"Reform Jews do the greatest damage to the Jewish people"

MK Gafni's hatred of Reform Jews trumps matters of life and death

MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni's remarks about leaning politically to the left at this year's Haaretz's "Peace Conference" were subsequently covered widely in the media, and even caused some internal furor within UTJ.

15/06/2017 16:12

Tags: Moshe Gafni ·  Reform Judaism ·  Haaretz ·  security concerns

Chairman of the finance committee, Moshe Gafni from Degel Ha'tora, raising his fist during a speech at the Knesset assembly. Photographed by: Miriam Elster, Flash 90.

This year's Haaretz's "Peace Conference" enjoyed a number of guest speakers who came from outside the "usual suspects". One of these was MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni (Head of the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party, which sits in the Government), who chairs the Knesset Finance Committee.

Gafni only accepted the invitation to the Peace Conference when the revered rabbinic head of the Lithuanian Yeshiva camp Rabbi Shteinman permitted it if "they let [him] speak against the Reform."

Gafni’s message at the Peace Conference was subsequently covered widely in the media, and it caused some internal furor among his fellow ultra-Orthodox Knesset colleagues. He said:

"The left is more intelligent than the right. I sit with everyone in the Knesset, other than the Reform. Reform Jews are the most difficult problem for me. They do the greatest damage to the Jewish people. I do not like the legislation that this government brings on all kinds of right-wing issues. I really do not like it. If I could, I would vote against it, but I do not have an ally. I have no one on the left who says 'we will stand with you through fire and water to protect the apple of your eye.' ... The kibbutzim of the left would have no right to be on Arab lands if not for the Torah."

One thing, at least, can be said for Gafni - his hatred of Reform and Conservative Judaism is consistent. Since the late 80's when he was first elected to the Knesset, he has been known to storm out of any Knesset committee meeting in which a Reform or Conservative spokesperson was speaking, muttering obscenities under his breath, and not returning until the non-Orthodox spokesperson was done (in the 80's, it was Rabbi Uri Regev who headed the Reform movement's IRAC and Rabbi Ehud Bandel who headed the Conservative movement). One time he outdid himself and when the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee convened a deliberation on "Who is a Jew" with overseas Jewish leaders, Gafni demonstratively stormed out twice: once at the beginning and then again after the lunch break when he carried out his dramatic exit. In recent years a few ultra-Orthodox colleagues have begun to join him in this extreme, public act of de-legitimization.

In matters of life and death, of peace and war, and even though he proclaims to align with the Opposition parties' on these critical, fatal issues, Gafni nevertheless supports the right-wing Coalition just to spite the left for being friendly towards the non-Orthodox movements.

However, Gafni’s recent statement at the Peace Conference now reveals a more disturbing facet of his hatred. Namely, even in matters of life and death, of peace and war, and even though he proclaims to align with the Opposition parties' on these critical, fatal issues, Gafni nevertheless supports the right-wing Coalition just to spite the left for being friendly towards the non-Orthodox movements.

Interestingly, it was PM Netanyahu who -for the first time- invited Reform and Conservative representatives to serve on a high-level commission (the Ne'eman Commission), which the "Left" never did when they were heading the government. On the other hand, despite the longstanding partnership between Labor and the Reform movement in the World Zionist Organization, Labor had no qualms about making a deal behind the Reform movement’s back and dropped them like excess baggage when the opportunity presented itself to align with the National Religious Party to maintain Labor's positions of power and funding.

Of course, one should not take Gafni's statement at face value, but it nevertheless reflects his profound bias, so evident in recent months in his leading a campaign to overturn a Supreme Court ruling protecting the right of non-Orthodox converts to use Israel’s state funded and state operated ritual baths, as well as his repeated statements regarding the Kotel and his refusal to allow any shred to state recognition of Reform Judaism.

This is but one recent reminder of the cynical and manipulative nature of Israeli politics, which begs the question: putting aside the obscenities that Gafni often utters, does Diaspora Jewish leadership realize the extent and the nature of the battle at hand? And does Diaspora Jewish leadership appreciate the fact that this endless, hateful war against non-Orthodox Judaism spills over into matters of life and death, core democratic principles, and the rule of law?