Posted on 02/05/2008 1:51:41 PM PST by camerakid400
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On the eve of Super Tuesday, the oldest Orthodox Jewish Rabbinic organization in the country issued a historic declaration on voting and abortion. The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada says Jewish voters should not vote for candidates who support abortion, calling them "antithetical" to Jewish values.
Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a spokesman for the group, released a video message on Monday with the exhortation.
"It is very important for our community to demonstrate its appreciation for our wonderful country by exercising our civic obligation to vote," he says. "However, it is even more important that we do not support any candidate whose position is in any way antithetical to our Torah based morality."
"Candidates who support abortion on demand," Rabbi Levin told LifeNews.com in a press release, "are antithetical to our way of life and it is forbidden to support or vote for them."
Levin said the group's former president Rabbi Moshe Feinstein "was most vigorous in condemning abortion on demand" and he said the organization took his pro-life stance as a guide.
The Jewish leader said Jews should not compromise their vote by supporting a candidate who is pro-abortion even if the candidate expresses views that are good on other political issues.
"Rather, let the voter cast a write-in protest vote," Levin encouraged.
"It is our sincere hope that not only our own Jewish community, but our fellow citizens of all faiths, and their leaders, will draw a line in the sand and institute policies forbidding voting for anti-traditional family-values candidates," Levin concluded.
He said he is confident that more pro-life candidates will step forward if other religious faiths join Orthodox Jews in insisting on voting for them alone.
A Chasidic Rabbinic group, the Central Rabbinical Congress of U.S. and Canada issued a similar manifesto in March 1982. Similar declarations were issued by Rabbis in New York as recently as 2005.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.