Rabbi Rafi Peretz , the education Minister of Israel, is being criticized by the ADL for stating that the scale of assimilation in North America and the world is like a “second Holocaust.” Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz wrote he does not like the comparison in a recent article circulated by JTA and published in The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle (opinion, July 18, 2019). While I am aware that this comparison is hurtful to the survivors of the Holocaust and their children, I said the same thing years ago; at that time I was attacked by survivors and the press for my opinion.
There is so much intermarriage today; people don’t realize that it is 50-90% depending upon the city. If there is not a kosher conversion in the case of the mother, the child is not Jewish and that line of Jewish lineage dies. I have converted many to Judaism. Rabbis must not stick their heads in the sand. We must convert as many people as we can back to Judaism, especially in the case of a baby born to a non-Jewish mother. As a rabbi I write this to help, not criticize. We need a courageous solution. If you do not like the term “second Holocaust,” consider it Juicide since it’s Jews killing off future generations themselves. Bring these children back to us and continue revitalizing our lineage and faith.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Edison, N.J.
