“As rabbis, many of whom have relatives who perished in the Holocaust, we can neither stand idly by nor close our hearts to the pleas of the Congolese people.” However, no Orthodox, Chabad or haredi rabbis signed on to that statement. And haredi-Chabad billionaire Dan Gertler, the man pictured at right, may be the reason why.
The JC reports that in a letter to the Times of London, leading British rabbis from the Reform, Liberal and Masorti movements have called on politicians from all parties to help end the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The rabbis said the Congolese people had on a daily basis experienced “murder, rape, looting, mass-displacement and the violence associated with the illegal mining of ‘blood minerals,’” and more than six million Congolese had already lost their lives as a result.
“As rabbis, many of whom have relatives who perished in the Holocaust, we can neither stand idly by nor close our hearts to the pleas of the Congolese people,” the rabbis wrote.
More than 70 people signed the letter, almost all of whom are rabbis. The others a prominent Jewish community leaders.
But The JC fails to note than no Orthodox or haredi rabbis signed the letter.
That may be because Israeli ba’al teshuva haredi-Chabad billionaire Dan Gertler has large diamond, copper mining, oil, and other business interests there and is extremely close with the leaders of the corrupt government.
Gertler has allegedly been looting the DRC for years.
Be that as it may, not one Orthodox rabbi – not even the Modern Orthodox chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis –cared enough about the slaughter in the DRC to sign that letter. And that speaks volumes about the ethically damaged state of Orthodoxy today.
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