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LUPOLIANSKI SNUBS CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
by Etgar Lefkovits
Jerusalem Post, Feb. 4, 2004
In a new controversy smacking of deja vu, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski has turned down an invitation by the heads of the Conservative Movement in Israel to address the annual world meeting of Conservative rabbis in Jerusalem next week.
Citing a "busy schedule," Lupolianski rejected a request by the head of the local Masorti (Conservative) Movement, Rabbi Ehud Bandel, to address 300 Conservative rabbis from around the world at the opening ceremony of their four-day conference.
The movement's annual gathering, which begins Monday at Jerusalem's Inbal Hotel, was last held in Israel in 1997. The movement counts more than 2 million Jews as members worldwide.
Bandel's request, first made six months ago and then again in the first week of January, was turned down by Lupolianski's office on January 19.
Calling Lupolianski's snub "a disgrace to the State of Israel and to its capital," Bandel said Tuesday that, "A Jerusalem mayor who does not even find five minutes of his time to honor 300 rabbis from across the world, who are coming... to Jerusalem, is not worthy of serving in his position."
Lupolianski was elected as the city's first haredi mayor last year, after Ehud Olmert quit city hall and reentered national politics. His subsequent decision to form a predominantly religious coalition without opposition leader Nir Barkat's party was seen by political analysts to be a bellwether for his five-year term.
In a statement, Lupolianski's office said Tuesday that the mayor had notified conference organizers he could not make it to their gathering due to "a busy schedule," but suggested to the international president of the movement, Rabbi Reuven Hammer, to hold the ceremony and the reception at city hall in the presence of the mayor and city councilors.
The offer was turned down, the statement said.
Rabbi Hammer said Tuesday that the city never made such an offer to him, and that such a claim was fallacious.
Left unsaid was why Lupolianski could find time to attend an event at the municipality, but not one at the hotel, a five-minute drive from his office.
The feud with the Conservative Movement mirrors one Lupolianski had with leaders of the local Reform Movement last year, after the mayor canceled a previously scheduled meeting with visiting movement leaders. After a public outcry, he later met with a small group of the leaders in his office.
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