Last week I was in Manchester England for the Big Tent for Israel (BTFI) gathering to combat delegitimization of Israel which according to a Reut Institute report has its hub of hubs in London. The initiator of the event was Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag a chareidi rabbi from Manchester with a well-deserved reputation of activism. For instance while in Manchester I visited the kollel of his Whitefield Congregation the first such kollel in a United Synagogue shul in which a large percentage of the membership is not shomer Shabbos.
From the beginning the BTFI was enmeshed in controversy. The mainstream organizations of British Jewry demonstrated that they were not interested in a major communal initiative being headed by a chareidi rav. Had he not chosen the name Big Tent for Israel or sought the financial support of the Board of Deputies of British Jewry or the Jewish Leadership Council Rabbi Guttentag might have forestalled the attacks from that front. But that is now water over the dam.
In any event the mainstream groups succeeded in wresting the selection of speakers from Rabbi Guttentag’s hands. I was one of the sacrifices as Reform elements within the Jewish Leadership Council objected (falsely) to my participation on the grounds that I am an Orthodox rabbi. They demanded that a Reform clergyperson be included to offset any Orthodox rabbi no matter how unversed that clergyperson might be in anything related to the delegitimization of Israel.
Rabbi Guttentag refused to accede to that demand. But as a consequence neither he nor Rabbi Pesach Lerner of Young Israel who traveled to Manchester for the event spoke. Rabbi Guttentag was willing to make this concession because the purpose of the conference was to stimulate grassroots activism and thus the success or failure of the initiative will depend on what takes place in response to the conference. And that activity will be under the umbrella of Rabbi Guttentag’s BFTI organization.
Create a free account to keep reading.
