between a person who rents out an apartment to a non-Jew in Israel and a person who does so within Jewish neighborhoods abroad.

The organizers have yet to obtain the signatures of senior haredi rabbis but enclosed a statement issued by leading rabbis five years ago. Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky, Nissim Karelitz, and Aharon Leib Shteinman said at the time that land or homes in Israel cannot be sold to gentiles.

Update 12-8-10 – According to Ha'aretz, Rabbi Shteinman did not sign this time:

Leading Haredi rabbi refuses to endorse letter forbidding the rental of homes to Arabs
"What if there was a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews?" asks Rabbi Steinman.
By Yair Ettinger • Ha’aretz

Although the authors of the rabbinical edict forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews managed to collect the signatures of 39 leading rabbis around the country, they failed to enlist a leading Haredi rabbi, chair of the Degel Hatorah Council of Sages, Aaron Leib Steinman.

Steinman refused an audience with Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu this week, when the latter arrived to pray at the former's courtyard in an attempt to convince the Bnei Brak spiritual leader to sign the letter instructing Jews not to rent or sell property to Arabs or any other non-Jews.

A source that was present at the scene said, "As soon as Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu introduced himself, Rabbi Steinman, who knew why he was being approached, said 'I won't sign,' and immediately left the room." Steinman, who is  96 years old, then discussed the right-wing initiative with members of his inner circle.

One of Steinman's confidants related the rabbi's words to Haaretz: "They are making a fierce nationalistic statement. We will not irritate others, that is not the Haredi way. There are things that should not be done; what if there would be a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews? Where is the public conscience? What will this do to Jews around the world? We must act responsibly."

Some Zionist rabbis also refused to sign the edict. Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi and revered Zionist Torah adjudicator Yaakov Ariel said, "The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, already adjudicated that, despite the Biblical prohibition 'Thou shalt not give them respite,' in a democratic state you cannot discriminate between citizens. What's more, it will cause discrimination against Jews in other countries."

Maale Gilboa Yeshiva head Rabbi Yehuda Gilad said in response to the rabbis' letter on Tuesday, "This ruling is a serious distortion of the Torah, and contradicts basic human morality."

Gilad continued, "We can only imagine what would be [Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's] reaction if he would hear of a case outside of Israel where the authorities forbade the rental of homes to Jews."

Update 12-9-10 – Ha'aretz quotes Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv as opposing the ban:

The leading rabbi of Israel's non-Hasidic Orthodox sector, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, also denounced the religious ruling. "I've said for some time that there are rabbis who must have their pens taken away from them," Elyashiv remarked.

"It's interesting that these same Zionist rabbis support symbolically selling their land to gentiles during the shmita year," he added referring to the seven-year cycle when agricultural fields in Israel must lie fallow.

 

Comments

[DBSesq]

And yet we sell an Arab the land at Shmittah. Ironic aint it?

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"But lately, rabbis are afraid to rule on the basis of what is written because they are afraid of the reaction from the media and the government."

Why would a 'rabbi' be afraid? I guess deep down they recognize these halachos related to not selling or renting to goyim do not reflect the Divine Will. Or perhaps they are more interested in preserving their positions of power and כבוד, hence their reticence to take on an unpopular position.

[notsofrumjew]

this is so wrong. " fears of intermarriage and blasphemy", then dont walk outside your house. Show me where in the torah is says thou shall not rent your house to an arab. Does this apply to all non jews or just arabs i wonder.

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

Show me where in the torah is says thou shall not rent your house to an arab.
It does not. These people are completely out of their mind.

They are very sick, and need serious treatment. I don't think there is much to talk about.

[mpidiot]

There seems to be a contradiction in the reports.

JTA

Top haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv also signed.

YNET

The organizers have yet to obtain the signatures of senior haredi rabbis

Oder yo oder nein

[Shmarya]

There seems to be a contradiction in the reports.

I think Ha'aretz reported RYSE signed.

[mpidiot]

fm:
I think Ha'aretz reported RYSE signed

mpIDIOT:

I went to Haaretz's english website and
searched for Eliyashiv. Nothing pops up for today.

I did the same for Eliyahu and three or four stories pop up today about the not renting issue.

A correpondesnt may have mistaken the names.

[Shmarya]

A correpondesnt may have mistaken the names.

Could be. But it is as least as likely that he signed.

[mpidiot]

FM
But it is as least as likely that he signed.

I disagree. Rav Eliyashiv is very circunspect when it comes to signing things especiallly when it involves relations with non-Jews.
In the past year, the rav told every one who would ask that Netanyahu should do everyting that Obama asked of him. The rav was extremely critical of Rav Yosef when the latter lambasted the Palestinian leadership.

Proof is found above in the Ynet story
Take note of who did not add his name to the statement issued by top haredi Rbaai five years ago.

"The organizers have yet to obtain the signatures of senior haredi rabbis but enclosed a statement issued by leading rabbis five years ago. Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky, Nissim Karelitz, and Aharon Leib Shteinman said at the time that land or homes in Israel cannot be sold to gentiles."

[YbM]

3 dozs and 50, there is a significant difference. what is the list of at least the first 3 dozs that signed? are they mostly dati leumi? how many chareidim was there?

[ruthie]

this is just so sad...so wrong

this confuses me greatly. i WANT to have respect for our rabbis.
at this point, i have more respect for my non jewish friends...

[mpidiot]

Shmarya: Not all Rabbis are the same. You owe RYSE an apology.

Haaretz:

Leading Haredi rabbi refuses to endorse letter forbidding the rental of homes to Arabs
"What if there was a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews?" asks Rabbi Steinman.
By Yair Ettinger
Tags: Israel news ultra-Orthodox
Although the authors of the rabbinical edict forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews managed to collect the signatures of 39 leading rabbis around the country, they failed to enlist a leading Haredi rabbi, chair of the Degel Hatorah Council of Sages, Aaron Leib Steinman.

Steinman refused an audience with Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu this week, when the latter arrived to pray at the former's courtyard in an attempt to convince the Bnei Brak spiritual leader to sign the letter instructing Jews not to rent or sell property to Arabs or any other non-Jews.

Rabbi Aaron Leib Steinman

Photo by: Moti Milrod

A source that was present at the scene said, "As soon as Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu introduced himself, Rabbi Steinman, who knew why he was being approached, said 'I won't sign,' and immediately left the room." Steinman, who is 96 years old, then discussed the right-wing initiative with members of his inner circle.

One of Steinman's confidants related the rabbi's words to Haaretz: "They are making a fierce nationalistic statement. We will not irritate others, that is not the Haredi way. There are things that should not be done; what if there would be a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews? Where is the public conscience? What will this do to Jews around the world? We must act responsibly."

Some Zionist rabbis also refused to sign the edict. Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi and revered Zionist Torah adjudicator Yaakov Ariel said, "The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, already adjudicated that, despite the Biblical prohibition 'Thou shalt not give them respite,' in a democratic state you cannot discriminate between citizens. What's more, it will cause discrimination against Jews in other countries."

Maale Gilboa Yeshiva head Rabbi Yehuda Gilad said in response to the rabbis' letter on Tuesday, "This ruling is a serious distortion of the Torah, and contradicts basic human morality."

Gilad continued, "We can only imagine what would be [Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's] reaction if he would hear of a case outside of Israel where the authorities forbade the rental of homes to Jews."

[Shmarya]

You owe RYSE an apology.

First of all, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv has done many nasty things to Jews – like Rabbi Slifkin, for example – and he has NEVER apologized.

Secondly, Rabbi Shteinman doesn't speak for Rabbi Elyahiv.

Thirdly,if you think the JTA made an error, take it up with the JTA – unless you have unequivocal proof, in which case I would make the correction.

Lastly. ask yourself why you rush in to defend Rabbi Elyashiv, but you do not and have not rushed in to defend his victims.

[mpidiot]

I am not definding RYSE. The Rav does not need me ro defend him. I am defending good journalism in the same manner you tried to do when you criticized NYT for deleting sections of its Mumbai story.

[Shmarya]

I am not definding RYSE. The Rav does not need me ro defend him. I am defending good journalism in the same manner you tried to do when you criticized NYT for deleting sections of its Mumbai story.

Posted by: mpidiot | December 08, 2010 at 09:47 AM

So ask the JTA to check to see if they made an error and, if so, ask them to correct it.

But until you have solid proof, I have to allow the JTA report to stand – with your comments here as a counterbalance of sorts.

[corn popper]

From Matzav.com

Maran Rav Shteinman Refuses to Endorse Letter Forbidding the Rental of Homes to Arabs
Wednesday December 8, 2010 11:15 AM

Although the authors of the edict forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews managed to collect the signatures of 39 rabbis around the country, they failed to enlist Maran Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Orchos Torah and chair of the Degel Hatorah Council of Rabbonim.

Rav Shteinman refused an audience with Tzefas Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu this week, when the latter arrived to convince the Bnei Brak gadol to sign the letter instructing Jews not to rent or sell property to Arabs or any other non-Jews.

A source that was present at the scene said, “As soon as Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu introduced himself, Rav Shteinman, who knew why he was being approached, said ‘I won’t sign,’ and immediately left the room.” Rav Steinman, who is 96 years old, then discussed the initiative with members of his inner circle.

One of Rav Shteinman’s confidants related the gadol’s words: “They are making a fierce nationalistic statement. We will not irritate others; that is not the charedi way. There are things that should not be done; what if there would be a similar call in Berlin against renting properties to Jews? Where is the public conscience? What will this do to Jews around the world? We must act responsibly.”

Some Zionist rabbis also refused to sign the edict. Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel said, “The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog, already adjudicated that, despite the Biblical prohibition ‘Thou shalt not give them respite,’ in a democratic state you cannot discriminate between citizens. What’s more, it will cause discrimination against Jews in other countries.”

Maale Gilboa Yeshiva head Rabbi Yehuda Gilad said in response to the rabbis’ letter on Tuesday, “This ruling is a serious distortion of the Torah, and contradicts basic human morality.”

Gilad continued, “We can only imagine what would be [Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's] reaction if he would hear of a case outside of Israel where the authorities forbade the rental of homes to Jews.”

[SumDum Phool]

Well, at least they didn't call for a death penalty on Jews who sell to arabs... like the PA does for arabs who sell to Jews...

[mpidiot]

Shmarya

You want proof here is proof
Today's haaretz under Yaad Vashem story

The leading rabbi of Israel's non-Hasidic Orthodox sector, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, also denounced the religious ruling. "I've said for some time that there are rabbis who must have their pens taken away from them," Elyashiv remarked.

"It's interesting that these same Zionist rabbis support symbolically selling their land to gentiles during the shmita year," he added referring to the seven-year cycle when agricultural fields in Israel must lie fallow.

Note The Rav has a sense of huumor:

[Shmarya]

Note the "rav" has a long history of not telling the truth. Also not that the "rav" sat on Zionist rabbinical courts for many years until someone smarter and more Zionist than him made him look like a fool – the same kind of fool he would later look like in the Slifkin affair, the Indian hair wig affair and so many others.

That said, I'll correct the JTA's error, which I think is more than the "rav" has ever or will ever do for his own mistakes and misbehavior.

[TzVi]

For one Salman their are a million (even more) Ahmeds and Mohammeds who do the opposite and scream "Slaughter the Jews".
Anyway you heretics have to realize that its not Rabbis making rules. It is Halacha brought down in the Rambam and in the Torah.
Since you love the Ahmeds soo much, you can live together with them. Take them to your neighborhoods. (anyway if you continue you will most likely be close neighbors with the mohammeds in the next world (depths of Gehinnom).