September 3, 2015

By Lisa Matkowsky

The Orthodox Union is organizing a fly-in on September 9 prior to Rosh Hashanah to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal. The historic mission will include a Rabbis’ Vigil adjacent to the steps of the Capitol, where the OU has been working and coordinating with AIPAC. The vigil, currently scheduled at noon in between lobbying activities to take place both beforehand and afterwards, will consist of a short program including brief addresses as well as the recitation of tehillim. Designed to bring together rabbis, synagogue and community leaders in a show of community solidarity in opposition to the deal, the vigil is intended to send a powerful message of unity.

“We are expecting hundreds of rabbanim and various community leaders,” said Allen Fagin, Executive Vice President of the OU. “It’s enormously important to demonstrate the solidarity of the Orthodox community in a very concrete way in opposition to this bill, and to project to Congress a clear understanding about the depth of communal feeling even beyond what this specific bill confers, in regards to vigilance about Iran. Even if the bill passes, the highest level of scrutiny of all Iran’s activities must be maintained, everything must be carefully monitored because of all the ways in which Iran has demonstrated its predilections and carried out terrorist activities. This bad deal is one piece of the picture…we must remain enormously vigilant as we confront the future.”

Click here to read the full article in the New Jersey Jewish Link.