Bereaved father (Archive)
Photo: Haim Zach
Memorial ceremony excludes bereaved father
Hod Hasharon local council cancels participation of bereaved Reform rabbi in memorial service due to threats from Orthodox
Rabbi Micky Boyden, a Reform rabbi from Hod Hasharon, lost his son, Jonathan, in Lebanon in 1993. He was recently asked by the soldiers' memorial organization Yad Labanim to recite a prayer at the city's annual memorial service for fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
However, members of the town's Orthodox community threatened to disrupt the ceremony if Rabbi Boyden, a Reform Jew, would chant the prayer.
The rabbi was given an option to participate as a private individual and not as a Reform rabbi. He refused, and his participation was consequently cancelled.
In response to the decision, Rabbi Boyden said he was "sorry that Yad Labanim and the Hod Hasharon municipality chose to give in to threats made by those who are too intolerant to allow a bereaved father to say a prayer for his son on Memorial Day."
Resposes
Reform rabbis from all over the world have been flooding Hod Hasharon Mayor Hai Adiv's email to pressure the municipality to reverse the decision.
The American Jewish Committee even sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asking for his intervention. "This is scandalous behavior toward a father, and a family, who made the greatest sacrifice a parent can make," the letter reads.
"Particularly at this time of year, between Yom HaShoah and Yom Haatzmaut, when Jews should be affirming what unites us, there are those who, tragically, would seek to divide us," wrote the AJC officials.
In the letter, the AJC suggests the prime minister form a team to examine the problematic inter-religious relations.
Ynetnews contributed to the report
