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Jewish newspaper condemned after accusing leading Progressive rabbis of ‘betrayal’
The Jewish Weekly took aim at Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy - having last week vehemently criticised the Board of Deputies and its President, Phil Rosenberg
The two leading communal organisations of the British Jewish community have sharply criticised a Jewish newspaper for a front page which featured a picture of the co-leads of Progressive Judaism with the Foreign Secretary, accusing them of having “betrayed from within”.
The Jewish Weekly, a paper aimed at the Orthodox community, targeted Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy in its front page editorial, describing how “these Progressive rabbis gave Miliband the political cover to claim that the Jewish community was divided” over the issue of West Bank sanctions, describing this as “a shameful betrayal”.
The Weekly went on to say that “it is time to stop pretending that every person who uses the title ‘rabbi’ speaks with equal legitimacy on behalf of British Jewry”, comparing the Progressive Judaism leaders negatively with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and saying that his warning “should not have been placed on the same level as the opinions of Progressive activists whose politics repeatedly appear to take precedence over loyalty to Israel.”
Responding to the Weekly’s comments, The Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, Keith Black, said: “The Jewish communal relationship with Israel is of great significance. At times this will cause disagreement within our community but how we do that matters.
“The language used on the Jewish Weekly front cover, including the accusation of betrayal, is irresponsible and concerns us deeply. At a time of rising antisemitism and threat against our community, using front pages for personal attacks does our enemies’ work for them.”
A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies said: “As we approach Yom Kippur, we should be pursuing unity, not attacking different parts of the community. Recent attacks on the leadership of Progressive Judaism by a community newspaper are deeply inappropriate in their tone and language.”
This is not the first attack by the Jewish Weekly on a communal organisation this month. Last week the paper published a three page editorial condemning the Board of Deputies and its President, Phil Rosenberg, and calling on the President of the United Synagogue, Saul Taylor to disaffiliate from the Board. The editorial, which was more than 2,500 words in length, said that “at some point, British Jews are entitled to ask a deeply uncomfortable question: whose side is Phil Rosenberg on?” It presented Rosenberg as having been pictured hugging Keir Starmer as suspicious, saying “we see the embraces, the handshakes and the photographs. What ordinary British Jews cannot see are the conversations conducted behind closed doors in our name.”
It went on to say that it was not calling for Rosenberg’s resignation because “It would be easy to finish this editorial by demanding Phil Rosenberg’s resignation. We deliberately do not do so, because replacing one president with another like-minded one would completely miss the point. If Rosenberg disappeared tomorrow and the Board simply replaced him with somebody whose political outlook was even further removed from mainstream Orthodox British Jewry, absolutely nothing would have been achieved.”
Elsewhere in the editorial, the Weekly wrote: “Take away the cash and the people, and the Board will become reduced to what it should really be. A left wing organisation that continuously talks about antisemitism while simultaneously slamming Israel, just like the very government it loves to embrace.”
There is no indication that the United Synagogue has any intention of cutting ties with the Board of Deputies. In response to the Jewish Weekly‘s latest editorial, a United synagogue spokesperson said: “The United Synagogue has no formal relationship with any newspaper editorially or commercially.”
Last year, Rabbis Levy and Baginsky were forced to leave the stage at a rally against antisemitism in Central London after comments which criticised the Israeli government – after condemnation of Hamas – as well as going on to say that the Palestinians have a right to self-determination at the right time.
In response to the Jewish Weekly editorial, a spokesperson for The Movement for Progressive Judaism said: “This is a highly personalised and vicious attack by a newspaper clearly designed to undermine Progressive Judaism.
“It purposely mischaracterises the position of our Movement and leadership, and questions the very legitimacy of Progressive Judaism and our rabbis.
“Using Judaism to brand fellow Jews as traitors because they may hold a different view is not acceptable. Our tradition deserves better than to be used as a weapon against one another.”
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