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As rabbis from diverse traditions and locations, we want to extend our warmest mazel tov to you as an elder in our community upon the bar mitzvah of your grandson. Bar and Bat Mitzvah is a call to conscience, a call to be responsible for the welfare of others, a call to fulfil the covenant of peace and justice articulated in our tradition.
As rabbis, we note the religious implications of the report you authored. We are reminded of Shimon Ben Gamliel’s quote, "The world stands on three things: justice, truth, and peace as it says ‘Execute the judgement of truth, and justice and peace will be established in your gates’ (Zekharya 8:16)." We affirm the truth of the report that bears your name.
By Mark Gevisser
(source: BusinessDay, PG10, 23 April 2010)
In his handling of the matter of Richard Goldstone’s attendance at his grandson’s bar mitzvah, Rabbi Warren Goldstein has demonstrated a callow lack of wisdom (Judge welcome in shul despite report, April 21).
The rabbi pours fuel on the fire he pretends to be dousing by reminding his congregants that he believes the judge perpetrated a grave injustice against Israel. He also tells us self- righteously that synagogues are open to all, but in the same breath informs us he and the leaders of the synagogue “took a decision” that the shul’s door would be open to the entire Goldstone family, as if they had the power to shut it.
By his own argument, this is not the rabbi’s decision to make. Thus, while appearing to welcome Judge Goldstone into the house of God, the rabbi effectively shuts him out.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking, and in its shadow, it is worth remembering that Rabbi Goldstein is neither the elected representative of, nor the spokesman for, South African Jews. He does not represent Judge Richard Goldstone and he most certainly does not represent me.
Reported By Quinton Mtyala & Shaun Smillie
(source: Independent Newspapers + SAPA)
Retired judge Albie Sachs has joined the defence of Judge Richard Goldstone after he was banned from his grandson’s barmitzvah at the behest of Zionists opposed to his UN report fingering Israel – and Hamas – for war crimes.
"Jews are telling other Jews how to conduct themselves. Why should someone be made to choose between being a Jew and having a conscience?" he said yesterday at a Cape Town Press Club lunch.
Sachs, who retired from the Constitutional Court in October, said the first time he heard about Goldstone’s banning was in a Sea Point deli. "A customer who I hardly knew rounded on me and asked aggressively: ‘Are you for or against Richard Goldstone?’ I was astonished by his abruptness, but not surprised." Sachs could reply only that Goldstone was his friend.