Rejoicing with Miri

The following is a letter of congratulations written to Rabbi Miri Gold by Rabbi Robert Leib of Old York Road Temple-Beth Am in Abington, PA. Feel free to share your own messages to Miri in the comments below,  or on ARZA’s Facebook page!

Dear Miri,

On behalf of our entire congregation, most especially those who have met and heard you, personally, we extend our sincere CONGRATULATIONS to you on your long-awaited victory!!

We are all so thrilled for you and the extraordinary patience, courage, strength and optimism you have displayed over the course of so many years.

Your case has certainly made history in our eyes and in the eyes of all those fellow Jews who cherish religious freedom, sexual equality and democratic reforms.  Miri, you have every good reason to be proud of your unprecedented, victorious accomplishment; may it herald the day when all non-Orthodox Israeli Rabbis and their congregants will be vouchsafed the many blessings that we enjoy chutz la’aretz and yet, admittedly, take for granted.

We rejoice with you, Birkat Shalom and, for that matter, the entire Israel Progressive Movement in this landmark decision.

We are well aware of the fact that future hurdles might well present themselves and that the fight for full and unambiguous legitimacy continues but, right now, we want to rejoice with you in this monumental achievement that could well, B’Ezrat HaSHem, open the doors to a new and glorious future for Progressive and Conservative Judaism in Israel.

From Philadelphia, we send you and David a big, hearty “MAZAL TOV.”  You have every reason to be bursting with pride!

In friendship,

Robert