NSW rabbis clash with leaders over 18C
THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and Rabbinical Council of NSW (RCNSW) are at odds over the federal government’s proposed changes to racial discrimination laws.
THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and Rabbinical Council of NSW (RCNSW) are at odds over the federal government’s proposed changes to racial discrimination laws.
The NSW peak rabbinical body expressed concern last week that it was not consulted prior to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) – an ECAJ constituent – officially opposing the mooted legislation, saying “it is not a black and white issue”.
In an email to JBOD president Yair Miller, RCNSW secretary Rabbi Chaim Ingram said the rabbinate appreciated JBOD’s work in the community but questioned whether its views were “representative of the Jewish community as a whole”.
“We the Rabbinate of NSW do not necessarily agree that the amending of Section 18C and 18D is entirely a bad thing,” he wrote.
“It would be in all our interests were you to consult with the NSW rabbinate and others about these delicate moral and ethical issues before adopting a position on behalf of the Sydney Jewish community.”
Rabbi Ingram told The AJN the RCNSW “would have very much welcomed a free and frank discussion on why we feel that certain sections [of the existing legislation] are preventative of free speech in as much as rabbis can’t get up and make a pronouncement on certain moral issues, that might insult [someone]”.
“If rabbis are prevented from speaking on certain moral issues because of the Act, then it would be good to change that Act,” he said.
“Judaism is not confined to kashrut and Shabbat. It encompasses the whole gamut of moral and ethical behaviour both for individuals and in society. And to that extent consult us.”
The RCNSW’s viewpoint is not shared by its interstate colleagues in the Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV). “We were consulted by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria in relation to the racial discrimination laws and we support them,” RCV president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant said.
ECAJ president Robert Goot said the national lay roof organisation – from whom both JBOD and JCCV take their position – had “developed an expertise in the jurisdiction and in respect of the issues involving this legislation”.
“[The ECAJ] has instituted and successfully concluded a number of very important court cases pursuant to Section 18C,” he said.
“As soon as the Opposition as it then was, announced that it proposed to repeal Section 18C, the ECAJ consulted extensively and made known very publicly over many months that it would oppose any repeal of Section 18C.
“The ECAJ has as amongst its consultants, who attend committee of management meetings of the ECAJ, a number of rabbis. All of them agreed with the approach adopted by the ECAJ at all times.”
He added: “The ECAJ had no reason to believe, nor does it now have any reason to believe, that the position it has adopted is not generally representative of the Jewish community as a whole.”
Specifically addressing Rabbi Ingram’s concern that the existing Act restricted rabbis from speaking on moral issues, Goot said: “The existing law is clear. Public statements that humiliate, offend or insult on the grounds of race, not made in good faith or reasonably, are restricted.
“That legislation has served the Jewish community very well over 20 years and should continue to do so. And the legislation should remain intact.
“There should be no occasion for any rabbi, or anyone else, to wish to breach it.
GARETH NARUNSKY
ECAJ president Robert Goot.
comments