Riskin, the Rav and the Rebbe

Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz

Clarification (June 25, 2008) Since this posting I have had some very good, thoughtful, sincere, and reflective correspondence with Jeremy. We discussed at length the statements in question, his intentions and direction, as well as any misunderstandings I may have had. We agreed that these are awesome times and that drawing proper red lines in our alliances with Christian friends is indeed a very difficult test for the Jewish people. Not only did Jeremy clear things up with me, but he and Ari Abramovitz are on the air on their A7 Wednesday radio show and regularly lay down the law – the Jewish law - in no uncertain terms. They are now aware of, and continue to address the serious missionary threat to our people. We are sharing information and coordinating efforts on a regular basis. A clarification was also posted on this issue at:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2008/04/jeremy-and-ari-draw-lines.html
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In 1964 Rabbi Joseph.B. Soloveitchik’s published position opposing interfaith dialogue - on a theological level - became widely accepted and recognized halacha.
http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/articles/soloveitchik/

On May 18th 2006 the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) reaffirmed the need for continued adherance to Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's guidelines regarding interfaith dialogue.
http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100771

On June 25th 2007, the 9th of Tamuz , Rabbi Shlomo Riskin was the keynote speaker at a Chabad event commemorating The Rebbe, His life Teachings and Inspiration. He recounted the following:

"During my first encounter with the Rebbe in 1964 at 1 AM I felt the Rebbe's eyes scanning and reading me. The first thing he told me was that "you have a very special Rav, make sure to listen to what he says all the time."
http://www.shturem.net/index.php?section=news&id=16850&lang=hebrew

1 month later, on Tisha b’Av (July 24, 2007), Rabbi Riskin’s opinion piece, In praise of Christian-Jewish interfaith dialogue, was published in the Jerusalem Post - he overturned the psak of his Rav.
(Excerpt ) :
As a rabbi who entered the rabbinate in June 1963 with a strong bias against any inter-faith dialogue and cooperation, and who is now so passionate about the importance of inter-religious communication and study that I have established an Institute for the furtherance of Jewish - Christian Understanding in Efrat … After all, Christianity emerged from the matrix of Judaism, and the founder of Christianity was a Jewish teacher who - it would certainly appear from the Gospels - lived a Jewish life-style, replete with the Sabbath, festivals and kashrut. Hence there is every logical, historical and religious reason for there to be a rapprochement between us.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766054867&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

The results:
The International Center for Biblical Zionism is a project of Ohr Torah Stone and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief Rabbi of Efrat, and was founded by Jeremy Gimpel and Ari Abramowitz.

You can see and hear Jeremy Gimpel in a number of online lectures and interviews. I just looked at a few, and this is a sampling of the kind of stuff that really disturbs me:

Pastor Klein– a Jewish convert to Christianity – interviewed Jeremy on a “messianic” TV show last year. If you don’t have the time, patience, or stomach to watch the whole thing, then just view two minutes from 3.10-5.10. Jeremy mentions that he is training “missionaries” and “The Third Temple is not a Jewish Temple…”, and “Bible believing Jews and Bible believing Christians stand united in the word of G-d”
http://tzemach.org/weblog/?p=87
One problem, Jeremy… according to evangelicals, “a Bible-believing Jew” is a Jew who believes in Jesus, because according to Christians, “the Bible” is made up of the New as well as the Old Testament. No kidding. I checked with an ex-missionary on that one.
But the following is beyond the pale:

In a lecture at “messianic” Gates to Zion Ministries, Gimpel preaches the following:

(31:50) We are now returning to His word and not to doctrine. I don’t want to just hear what the teachings of our father's are, because very possibly we have inherited lies.

A new people is being formed, and it’s not the Jewish people anymore, it’s a new people. Many nations will join themselves to Hashem on that day and they will become a people unto me. A new people is being born today and it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or non-Jewish, that’s what’s so exciting. Because all of these labels that we put on ourselves, all of them, they are all coming down.

It doesn’t matter anymore what we label our selves – are we an Ephramite or a noahite, are we a two house or a this house – the question is do you believe in the word of G-d?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2980495431042168605

I don’t know what Rabbi Riskin is promoting, but in my humble opinion, it sure doesn't sound like Torah Judaism. He should have listened to his Rav, and the Rebbe.