By John Rothschild, , Seattle
In the last issue of JTNews, there was an article on the funding crisis for the Jewish Federation (“Federation officials brace for sharp campaign drop,” June 12). As I was reading this article, the amazing spontaneous events in Iran were happening. I began thinking of the mullahs in Iran and our religious authorities in Seattle.
The Jewish Federation is suffering with a significant decrease in fundraising revenues. As a consequence, the Federation has to reduce their funding of Jewish institutions in Seattle. Since the Federation is a community-wide organization and supposedly represents all Jews in Seattle, I have a suggestion on how to partially solve their financial crisis.
One sensible way to save money should be the elimination all of funding to the Seattle Hebrew Academy, the Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder, and the Northwest Yeshiva High School. These organizations discriminate against Jews, as they will not allow those Jews born to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother to attend their institutions unless the mother (and their children) undergo an Orthodox conversion. Since there are many Jews who come from an interreligious family, with a Jewish father, the Federation is funding organizations that are engaging in direct discrimination against other Jews.
It is time to do a reality check. Most of our community has no idea of how these schools engage in a double standard, basing their admission policy on the Orthodox definition of a Jew. Considering that the far greater number of Jews in Seattle (including those who do not belong to any Jewish organizations) are not Orthodox, the Jewish Federation’s policy of funding these institutions is not fair to our community. If some Jews only want their children to attend schools where the children come solely from Orthodox-defined Jewish mothers, that is their prerogative. They should pay for their education themselves.
Enough is enough. With the major funding crisis at hand, it is time to save precious dollars and discontinue funding organizations that operate in a manner that excludes other Jews, and worse, discriminates against them.