Statement by the RCA

Supplementary Statement on Rabbi Mordecai Tendler

We wish to thank Rav Chaim Rosenthal, Av Bet Din of the Bet Din Ha-Ezori of Jerusalem, for his clarification (dated 5 Nissan 5765) of the earlier preliminary opinion (hachlatah, which is a preliminary opinion, not a psak or decision) of the Bet Din Ha-Ezori. We have read both the hachlatah and his letter to us very carefully, and therefore we wish to make the following statement:

Although the Rabbinical Council of America feels that this is an internal membership issue, nonetheless, because of our respect for the Gedolim in Eretz Yisrael, we wish to clarify that

1. The Rabbinical Council of America, in responding to complaints brought to it regarding Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, acted in all respects in accordance with its established constitutional provisions to review his membership status in our organization.

2. The Rabbinical Council of America has acted only in regard to his membership in our organization, and has not addressed his employment in his congregation or elsewhere.

3. The matter of his employment remains entirely up to the members of his congregation, and is not under our jurisdiction.

Therefore we are in harmony with the opinion of the Bet Din Ha-Ezori, as clarified by its Av Bet Bin.

For the record, anyone wishing to see the texts of the original hachlata and the subsequent clarification by the Av Bet Din, may see them on the website of the Rabbinical Council of America, at www.rabbis.org.