Michael Oren, an ex-Israeli ambassador to the United States and a former member of Adas Israel, said he was ‘appalled’ by the news of the cancellation.

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

A prominent synagogue in Washington, D.C., is facing accusations from the Jewish community that it caved to anti-Israel activists by canceling an event with former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Adas Israel, whose members have included Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan and the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, called off the event just one day before it was set to take place on Monday night.

Anti-Israel activists, who had threatened to demonstrate outside the synagogue, took credit for the cancellation. Organizers said, however, that security concerns, not political pressure, prompted the decision.

Anti-Israel activists have called for Gallant to be arrested for “war crimes” due to his role in overseeing Israel’s war against Hamas.

News of the cancellation drew outrage from the Jewish community and fueled criticism that the influential D.C. synagogue has become a platform for left-leaning politics.

Earlier this year, Adas Israel came under fire after its rabbi claimed that Jewish people “need to elect Vice President Kamala Harris” in order to comply with “sacred texts.”

Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States and a former member of Adas Israel, said he was “appalled” by the news of Gallant’s cancellation, adding that the “Adas leadership should be deeply ashamed of this ungrateful decision.”

A spokesman for Adas Israel declined to comment, but forwarded the Washington Free Beacon an email the synagogue sent to congregants on Sunday that said the cancellation was due to “specific security concerns that arose in connection with this event.”

“Contrary to speculation, this decision was not based on the event’s subject matter,” the email said.

Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) and an organizer of the event, said on X the cancellation was driven by “real and legitimate security concerns” and said allegations of political pressure were “false and malicious.”

Gallant’s appearance was moved to WINEP’s office, according to the Forward. Satloff did not respond to a request for comment.

Gallant’s spokesperson also said the cancellation was due to security threats, according to the Jewish Insider.

Anti-Israel activists took credit for the decision in an article in the Forward. One Adas Israel congregant, Benjamin Temchine, told the paper that he lobbied against the event in a meeting with the synagogue’s rabbis last Friday and said at least 10 other members had also complained.

IfNotNow, an anti-Israel group, said it had planned protests outside the synagogue during Gallant’s appearance. One of the group’s leaders told the Forward that the cancellation showed that the “center of gravity within the mainstream Jewish community” is shifting against Israel.

“A conservative faction in the shul thought they could host this event with Yoav Gallant, but the internal pushback was so intense that just wasn’t possible,” the IfNotNow organizer said.

In August, Adas Israel faced backlash from its members after one of its senior leaders, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, claimed that Jewish religious scripture required Jews to support Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, the Free Beacon reported.

Angry congregants slammed the synagogue leadership’s left-wing advocacy as “borderline insufferable” and said it left them “dreading the upcoming high holidays.”

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Holtzblatt’s comments drew criticism from some Adas Israel congregants, who said the synagogue’s political bias has become ‘insufferable.’

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

An influential Washington, D.C., synagogue is facing backlash from furious congregants after its rabbi claimed Jews “need to elect Vice President Kamala Harris” in order to comply with “sacred texts.”

Adas Israel, whose membership has included Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is one of the oldest and largest synagogues in Washington, D.C.

But members have become increasingly frustrated with the leadership’s “insulting” left-wing advocacy that has left congregants “dreading the upcoming high holidays,” the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The controversy came to a head at a Jewish Democratic Council of America event earlier this month, when Adas Israel Co-Senior Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt cited Jewish scripture as a basis for why Jews must vote for Harris.

“I could tell you that we need to elect Vice President Kamala Harris because as Jews our sacred texts tell us we need to build a world where we feed the hungry, where we care for the sick, where we love the stranger, where we guard and nurture this planet,” said Holtzblatt on the JDCA Zoom call with Harris supporters.

“Those are her values. That is what her policies seek to achieve.”

Holtzblatt, who officiated Ginsburg’s funeral and has appeared on The Forward’s “Forward 50” list, is a vocal supporter of Harris and led a Passover seder at the vice president’s home last spring.

She did not respond to a request for comment regarding which Jewish texts support her assertion that Jews “need to elect” Harris.

Holtzblatt’s comments drew criticism from some Adas Israel congregants, who said the synagogue’s political bias has become “insufferable.”

“[T]o be lectured that as Jews we are compelled to vote a certain way is frankly insulting,” wrote a longtime congregant in an email to Adas Israel’s rabbinical leaders. Two other Adas Israel congregants independently shared the exchange with the Free Beacon.

“[T]ying ‘our sacred texts’ to a political candidate in this way is, at best, simplistic. And easily rebutted with myriad other examples from scripture,” wrote the members.

“The reality is that Adas has become borderline insufferable for anyone who doesn’t share what is assumed by leadership to be the universal point of view. It’s politics all day everyday; politics always from the same direction—no balance.”

Members are also reportedly irked by Adas Israel’s decision to have Hamilton director Lin-Manuel Miranda, a non-Jewish Democratic activist, headline the synagogue’s Yom Kippur programming in October.

“[T]here are many more Adas members than you might realize, who are put off as well (some of whom are BCC’d here),” wrote the congregants.

“I have spoken with a number who are dreading the upcoming high holidays, headlined bizarrely by father and son Miranda (hawking his book no less!).”

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