Missionary Work in Israel and How Netanyahu Faced United Torah

 Nadene Goldfoot                                 

                         Moshe Gafni:  Born May 1952 in Tel Aviv, Gafni was educated in a yeshiva, and later moved to and worked as head of a Kollel in Ofakim, a city in the Southern District of Israel, 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) west of Beersheba. It achieved municipal status in 1955. He lives in Bnei Brak, is married, and has three children. His recent proposal in the Knesset was to outlaw missionary work in Israel.                        

The sages of Bnei Brak's history;  the most ultra orthodox city in Israel.  Bnei Brak  (Hebrew: בְּנֵי בְּרַק (audio) (help·info)) is a city located on the central Mediterranean coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1752 acres, or 2.74 square miles), and had a population of 212,395 in 2021. It is one of the poorest and most densely populated cities in Israel, and in the Tel Aviv District, and the 5th-most densely populated city in the world. It is the 8th largest city in Israel, similar to Netanya's population.  

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni withdraw legislation he proposed that would outlaw missionary work in Israel. The proposed legislation drew anger from the evangelical movement in the US, which staunchly supports Israel and settlement expansion. Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted, "We will not advance any law against the Christian community."                       

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I had been counting on Netanyahu to step in when these extreme proposals had been made, and he did it on this one.  It was so extreme in that Christian Evangelicals are also Israel's best friends.  I get more news on youtube from Christian TV in Israel than I do from Israeli TV.  Most all Israeli interests are generated from the US, New York.  For instance, "Israel Guys" are Christian based, but they're in Israel, and their presentation is great.  

 My oil painting of Danny; living in Safed, Israel (1980-1985)

What I didn't like to see was that while I lived in Israel, there were Christian missionaries who spotlighted a kibbutz that had lost their interest in G-d, had become rather aetheistic, were Holocaust survivors, and the missionaries were living with them and unbeknown to them, there to convert them.  They had the audacity to report their progress in my Ontario, Oregon newspaper and I read about it when I returned to Ontario.  I was so furious, I wrote to Israel about it.  That sort of thing must be what Gafni was thinking about.  They cannot make enemies out of Christians, however.  Our ultimate goals may be different, but the fact remains that they do defend Israel, and Israel doesn't have any other friends.  USA as a friend more likely means the Evangelicals of the USA.  Look at Biden's actions recently.  Not very friendly. 

Gafni was strongly opposed to the Supreme Court ruling that the state must recognize gay marriages carried out abroad, stating: "We don't have a Jewish state here. We have Sodom and Gomorrah here." However, a point in his favor is that he was one of the few ultra-Orthodox public figures to condemn the violence carried out by members of the community over plans for the 2006 Jerusalem gay pride parade.

In February 2016, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Gafni and other government leaders for making disparaging remarks about Reform and Conservative Judaism. Gafni, following a decision to expand the egalitarian section of the Western Wall, declared he would refuse to recognize the decision, and that Reform Jews were "a group of clowns who stab the Holy Torah".                                                                             

 Little does Gafni understand the big picture.  His view is quite narrow.  He doesn't know that our Reform Rabbi in Portland had been Rabbi Emanuel "Manny" Rose who was the only rabbi who was backing Israel.  Rabbi Rose came to us from an Orthodox family.He hailed from a family of 15 generations of rabbis.  Rose served as the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Portland from 1960 to 2006, and then as rabbi emeritus of the congregation until his passing.

 He was fantastic.  He wasn't my Rabbi as I wasn't  Reform, but he had started a group of defenders of Israel through debate, and my husband, Danny, was a debator from Brooklyn via Florida who had ended up in Ontario, Oregon with his job, and he was a super debator and a Conservative Jew like myself.  We signed up.  Rose gave us all a huge list of books to read and learn from, and I read them all.  I watched Rose debate a Palestinian in a public debate arena, and I remember that he was so frustrated that he walked off stage.  My cousin, Golda was a member of the Temple and Rose was her rabbi.

Well, I've been debating all and defending Israel ever since.  I would find it most difficult to do had Netanyahu let Gafni win with his proposal about Christians.  There are ways and there are ways to do things without causing a war.  Up to now, Netanyahu had been very well-skilled in doing it.

Resource:

AM Israel, from Haaretz newspaper 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Gafni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Brak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Largest_cities_of_Israel

https://www.lclark.edu/_ingredients/templates/details/news-chronicle.php?id=43703#:~:text=main%20content%20Rabbi%20Emanuel%20%E2%80%9CManny%E2%80%9D%20Rose&text=A%20trustee%20from%201970%20to,the%20congregation%20until%20his%20passing.