(Jerusalem Post) - 41 Reform rabbis are arriving in Israel on Sunday for a week-long solidarity mission to Jerusalem, Haifa, and Ariel. "This is a non-ideological mission to express our solidarity with the people of Israel during this most difficult time," said the executive director of ARZA-World Union, North America, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, who is heading the mission. For the upcoming mission, Hirsch said he substituted meetings with politicians and Palestinian groups with visits to victims of terrorism and a briefing in Ariel on Israel's security situation. Hirsch said that the rabbis have a humanitarian purpose for visiting West Bank communities: "We want to go there because we want to identify with the suffering of our people wherever they may live, and [show] our refusal to go along with the distinction our enemies make between a baby in Ariel and a baby in Tel Aviv." The mission is arriving just days after 120 Reform rabbis signed a statement condemning Palestinian terrorism unconditionally, and rejecting the idea that a solution to the conflict can be imposed - an effort initiated by Rabbi Michael Boyden of Hod Hasharon in Israel.
2002-10-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive