The Zionist Rabbinic Coalition has urged the major ordaining rabbinic seminaries in the United States to make Zionism and love of Israel and the Jewish people a prerequisite for admission, Israel Hayom has learned.
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The recently-established organization expressed worry that the non-Orthodox movements are moving away from Israel and is seeking to strengthen their peers' commitment to the Jewish state.
The group, which boasts several hundred rabbis from all streams of Judaism, held its inaugural meeting in Washington, DC, in May. President Isaac Herzog addressed the participants in a video, and his brother, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Herzog, gave a speech at the event.
In an open letter, Chairman of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt wrote that future leaders of the Jewish people must "model empathy for their brothers and sisters in Israel, especially when they are attacked by a terrorist organization whose stated goal is to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish state.
"We recognize that, throughout the ages, the Jewish people have had a diversity of opinions ... However, we have almost always universally maintained our sense of peoplehood, common purpose, shared destiny and support for each other. And while Zionism can be defined along a broad spectrum, Zionism, and the centrality of the well-being of the people and State of Israel, are how this historic unity is manifested today and are essential components of modern Jewish identity," he wrote.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Weinblatt said that he decided to establish the organization after learning of a group of Reform and Conservative Jewish students at a US university who submitted an anti-Israel petition during last year's fighting in Gaza, formally known as Operation Guardian of the Walls.
"We are in trouble if future leaders attack Israel while Hamas fires 4,500 missiles at the country, and we are in trouble if rabbinical students who support Israel are afraid to express their opinion. Criticism is, of course, allowed, but we must not forget who the attacker is and who are just trying to protect themselves," Weinblatt said.
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