Rabbis Cancel Annual High-Holidays Call with Trump Because of Charlottesville Remarks

Several American rabbinical groups cancelled an annual Jewish high holidays call with President Trump because of his response to the Charlottesville protest, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. “The president’s words have given succor to those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia,” the organizations—the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism—wrote in a joint statement. “Responsibility for the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, including the death of Heather Heyer, does not lie with many sides but with one side: the Nazis, alt-right and white supremacists who brought their hate to a peaceful community. They must be roundly condemned at all levels.” Rabbinical groups representing the reform, reconstructionist, and conservative Jewish movements organized a call before the holidays every year during the Obama presidency.