Israeli Justice Minister: Assimilation of Diaspora Jews fulfills Hitler's vision

[azurnoir]

Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman said on Thursday that assimilation into non-Jewish society overseas is threatening to do for Judaism what Adolf Hitler tried and failed to do in World War II.

Speaking at a panel on conversion at the President's Conference in Jerusalem, the justice minister rejected recent criticism from American rabbis over Israel's conversion policy. "The problem in exile isn't conversion, it's assimilation," Neeman said. "How many Jews join the Diaspora Jewry by converting, and how many assimilate? Let's face the truth. What Hitler - may his name and memory be forgotten - didn't manage to do is happening in the Diaspora with its horrific assimilation."

The panel was titled "Conversion: Who Keeps the Gate for the Jewish Nation?" and was chaired by journalist Shmuel Rosner. Neeman also slammed the panel as an example of sinat chinam (baseless hatred ): "We can sit and solve our problems," he said. "No one should interfere with how the other is praying, which commandments he carries out and which not. But one thing is clear - what kept the people of Israel together long enough to go back to our homeland after 2,000 years in exile is the Jewish religion, and the Jewish religion is very diverse."

Neeman was speaking after another minister, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, had delivered a short speech and then left the stage, prompting speculation about whether he was uncomfortable sharing a stage with both a conservative and reform rabbi.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-justice-minister-assimilation-of-diaspora-jews-fulfills-hitler-s-vision-1.369613

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. That's a poorly made statement.

It kind of understates the badness of the holocaust, because cultures get assimilated into other cultures all the time but the holocaust was unique. I mean, it would suck to lose your language and ways of faith, but its still no comparison to a death camp.