Union of Orthodox Rabbis

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The Aguddas HaRabbanim should not be confused with the Agudath Israel of America (Agudas Yisroel) organization, or with the Union of Orthodox Congregations.

The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada also known as the Agudas HaRabbanim (or Agudath Harabonim) ("union of rabbis"), and sometimes as the UOR, was established in 1901 in the United States and is among the oldest organizations of Orthodox rabbis which could be described as having a Haredi worldview. It was originally aligned with the Orthodox Union; in later years, the Orthodox Union drifted apart from the Agudas HaRabbanim, and closer to the relatively Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).

Among the well-known leaders from the organization's past is Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. In recent years, the organization has been under the direction of Rabbi Hersh M. Ginsberg.

1 Controversies
2 Simone Veil
3 Criticisms
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Controversies

The Union of Orthodox Rabbis is perhaps best known for the excommunication of Mordecai M. Kaplan in 1945. Kaplan had co-edited a new Reconstructionist prayer book it deemed heretical.

The organization has not shied away from controversy in the recent past. The group has regularly placed advertisements in Jewish newspapers shortly before the High Holy Days, prohibiting worship at non-Orthodox synagogues.^[1] Similarly, the Friday April 4, 1997 edition of The Jewish Press, quoted from "A Historic Declaration", issued by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis on March 31, 1997:

Reform and Conservative are not Judaism at all. Their adherents are Jews, according to the Jewish Law, but their religion is not Judaism...we appeal to our fellow Jew, members of the Reform and Conservative movements: Having been falsely led by heretical leaders that Reform and Conservative are legitimate branches and denominations of Judaism, we urge you to be guided by this declaration, and withdraw from your affiliation with Reform and Conservative temples and their clergy. Do not hesitate to attend an Orthodox synagogue due to your inadequate observance of Judaism. On the contrary, it is because of that inadequacy that you need to attend an Orthodox synagogue where you will be warmly welcomed...^[2]

The organization also condemned the National Jewish Outreach Program's (NJOP) Shabbat Across America/Canada (SAA) program because it co-ordinated and helped Reform and Conservative organizations. In an advertisement placed in the Friday March 7, 2003, edition of The Jewish Press it declared:

...Agudas Horabonim cannot approve of a call to attend a Reform or Conservative temple on Friday night, or any time. As important as Kiruv - bringing Jews closer to the synagogue - is, it must be carried out in accordance with the Halacha. Since the "Shabbat Across America/Canada" does not state that the synagogue must be Orthodox, clearly implying that it can also be a Reform and Conservative temple, the Agudas Harabonim strongly disapproves, and warns all Jews not to take part in the "Shabbat Across Across America/Canada" program.

One of the leading organizers of the above public protests was Rabbi David Hollander, a well-known Orthodox rabbi and writer in New York.

[edit] Simone Veil

In 2005, French politician Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor, was invited to speak at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation. Yehuda Levin, on behalf of the Union, wrote to the President of Poland that it was inappropriate for Veil to speak at the event, since by "having brought about the legalization of abortion in France" she was "responsible for an ongoing destruction of human life far exceeding that of the Nazis".[1]

[edit] Criticisms

Critics of Agudath Harabonim's efforts claim that the group's leadership does not deserve a media bully pulpit to denounce the practices of other American Jewish movements, because its rabbinical membership represents a statistically small portion of the total number of rabbis ordained by all movements in the United States, and even by the Orthodox movement itself.^[3]^[4]

In addition, they maintain that the group's controversial activities are not vocally supported by the American Orthodox Jewish community as whole, because its centrist and Modern Orthodox rabbinical members generally do not appear with the group during such announcements.^[1] In addition, rabbis maintaining membership in both the UOR and Rabbinical Council of America frequently tend to place greater importance in, and watch more carefully, the activities of the RCA, thus making their support of UOR activities marginal at best.