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Israeli religious authorities at war with the rabbi who lets women dance in shul

Analysis

June 10, 2015 12:54
Rabbi Riskin

By

Nathan Jeffay,

Nathan Jeffay

2 min read

He is one of America's most renowned rabbinic exports and a hero to many modern-Orthodox Jews around the world. But Israel's Chief Rabbinate does not share the admiration for Shlomo Riskin, and has now taken its gloves off in its fight against him.

Rabbi Riskin makes unacceptable changes to Jewish law and "causes conflict", Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef declared in a lecture last weekend.

He avoided referring to Rabbi Riskin by name, but called him the "person from Efrat" - the settlement where Riskin is Chief Rabbi - and left no room for doubt by assailing him on one of his rabbinic rulings.

This ruling, while seemingly obscure to many, cuts to the heart of why Israel's Chief Rabbinate is at loggerheads with Rabbi Riskin - it is all about the values that guide him. These are the very values that many modern-Orthodox Jews see as the essence of the "modern" aspect of their identity.