Two recent stories shine a light on Jewish intrafaith conflict every bit as disturbing as the cultural divisiveness we see here in America.

The New York Jewish Week and JTA reported last week that the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has rejected a letter request by the well-known Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss vouching for the Jewish identity of an American couple marrying in Israel.

Weiss, who is a former rabbi of Traditional Congregation of Creve Coeur, was the longtime spiritual leader of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in New York City. He told the Jewish Week that he believes the move was “political” to register objection by the ever-more reactionary Chief Rabbinate to his involvement in the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a liberal Orthodox rabbinical school he founded, and Yeshivat Maharat, a seminary for Modern Orthodox women.

Weiss said that the Chief Rabbinate had accepted “countless” such letters from him and other rabbis in the past.  According to the reports at least 10 other Modern Orthodox rabbis have had their letters rejected in recent months. 

Rabbi Seth Farber, founder of the organization ITIM – Resources and Advocacy for Jewish Life, said, “Throughout Jewish history, local community rabbis have always been trusted to certify the status of their community members.” Indeed, prior to the recent shift to the extreme right on the part of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, its own rabbis would accept marriages certified by Conservative rabbis if supported by a prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi, like the late and revered Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik.

Meanwhile in Great Britain, haredi leaders have called for a 

boycott of the upcoming Limmud Conference which brings together Jewish leaders and rabbis from all streams of Judaism.  In an open letter to the London Jewish Chronicle and elsewhere, senior British Jewish leaders wrote that they “deeply regret the publication of a formal Gilui Da’at (Declaration of Opinon) by a number of haredi rabbis which claims that those who attend Limmud, will not be viewed favorably by God.” The boycott is seen as a condemnation of the new British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who is Orthodox, whose office has said he will be attending the Limmud gathering.

It is unfortunate indeed when Jews appear to work counter to an inclusive philosophy that welcomes those from all movements and backgrounds. And to be sure, it must be stressed that not all highly observant Jewish leaders have taken such a harsh stance against their fellow Jews’ other movements and practices. 

In fact, there are two instances in the Light this week pointing out the dangers inherent in sorting Jews according to movement, theology or background. Rabbi Yosef Landa’s opinion piece (see Page 11) calls for an abandonment of intra-Jewish labeling, discussing the divisive potential in referring to Jews by their particular strand. Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh, in her blog on www.stjlewishlight.com (also on Page 11), finds inappropriate a joke that referred to the speaker’s origins as “Jewish Lite,” as it creates potentially inappropriate characterizations of the meaning of being Jewish.

We still recognize that certain labels are helpful in describing the general type and scope of religious practice and observance employed in different synagogues and movements. But shorthand need not serve as a mandate for pejorative behavior — simply because two people observe or honor their Judaism differently does not make one more or less Jewish than the other.

Sadly, however, the examples from this week’s news show how words placed in the wrong hands can not only be hurtful but also reap destructive actions. The Israeli Rabbinate’s refusal basically says that the couple is not Jewish in their eyes, or at least not “enough” to receive their countenance. And the action in London may be even more harmful: When those leaders say God will not favorably view going to the Limmud conference, they’re attempting to insert themselves in the personal relationship between the attendees and God. That may be a notion in other organized religions, but it’s not a Jewish one.

There are only 14 million Jews worldwide, and we are facing levels of anti-Semitism not seen since the late 1930s.  One look at the vileness of the Jobbik Party in Hungary, or similar movements in other parts of the world, tells this terrifying story. We can ill afford to have extremist factions condemning unifying figures such as Weiss and Mirvis. Embracing Jews and Jewishness, not drawing lines in the sand, is what’s required of all of us.