The Union for Reform Judaism, representing the largest branch of Judaism in the United States, has voted to officially have a critical, anti-war stance and has written President Bush telling him so.

First of all, I don't think any organization pretending to represent a religious organization of Jews has any place making political decisions on behalf of it's dues-paying members. This is what the AJC, ADL, AIPAC and a whole host of other organizations are for.

Secondly, the fact that the URJ's letter to the President states that "no one would claim that Reform Jews across the country are of one view regarding the war (or, frankly, anything else!)", just proves that the egos of the movement's leadership are the driving force in Reform Judaism.

What makes me laugh about all this is that the URJ claims they need to, "...fulfill the responsibility of our prophetic tradition (by) addressing the great moral issues of our day." (So now Rabbi Yoffie is a prophet!) It goes on to criticize the entire war effort, how it was planned, how it is paid for, how it makes people worry. Of course, these are not moral issues, but politics. How can they pretend to be the moral compass of Reform Judaism without addressing the butcher, Saddam Hussein and the fact that tens of millions of his subjects are now free and live in a democracy? How do they not address the fact that we removed a government that sent missles into the heart of Tel Aviv, paid the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and haboured Jew-killers? I don't care if you're anti-war, but don't tell me this is not at least part of the moral equation - especially for a Jewish organization!

On top of all that, the first moral problem the URJ condemns in it's letter is the President's "lack of transparency". This during the same week that we read in the Torah that Jacob tricked his father into giving him Esau's blessing. Hey, according to my bible, lying is OK as long as it serves a larger purpose or G-d's will. Did G-d lie when he sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, knowing that in the end it wouldn't happen? Was that OK? How about a d'var torah on that Rabbi Yoffie?

If the leadership of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) ever served up this kind of crap, I would stop attending my synagogue and paying dues right now until they de-affiliated.

Rabbi Marc Gellman chimes in against his own movement which is how I came to find this in the first place.