LONDON (JTA) — A 77-year-old British rabbi was arrested and dragged away by police while wearing his tallit and carrying the four species of Sukkot during a climate change protest in London.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman, rabbi emeritus of Finchley Reform Synagogue, located in north London, was arrested on Monday in central London, according to reports. The incident was captured on video and posted on YouTube. The rabbi, who had kneeled in the middle of the road and begun praying during the Extinction Rebellion protests in London, had arrived at the protest with 30 Jewish activists.
“I see it as my religious and moral duty to stand up for what I believe in, and what I care about, for my grandchildren,” Newman told local media. “I haven’t tried to involve the synagogue, because if you are asking for permission, you might not get it. I think it’s much more important to do what I’m doing, and they can approve or not approve at a later date.”
He wore a kippa bearing the Extinction Rebellion logo.
Newman is an adviser to the International Secretariat of the United Nations’ Earth Charter, a set of 16 principles for a sustainable global society. He has been involved with global environmental movements for about 50 years.
Founded in Britain last year, Extinction Rebellion has chapters in about 50 countries and wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2025.
Reform Rabbi? Thats a JINO (Jew In Name Only), in other words, a goy!
They should start by eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from their mouths.
Valid message. Inappropriate time.
I guess everybody is good at something.
Reformed deformed
He was kneeling? We only do that in shul on Yom Kippur. I didn’t know reform Jews use a lulav and esrog.
If he or anyone else wants to protest climate change that is their business but it is wrong to do it in the name of Judaism.
There is no reason to come with a Talis and Luluv and Esrog to a climate protest other than to falsely imply that he represents Judaism rather than the liberal activist viewpoint.
Frum people don’t go to secular events wearing a Talis and carrying a Luluv and Esrog, why would a Reform “rabbi” whose congregants don’t even keep such mitzvahs do so other than to disgrace the mitzvahs?
Hey, at least he didnt come to say Kaddish for the Hamas terrorists that were killed attacking Israelis!
i wanted to leave a disparaging remark
but its Succot and in the idea of the 4 species Daled Minim i hope he comes out of the cold and into the fold
because we need him also doing the right thing to bring Moshiach
So he’s part of the Dor Haflaga, but he has some audacity to use the Arba Minim as part of his charade when they symbolize the exact opposite of his viewpoint. We believe that Hashem is in charge of the world and decides if and when there should be any climatic events both good and bad. We pray with the Arba Minim that we should not have any catastrophic weather events, but ultimately it is up to Hashem. This guy is not a Rabbi, he’s just Ra’ah
The perek say don eyz kol l’kaf tzichus. It is before hoshana rabba and you amorazim disparage a yid wwho hold the arbaq minim. In birkenaui “ever hear about that” in the gas chamber there were frime, apikorsim amd stam yidden including my mishpoche. I was liberated in Buchenwald and believe in don eyz kol adom l’kaf tzichus
I agree with his point , but not while holding lulav and esrog
We must condemn this evil individual. The reform deformed leaders are misleading their flock. They are evil.
The CO2 levels overall have been diminishing over the past centuries. Global warming as measured by melting glacials also started decades before industrial revolution. There is a freaking volcano under the south pole which is warming and melting the polar ice cap. Now you are informed. If anything Chinais the biggest pollutant in the world and whatever the US and Europe do to curtail carbon emissions is insignificant statistically speaking. China is the culprit. Do we need them to stop? Throwing heavy metals into rivers and plastic in the ocean? absolutely. CO2? I wouldn’t worry a bit. Google inconvenient facts wrightstone
When Jews fight amongst themselves, their real enemies smile.
It’s stupid that this alarmist doesn’t know that the actual science disputes the fraud-filled, exaggerated, politicized boondoggle that is the global climate change movement. See the book Lukewarming.