Why is South Africa's Rabbi Warren Goldstein furious with the Israeli government?
South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein is about as mild-mannered a man as one could hope to find. We have known one another for at least 20 years, and I have never seen or heard him angry.
That mild-mannered nature, however, has nothing to do with passivity or a lack of courage. He has from the beginning of his tenure been willing to take unpopular stands when the honor of Torah was threatened. And he has been an innovator par excellence on both the South African and international levels, in furtherance of the injunction of his rav and rosh yeshivah, Rav Azriel Chaim Goldfein ztz”l, at his inauguration as chief rabbi: Adhere to the model of “a litvishe rav, leading your community and addressing its problems.”
Those innovations have included both the Community Active Protection (CAP) program that made it possible for South African Jews to remain in their country without being constantly in fear for their lives, and the international Shabbos Project.
But our conversation last week was the first time I have ever heard him outspokenly angry. And the target was one that he has defended many times: the Israeli government.
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