Today, the Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, representing hundreds of synagogues and thousands of members across North America, including in San Francisco and the Bay Area issued the following statement addressing a ballot initiative that recently (and narrowly) qualified for the November, 2012 ballot in San Francisco that will allow a vote on a proposed law banning circumcision on anyone below eighteen years old:
For centuries, those who persecuted the Jewish People sought to ban brit milah, a central and fundamental Jewish practice. We are confident the people of San Francisco will not join them. We believe the people of San Francisco are bigger and better than this small minded bigotry and we are heartened by the many distinguished leaders and organizations, including leaders of many other faiths, that have publicly condemned this attack on religious liberty.
We believe the proposed local referendum on circumcision is likely illegal; it is surely an affront to all people of good will. If enacted, it will be patently discriminatory against Jews and Muslims and shows none of the progressive tolerance for which San Franciscans pride themselves. We will vigorously challenge this attack on our faith in every manner and method available.
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18 Responses
Think about this, America: Do you want to be considered less tolerant of other’s beliefs than medival Germany?!
It is not a coincidence that San Francisco is the headquarters of the Toeva worshipers on the West Coast.
Here on the East Coast, NY State legislators are working hard to emulate San Francisco in pursuit of Toeva “Marriage,” led by Governor Andrew Cuomo, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the “Orthodox” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
“Liberalism is a mental disease!”
HaLeiVi…the legislation does not attack a belief; adaraba, it attacks a “practice” – one that some even well meaning people sincerely hold to be, chas v’ shalom, cruel to babies.
So… think about this Yidden, when you support legal initiatives to ban other peoples’ practices…and yes, even those objectionable al pi Torah. We will do best in this country if government stays completely out of religio-moral debates. Which I think the courts will do here.
The OU shall immediately file a federal lawsuit and not wait to see if the ban is approved in November, this will Stop all anti-semites copy cats from trying to get a ban on ballots in many local cities
Yonason: What you don’t realize is that freedom of religion is in the bill of rights wheras the constitution does not guarantee freedom to act immorally. Moreover, no one is suggesting to ban toeiva behavior; we only ask that states do not go out of their way to acknowledge them as “marriage”. In addition, toeiva awareness is being forced upon us and our children in the form of “anti-bullying laws”. Hence your argument is flawed on several counts and also happens to be antithetical to daas torah.
The fact is, though, that in medival Germany we were able to do Mila.
We don’t make anyone adopt our norms, by changing definitions, values and their children’s education. That is the part that we fight for. Although we argue about abortion being immoral, we don’t rally against it the way we do against the other stuff.
This legislation is being promoted by the growing Atheist groups which are exponentially growing in power all over the Western world and are as big a potential threat as the Jihadists and White Supremacists are.
These are Atheist supremacists and every big as fanatic and dangerous as that name implies.
They have youtube videos demanding that Torah and all “Abrahamic” religions be totally outlawed and many have commented in those videos and on their youtube channels that they want to commit a holocaust against all those who continue to believe in what they call “Bronze Age Mythology” and what they further call “belief in a sky daddy” or “invisible friends”.
They hate G-d based morality so that they can impose their man made and changeable fake morality that lets them do anything they want to anyone they feel like doing it to.
San Francisco several years ago banned cropping the ears and tails of certain dog breeds, in addition to banning the de-clawing of cats. It makes perfectly good sense to these moronic do-gooders to ban milah. To their thinking, an unborn baby is not a human being, hence their dogmatic insistence on freedom of choice. Once it is born, it is deserving of all the “rights” of dogs and cats.
voosmachstee,
The courts have consistently ruled that something that is neutral towards religion does not violate the First Amendment. And this proposed ban is of all circumcisions, not just religious ones.
And your comparison to homosexuality is bogus, unless you think that we should be engaging in vigilante violence against Gays and Lesbians.
If you read the communist goals in January 10, 1963 you will see it says to promote the Un as the only hope for manking [yea],get controls of the schools, get control of the teachers,infiltrate the press, eliminate all laws of obscenity, break down cultural standards of morality, present homosexuality, degeneracy& promiscuity as normal, natura, healthy, discredit the bible, elminate prayer or any phase or religious expression, infiltrate the unions and gain control and more. This is what is happening in America
and the liberals are the leaders of this. Everybody should have freedom except to anything the liberals disagree with
The OU can’t file a law suit now because it would get thrown out as moot. That is basic constitutional and judicial jurisprudence. If the case hasn’t affected anyone yet, you can’t sue over it
voosmachstee (#5) “…and also happens to be antithetical to daas torah.”
Who says? I have argued this position to “Yeshivish” Rebbeim and Roshei HaYeshiva, and received no such admonishment. So…who gave you smicha?
Charlie Hall,
Really? Is banning circumcision considered “neutral towards religion”? Is that why religious consumption of wine was not included in prohibition? Learn your history and get your facts straight.
About homosexuality please explain which part of my comment was bogus.
Charlie Hall. I do not mean this in a bad way or anything. But debating is not one of your strong points. How about sticking to absorbing more of that liberal waste and then coming to a 180 degree epiphany that everything you believe in, politically, is against the Truth of the Torah. Based on your recent posts, it is clear you’re almost there.
Charlie Hall argues rings around you Joseph613. He argues positions – you engage in largely unsupported conclusions and ad hominem personal attacks
Yonason,
You don’t need smicha to know why the world was destroyed in Noach’s days and why Sodom and Amora were overturned. We live in a democracy in which people are behind the government. Unfortunately, that includes evil people who are trying to tear the moral fibers of this country. It is our moral duty as US citizens to vote against these outrageous laws and prevent that from happening.
Once again, the homosexuals are not just asking us to leave them alone and let them behave the way they do. They have an evil agenda of convincing the whole country that there is nothing wrong with their behavior. By the way, these are the same twisted people who are attempting to ban circumcision. So staying out of the politics will only embolden the agenda of these vicious creatures.
Yonason and Charlie Hall,
Joseph613 just sees that Charlie hall is making up facts. In order to debate, you need to first get the facts straight. Thats probably why he said that debating is not one of his strong points.
..”your comparison to homosexuality is bogus, unless you think that we should be engaging in vigilante violence against Gays and Lesbians.”
The above quote of Charlie Hall proves that he engages in hysterics and knows full well that no one out there is suggesting violence against homosexuals. What Mr. Hall needs to comprehend is that his immoral approach to national policy is exactly what is causing our once great nation to spiral into the heretical abyss. Pretty much everything that we are experiencing in this unfriendly climate has already been documented in the last mishnah of Sota. If, for example, Charlie, denies the sanctity of the Talmud then these debates on this website are in fact theological and not political in nature. I suspect that this website is run by Jews who do accept both the Written and the Oral Law and are opposed to the venom of Maskilim.