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Aug 24, 2010
Reform cant rent shul. Yes they can.
Many people are frequently trying to find ways to "prove" that Barak Obama is a Muslim. I am not sure what the point is - he already won the election for the presidency, and the revelation that he is a Muslim is no longer relevant. And it is not illegal for a Muslim to be president of the USA.
Yet for some reason people think that just because "I" don't like somebody, for whatever reason - who he is, what or who he represents - he deserves no rights in society.
A Reform Synagogue has rented a community center, a.k.a. Matnas, in Holon for High Holiday Services.
This has upset the local Torani community "garin" who have rented that community center for their services in recent years. Perhaps the amdinistrator of the Center should have told the Torani admin that there are others looking to rent and offered them first priority. But he did not. And now the Torani people are upset that the Reform have rented a place that has been already in use the past few years. Perhaps they did so to trick people who might come for services in the Torani shul, not realizing it is a Reform minyan.
No matter how much we dislike and do not approve of Reform Judaism, they are people and have social rights like anybody else. It is sad that that statement even needs to be said. I would not daven in a Reform shul, but they have the right to run their minyan as they see fit, and to rent suitable premises.
I might not have any particular affinity for mosques and Muslims, but they have a right to rent or buy any private piece of property they want. They can use it as they see fit, within the limitations of the zoning laws.
The country operates on a free market, and the Reform have the right to rent a community center just like anybody else does. Maybe next year the Torani people should wake up a little bit earlier and take care of arranging the rental before others do.
Labels:
dati leumi,
Reform
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Agree 100%
ReplyDeleteMe too!
ReplyDeletewhat does torani mean?
ReplyDeletegarin torani is usually a group of Dati Leumi guys (and young families) who are post-army and move out to non-religius communities and cities. they start a kollel, give shiurim, start a shul, and affect the community.
ReplyDeleteWell, Rafi, then according to you, the Arabs have a 'right' to have a mosque on top of the Temple Mount.
ReplyDeletea. do they not have a mosque up there? The right has been exercised.
ReplyDeleteb. there is a difference between private property and state owned property. In the US, if the property in question was state owned, there would be nothing to talk about - they would not be allowed to rent or sell to a mosque (though I dont know about a "community center"). In Israel it is more complicated as there is no official separation of shul and state.... but there are other state concerns, such a politics, land use, diplomacy, peace concerns, terror, etc.