Friday January 25, 2008
Leading US Jewish Rabbi Calls on the Pope to Convene Religious Leaders in New York to Oppose Abortion
By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of the most riveting and energetic speakers at the March for Life Tuesday was Rabbi Yehuda Levin. No stranger to pro-life Americans, Rabbi Levin has represented more than 1000 Rabbis calling for moral laws. At the March, he made an unusual appeal - asking Pope Benedict XVI to lead religious leaders on the streets of New York in a declaration forbidding faithful to vote for politicians who support abortion.
Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the Special Emissary to Israel for The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and The Rabbinical Alliance of America, addressed the hundreds of thousands of pro-life marchers with this message:
"I'm asking the Pope today. Call the Evangelicals, call the Jews and everyone else and declare in the streets of New York in these extraordinary times when babies are being murdered . . . when some are redefining marriage and perverting our youth in society.
"Pope Benedict we need extraordinary measures.
"If the religious leaders will gather in the city of New York at the invitation of the Pope and declare in the streets it is forbidden to vote for any pro-abortion pro-deviance candidate.
"My dear friends, 20 to 25 per cent of America will surely applaud this, and for the glory of God this would stop another huge amount of baby killing and perversion.
"Please Pope Benedict you have the ability as the largest denominational leader. You who lived through the Holocaust, answer the appeal of this Jew whose mother-in-law bears the brand of Auschwitz, hear our plea. Help stop the American Holocaust of abortion. The Holocaust of a world society losing its respect for life. Prohibit voting for the pro-death and deviance politicians."
LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Rabbi Levin about the proposal during the March. Rabbi Levin said that he had spoken about his proposal with Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, with St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and also with Senator Sam Brownback.
Rabbi Levin told LifeSiteNews.com that should Pope Benedict undertake the proposal it would be an ecumenical event like none other. "There's almost nothing he can do which would be more ecumenical in the true sense of the word - interreligious inspiring and helping the peoples of this world than to reassert the rightful supremacy of religious leadership over political leadership," he said. "And with one statement in New York supported by the Rabbis and Evangelical leaders and other denominational leaders we can change the balance and start to shift respect for religious leadership back to its rightful place."
Rabbi Levin has asked that all pro-lifers join in his appeal to the pope.
The pope's email as rendered by the Vatican Information Service:
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.