Conference taveng::bagels

1434.0. "Lubavitch Disavows Oxford Rabbi for Welcoming Rabin" by STAR::FENSTER (Yaacov Fenster, Operating systems Quality and Tools @ZKO3/4W15 3) Sun Oct 09 1994 04:24

From:	US2RMC::"[email protected]" "MAIL-11 Daemon"  8-OCT-1994 20:44:58.69
To:	Answers to questions on Judaism posed by Oxford students to their Rabbi <[email protected]>
CC:	
Subj:	Lubavitch Disavows Oxford Rabbi for Welcoming Rabin

Dear Oxford-Judaism subscriber,

We have received numerous press and personal enquiries following the  
publication of the article in this Friday's Jewish Chronicle that  
Rabbi Boteach, director of the Oxford University L'Chaim Society, was  
publicly rebuked in a statement issued by the Lubavitch Foundation  
for his refusal to cancel L'Chaim Society's participation in the  
upcoming visit of Yitzhak Rabin to Oxford. We must make it  
emphatically clear that the Lubavitch Foundation, and NOT Rabbi  
Boteach, that went public with this story. 


Amidst the immense pressure that was brought to bear upon Rabbi  
Boteach over the past few weeks to cancel the visit, he never  
contemplated going to the press for fear of the harm it would cause  
the Lubavitch Foundation, (UK), and the Lubavitch movement worldwide.  
He was shocked when the London-based "Jewish Chronicle" informed him  
they had recieved a statement from the Lubavitch Foundation  
denouncing him for the Rabin visit, and accusing him of, G-d forbid,  
dishonoring the memory of the Rebbe.

Now, Rabbi Boteach's job and the future of the L'Chaim Society are at  
stake. The outcome of a disciplinary hearing will determine his fate.  
We are organising a petition of hundreds and thousands of students,  
academics, and community members in support of the individual who  
guided L'Chaim from a membership of four to its current status as the  
second largest society in the history of Oxford University with over  
1600 members.

Another document will follow shortly. Please help to support the  
L'Chaim Society which hundreds of Jewish students and thousands of  
non-Jewish students benefit from regularly.

Yonah Bookstein
Diploma in Jewish Studies Programme
Oxford University

Below is the full text of the Jewish Chronicle article:

***************************************************
Lubavitch Disavows Oxford Rabbi for Welcoming Rabin
***************************************************

Oxford L'Chaim head refuses to 'humiliate Prime Minister of Israel'

The Lubavitch Foundation in Britain this week denounced its  
Oxford-based student society for its plans to co-sponser a visit by  
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Lubavitch's director, Rabbi Faivish Vogel, also dissociated the  
Foundation from reported remarks on Jewish conversion by the  
society's Oxford-based rabbi, Shmuel Boteach, in the JC last week.

The unprecedented public rebuke involved only two of what Rabbi Vogel  
termed ''a number of issues'' of disagreement with the Oxford L'Chaim  
Society and its Rabbi.  All of them, he said were ''under  
discussion.''  He said the scheduled appearance by Mr Rabin - invited  
by the Oxford Union, to deliver an annual address in honour of a  
prominent L'Chaim Society supporter - was a ''secondary issue.''

But Rabbi Boteach said that the Rabin visit was the ''cardinal  
issue'' and that he had been summoned to a disciplinary hearing after  
refusing to cancel involvement in the visit.

''The views of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe on territorial issues and  
compromise are well known,'' Rabbi Vogel said in a statement to the  
JC.''  The Rebbe maintained that the way to a full and lasting peace  
is by retaining all territories under Israeli control.''  He added:  
''The Rebbe's views are not shared by Prime Minister Rabin, and it is  
therefore felt it would not be appropriate for the Lubavitch Oxford  
University L'Chaim Society to cohost the visit of the Prime  
Minister.'' 


To do so the statement suggested, would be ''disrespectful'' to the  
memory of the Rebbe.

Rabbi Boteach, saying he was ''shocked'' by the statement, told the  
JC: ''The Rebbe was the inspiration of my life, and the greatest  
Jewish leader of the millenium.

''He was distinguished primarily by his love for every Jew, and I  
cannot imagine he would want us to humiliate the Prime Minister of  
Israel by withdrawing our participation, especially since the order  
to do so came after I had met Mr Rabin and the visit was confimed''.

He said his aim was to ''involve as many Jews as possible in events  
of Jewish interest, and to promote Israel.  Three weeks later, we  
co-sponsor a visit by Yitzhak Shamir.''

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    My purpose in posting .0 was NOT to start a new discussion about the
    peace process, but more to discuss the issue at hand be the views of
    the PM what they will be.
    
    	Yaacov