"So long as we are in the position of power and influence, we can never give recognition to the Reform [a catch-all phrase that in haredi parlance means all of the non-Orthodox Jewish movements]. Although they are Jews, they will not get any recognition. In Judaism there is only one stream – the religious path of Moses and Israel."
Above: Aryeh Deri
We Will Never Recognize Non-Orthodox Judaism, Israel’s Interior Minister Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Speaking to haredi Radio Kol Chai, Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Israel will never recognize non-Orthodox Jewish movements.
"So long as we are in the position of power and influence, we can never give recognition to the Reform [a catch-all phrase that in haredi parlance means all of the non-Orthodox Jewish movements]. Although they are Jews, they will not get any recognition. In Judaism there is only one stream – the religious path of Moses and Israel,” Deri, who is also chairman of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party, said, according a report on the radio interview published by Arutz Sheva.
Deri, who was handpicked to be Interior Minister by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, went on to say that the Kotel (Western Wall) compromise was a bad thing.
"The problem is the government's decision to set up a council that will ostensibly run the [egalitarian complex], which will be composed of members of the Reform and Conservative [movements],” Deri said.
But Deri insisted the government was forced into doing the bad deal because of the High Court of Justice, which was expected to rule in two weeks that the government had to create an area at the Kotel proper for women to hold women-only prayer services that include public Torah readings and use of tallits and teffilin. That ruling may even have included a ordering a fully egalitarian prayer area be established at the Kotel proper and stripping the haredi Kotel rabbi of exclusive power over the holy site.
"You have to understand that the Kotel Rabbi has been arguing for years in the courts saying that the ‘local customs’ [he accepts at the holy site] are the existing prayer routines,” Deri said. “The court has already rejected the main argument, saying that even if there is a local custom, there is no exclusive Orthodox interpretation. Unfortunately, the court does not play the regular political game.”
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