Reform Blast Eliyahu for Shoah Remarks

Reform blast Eliyahu for Shoah remarks
By MATTHEW WAGNER <mailto:wagner@jpost.com>

The executive director of Arza, the Reform Movement's Zionist arm,
called on the Chief Rabbinate Tuesday to chastise Rabbi Mordechai
Eliyahu for blaming the Holocaust on Reform German Jews.

"Rabbi Eliyahu's outrageous statements point out just how out of touch
he is with Jewish reality," said Rabbi Andrew Davids in a telephone
interview with /The Jerusalem Post/ from New York. "Anyone with the most
basic understanding of German anti-Semitism would understand that there
is no relationship between the piety and religiosity of Jews and the
violence committed against them."

Davids was referring to statements made by Eliyahu, former chief
Sephardi rabbi of Israel, during an interview on a pirate haredi radio
station called "The Voice of Truth" [Kol Ha'emet].

Eliyahu, who was asked what was the sin of those murdered in the
Holocaust, responded that they were not to blame. Rather, he said, they
suffered because of the sins of the Reform Movement.

"The Reformers started in Germany," explained Eliyahu. "Those redactors
of the Jewish faith began in Germany. We learn from this that it is
forbidden to attempt to change Judaism."

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Mordechai's son, who is also the chief rabbi of
Safed, said his father had no regrets about his comments.

"It is not a coincidence that the Holocaust began in Germany," said
Shmuel Eliyahu Tuesday. "Whenever Jews try to act like goyim they are
punished. It happened during the Spanish Inquisition and it happened
during the Holocaust."

The Reform Movement in Israel filed a complaint against Eliyahu with the
police.

Commenting on the police complaint against his father, Shmuel Eliyahu
said it reminded him of how German Jews disparaged their Eastern
European brothers.

Davids said Eliyahu's statements made him look ridiculous.
"As a former chief rabbi who held a state position, Eliyahu's remarks
shed a negative light on the entire State of Israel," he said.