JTA: Yosef Blau, author of an Orthodox rabbis’ letter calling out Israel, responds to his critics

By Andrew Silow-Carroll (Read full article in JTA here)

For 48 years, until he moved to Israel earlier this year, Rabbi Yosef Blau was the “mashgiach ruchani” at Yeshiva University, a revered figure who served as a sort of spiritual guidance counselor to students at Modern Orthodoxy’s flagship seminary.

In that role, he said this week in an interview, his job was to be “available to help students on issues that bother them, rather than issues that bother me.”

Earlier this month, he told the world what was bothering him, and the world took notice. Blau, 86, is the author of “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis,” an open letter signed by 80 Orthodox rabbis. The letter forthrightly condemned Hamas, but took the Israeli government to task for its halting response to what most of the world sees as a hunger crisis in Gaza.

While the letter was cheered by groups like Smol Emuni US, which represents Orthodox and otherwise observant liberal Zionists, and by individual Orthodox and non-Orthodox Zionists who have been critical of the Israeli government, the critics have been vocal. They accused the author and the signers of representing a fringe within Orthodoxy, aping the criticism of NGOs and governments hostile to Israel, and providing aid, comfort and talking points to Israel’s enemies.