For Shame (Rav 'Amar and the JPost)

I'm sure you've heard by now that Rav Shlomo 'Amar, Sepharadic Chief Rabbi, will be questioned by the police on his knowledge of the beating of a young man who wooed his daughter. I can not think of anything more humiliating or degrading for Torah and Judaism.

The JPost, however, has gone too far in calling for the abolition of the rabbinate - drawing a straight line between Rav Kuk and Rav Metzger, to show how the mighty institution has fallen. In my opinion, the analogy is false - what about Rav Goren or Rav Ovadia Yosef (pre-politics)? Besides, do two poor candidates make the entire system rotten? Why is it that instead of thinking in terms of reform, people are so eager to destroy the whole building? I also suspect that the JPost's call is neither isolated nor sudden. Although their political line has veered rightwards, and is now somewhat centrist, their line on religion has always been akin to that of their sister publication, the Jerusalem Report. Put simply: anything goes. Any form of Judaism - even "Messianic Judaism ", i.e. missionaries, get the puff-piece treatment from these guys. It feels as though they have now joined up with Shinui on their secualr crusade to remove religon from public life.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this post is an intemperate reaction to an intemperate op-ed written by someone who is genuinely shocked by the depths to which the Rabbinate has sunk. I doubt it, though.