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| Conservative rabbi, Amichia Lau-Lavie |
That Lau-Lavie was partially raised in Bnei Brak suggests that his parents were not only observant but inclined toward the more Charedi or Chardal (Charedi Leumi) side of the Orthodox Jewish spectrum. He attended the highly regarded Hesder Yeshivat Gush Etzion, which suggests that he was well on his way to a respectable religious lifestyle.
I don’t know what derailed him from that path and led him to
get ordained as a Conservative rabbi at JTS. But that is what happened. And
along with it, his views have become so far left that they make a mockery of
the Jewish values he claims to represent. How far left? Consider the following:
In recent months, Esther’s name has seemed to pop up everywhere in conservative circles.
“An Esther Call to the Mall” brought hundreds of evangelical women to Washington, D.C., in October to support the Trump campaign and promote the fight against reproductive rights. “She’s an orphan, she’s hiding her identity, she’s a woman,” a pastor from Texas told The New York Times about why Esther resonated with her: “Not one woman is disqualified from the calling of God.”
In Texas, a public school curriculum focusing on biblical stories highlights Esther as a religious rights heroine, despite outrage from local faith leaders.
The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, released “Project Esther: A National Strategy for Combating Antisemitism.” Even the Purim spirit of turning things upside down to release tensions and reimagine reality pales in comparison to the cynical and cruel policies proposed by the plan, which these proud former Queen Esthers read with horror.
This policy brief, issued by the same extremist entity that wrote Project 2025, is a grotesque abuse of the fight against genuine antisemitism. It instrumentalizes the concerns of people of goodwill not only to take down the pro-Palestinian movement but also to stifle all dissent and liberal civil society in the United States. It is an affront to Jews, and it is dangerous for America.
I don’t even know where to begin. Dangerous to America?! What is dangerous to America was the increased marginalization of religious principles so integral to the agenda of the progressive left. Whose liberal almost anti-religious ethos has been a dominating American culture for a long time.
That a rabbi who was
raised in a religious home and has such illustrious relatives has a problem
with characterizing Esther as a religious rights heroine is not only odd but
obscene. The story of Purim is about Esther saving the Jews of Persia from
being mass-murdered by Haman, the ‘Hitler’ of that time. One cannot escape the
fact that his requirement for the Jewish people to violate one cardinal law of
Judaism is what led to his plan to annihilate them. If that doesn’t qualify
Esther as a religious rights heroine, I don’t know what does.
Lau-Lavie’s problem with Evangelical Christians is exactly
why every Jew who cares about religious rights should appreciate them. What
Evangelical Christians want is to return to a time when religious values were
more respected. Values that progressives see as an impediment to their agenda.
People like Lau-Lavie, who work in the global LGBTQI+ rights see traditional
religious law as oppressive and authoritarian. Thing is - religious law is by
its very nature authoritarian. If you are going to call yourself a rabbi, you
ought not to be fighting the rules that define your religion.
Saying that Christians are co-opting Esther is simply not
true. In fact, they are using the Purim story in ways similar to the way
Orthodox Jews have always used it: To promote the values of the Bible. And
certainly not to promote the kind of agenda that Lau-Lavie suggests.
It must be made clear, in no uncertain terms, that what Lau-Lavie
is saying here has zero to do with Judaism and everything to do with his
far-left progressive values. He needs to be called out for even suggesting
otherwise—which I just did.
