Open Orthodox Rabbi Yanklowitz Calls for Taanis the Day of Trump Inauguration

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Yesterday, Matzav.com reported that Shmuly Yanklowitz, an Open Orthodox rabbi and dean of the Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix, Arizona, responded to the election of the 45th President of the United States by rewriting the traditional Shabbos tefillah for the US president so as to avoid actually blessing him.

Yanklowitz, who founded the Uri L’Tzedek Orthodox Social Justice organization, publicized an alternative prayer, dropping the blessing for the success of America’s president and instead accusing the incoming president of promoting white supremacy.

“Because of my commitment to the integrity of prayer, starting this week, I can no longer recite or say amen to the Shabbat prayer for the success of the U.S. president,” Yanklowitz wrote. “I felt that it was not enough to simply avoid the U.S. President in the prayer for the government but to remind myself of the billions of vulnerable people who are at risk under his rule, and challenge myself each Shabbat to build up the strength for another week of spiritual resistance.”

Today, Yanklowitz is back with more brilliance.

This time, he wants us all to make a taanis this Erev Shabbos, the day of Donald Trump’s Inauguration.

“Please consider joining us in Fasting this Friday on Inauguration Day,” Yanklowitz wrote to his followers. “In an era where greed, selfishness, & hate have become validated & normalized, we must nourish our souls with Spiritual Resistance for Love & Justice.

For those who fast, Yanklowitz adds, “I would recommend reading the Yom Kippur haftarah that morning which emphasizes that religion, in general, and fasting, in particular, is only of value if it prioritizes the needs of the most vulnerable in society.

Yanklowitz then says: “Here’s a little taste from Isaiah (57:14 – 58:14): ‘This is the fast I desire: To break open the shackles of wickedness, And undo the bonds of injustice. To let the oppressed go free; To annul all perversion. It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the moaning poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe them, And not to ignore your own kin.’”

Yanklowitz concludes his missive by stating that he recommends “fasting a 3/4 day in order to honor the entry of Shabbos Kodesh! May it bring joy & spiritual relief!”

{CB Frommer-Matzav.com Newscenter}


62 COMMENTS

  1. Think for a second what this fellow is doing against the most powerful person on earth.
    If he would have talked this way, say, against the Czar of Russia, he would have been branded by Klal Yisrael as a rodef.
    And that’s exactly what he is now too. This “Rabbi” is harming us in major way!

  2. Moshiach must be on the way!
    We, as a nation have had moshichei sheker in the past as well as many other MISHIGOYIM.
    But these first two posts on Matzav, are horrifying. And coming one after another it seems like our people have gone totally MAD!
    We need a Yeshuah!
    And although it’s said that it’s better to laugh than to cry in difficult situations, the very fact that these to extremes are presented concurrently, WE NEED TO CRY YELOLOS AND SCREAM AND BEG HASHEM TO emancipate us from such Mishigoyim and send MOSHIACH speedily!

  3. What’ll this attention-seeking buffoon’s next stunt be? Rewriting Megillas Esther, with every mention of “Haman” replaced by “Trump”, “Esther” by “Hillary”, and “Mordechai” by “Kerry”?

    What a nutter.

  4. This guy could fast for the next four years, for all I care. The problem is that he has a following of some misguided Yidden that he is stringing along.

    • I think he’s a convert, I think his mom wasn’t Jewish.In any case, what a nut, and since he’s using his position for politics, I hope that the people of Phoenix work to take away his tax-exempt status

  5. I beg you – PLEASE stop reporting this garbage. It mamash pains me in my heart to look at the faces of these Reshaim, let alone read about the propagation of their sheker. Please do your part to silence the sitra achr…

  6. What a shoyta. You’re not allowed to fast on erev Shabbos. Where is his ahavat yisroel towards his fellow Jews? Jared & Ivanka Kushner are Jewish and he is causing them pain with his hurtful comments about their Father.

  7. At least we have a clown dictating halacha to us. My dayan paskend that one may not fast on erev shabbos except in certain circumstances, trump inauguration does not qualify. Perhaps your dayan paskens otherwise, at least he’s a dayan. This clown is none.

  8. The guy is off the wall! Why are you promoting this written the way it is. He represents a very small and absurd (maybe a couple hundredpeople) radical fringe group. Him and his ilk don’t even deserve negative attention.

  9. The guy is off the wall! Why are you promoting this written the way it is? He represents a very small (maybe a couple hundred) radical fringe group of kooks. Him and his ilk don’t even deserve negative attention.

  10. don’t worry, open ”orthodoxy ” allows eating during a Taanis, if no one is looking ( some of their poskim hold you can even eat if people are looking as long as you close your eyes and make beleive you don’t see them)

  11. In the spirit of Leitzanusa d’avoda zara . . .

    Riddle: How does an Open Orthodox gabbai call up a man to the Torah?

    Answer: “Ya’amod b’Mkom LADY!”

  12. This is silly. He cannot mention President Trump’s name in a prayer. I can just imagine the Ribono shel Olam listening to this prayer and remarking to the angels, “What a foolish man. And he calls himself a Rabbi. Who does he think got Trump to be President, the Russians? I got him there.”

  13. so this cretin Yanklowitz because of his political views introduces a Taanis on an erev Shabbos. There should be a Taanis Nidche a whole day on Sunday to save Yidden from becoming Avi Weiss Zombies

  14. Why only in previous article about Naturei Karta did you put Rabbis in quotation marks? This guy surely is a “rabbi.”

  15. Oy! Did anyone recommend fasting and repentance for those who voted for, and subsequently enabled, the most anti-Israel president ever on the day the Security Council passed Resolution 2334 with the complicity of the Obama administration?

  16. Oy. Did anyone recommend fasting and repentance for those Jews who voted for – and subsequently enabled – the most anti-Israel president ever when the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 with the complicity of the Obama administration? Strange priorities, indeed.

  17. What a mixed up bird. All over religious Jews are celebrating the Trumpvictory but this guy hates Trump because Trump is going to appoint Supreme Court judges who will do away with abortions on demand and toieva marriages.

  18. He’s probably a sincere man who truly believes in what he’s doing. For one indication, he donated a kidney to save the life of a person he didn’t know. You can google his name and read about this.

    Having said that, his reaction to the election seems really off-base.

    • So what you trying to say?Plenty gentiles donate kidneys. That soent make the ehrlicher yid.,makes them be fine upstanding chasdai …

  19. TO MATZAV EDITORS
    JUST LIKE YOU DO NOT REFER TO REFORM AND CONSERVATIVE CLERGY AS RABBI PLEASE DO THE SAME FOR THE OPEN ORTHODOXY MOVEMENT. IT IS CERTAINLY NOT ORTHODOX. Please strongly consider this. Thank you.

    • Everyone who posted against these menuvalim will be adding to their Olom Haba

      You have a clue what lashon hara is !?Or worse ,you do !

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