{"id":1187,"date":"2009-01-22T17:39:23","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T17:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2009\/01\/rabbi-under-fire-for-attending.php"},"modified":"2011-07-29T19:52:16","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T23:52:16","slug":"rabbi-under-fire-for-attending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/01\/rabbi-under-fire-for-attending","title":{"rendered":"Rabbi Under Fire for Attending Inaugural Prayer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington – An Orthodox rabbi broke Jewish law by participating in an interfaith prayer service on Wednesday (Jan. 21) at Washington National Cathedral, according to the Rabbinical Council of America.
\nRabbi Haskel Lookstein, who leads Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, was one of three rabbis who participated in the National Prayer Service. The others were from Judaism’s Conservative and Reform branches.
\nLookstein recited a nondenominational prayer during Wednesday’s service.
\n“The long-standing policy of the Rabbinical Council of America,” the RCA said in a statement, “in accordance with Jewish law, is that participation in a prayer service held in the sanctuary of a church is prohibited.”
\nRabbi Basil Herring, RCA’s executive vice president, said he does not expect Lookstein to be punished for his role in the service. “We simply wanted to make the point that he was not going there on behalf of the rabbinical council, and that whatever he did, he did in his own capacity.”
\nNathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union’s Washington office, one of the largest Orthodox umbrella groups in the U.S., said he also attended the service in his “personal capacity.”
\nAsked whether Jewish law prohibits Jews from visiting Christian churches, Diament said, “I’m not a rabbi.” Diament also said that he attended Harvard Law School with President Obama and is friendly with the new chief executive.
\nLookstein told the Jewish news service JTA that “after consultation with people who are absolutely committed to halacha (Jewish law), I …
\ndecided to do it because I felt it was a civic duty to honor the new president of the United States.”
\n“Had I pulled out, it would have been something of an insult from the Orthodox community,” Lookstein said.
\nHerring said the criticism of Lookstein was not politically motivated, and noted that the RCA praised Obama’s “qualities of mind and leadership” and called his election a “cause for joy.”
\nBy Daniel Burke
\nReligion News Service
\nCopyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington – An Orthodox rabbi broke Jewish law by participating in an interfaith prayer service on Wednesday (Jan. 21) at Washington National Cathedral, according to the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, who leads Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, was one of three rabbis who participated in the National Prayer Service. The others…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRabbi Under Fire for Attending Inaugural Prayer Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/01\/rabbi-under-fire-for-attending\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rabbi Under Fire for Attending Inaugural Prayer Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington – An Orthodox rabbi broke Jewish law by participating in an interfaith prayer service on Wednesday (Jan. 21) at Washington National Cathedral, according to the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, who leads Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, was one of three rabbis who participated in the National Prayer Service. The others…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/01\/rabbi-under-fire-for-attending\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-22T17:39:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-29T23:52:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"akornfeld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rabbi Under Fire for Attending Inaugural Prayer Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/01\/rabbi-under-fire-for-attending","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rabbi Under Fire for Attending Inaugural Prayer Service","og_description":"Washington – An Orthodox rabbi broke Jewish law by participating in an interfaith prayer service on Wednesday (Jan. 21) at Washington National Cathedral, according to the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, who leads Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, was one of three rabbis who participated in the National Prayer Service. 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