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Reform Judaism officially does not believe anything in Judaism is binding; it is mostly "cultural" Judaism, just practiced because that's what our ancestors did and for no other reason. Conservative Judaism feels like it can change laws completely.
This is an opinion that reflects the growing intolerance amongst radical ultra-Orthodox Jews regarding the other denominations of Judaism.
Thankfully, it doesn't represent a majority view.
The two largest denomination of Judaism are Reform and Conservative, which are not officially sanctioned or allowed in Israel. Perhaps this is why Israel, which only allows Orthodox officially, has a lower affiliation rate than the United States.
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Aish and Ohr Someach can hardly be considered "cults."
Neither Aish or its affiliated school Ohr Somayach have been identified as "cults" through the Ross Institute database and this is a false argument.
See [
www.culteducation.com]
This disclaimer is linked from every page of the Web site.
Both Aish and Ohr have generated serious and repeated complaints from Jewish families including Orthodox Jewish families. Based upon those complaints and statements made by those influenced by Aish and Ohr, much like the above quoted member of this board, I would not recommend Aish or Ohr to anyone under any circumstnces.
Aish uses "Shabbat" as something like a lure to get unwary Jews to "experience" what they want and then draw them deeper into their layered programs.
The ultimate goal of Aish and Ohr is to bring Reform and Conservative Jews out of their respective denominations and into their version of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. And though this recruitiment goal is usually not realized it nevertheless reflects thier intention.
Aish and Ohr will insist, much like other fundamentalists, that thier version of Judaism isn't a version at all, but rather "true Torah Judaism."
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I myself am not an Orthodox Jew...when I do go to a synagogue, I go to an Orthodox one...I did find that Conservative and Reformed Judaism are really cop-outs and 'conveniencies.'"
This is essentially what Aish and Ohr teach their students.
The above quote reflects the sentiments at Aish and Ohr.
Ironically, Aish and Ohr both solicit donations from Reform and Conservative Jews that probably don't really understand their agenda.
That is, that they are "true Torah Judaism" and other Jewish denominations are "really cop-outs." Not exactly and opinion that would garner support from other Jews affiliated with different denominations such as Reform and Conservative.
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Anyone who has attended any number of lectures at Aish will tell you it's not brainwashing,
The complaints from Jewish families indicate otherwise.
Aish/Ohr has repeatedly been accused of "brainwashing" American Jewish tourists in Isreel. These are typically young people, that started out on vacation and were instead sucked into Aish/Ohr. These recruits then often gave up school, work, previously set goals and relationships to study at times for years with Aish/Ohr and stayed in Israel.
Recruiting was often done at the Western Wall and began with a simple invitation to a dinner or "Shabbat."
See [
www.culteducation.com]
Families should be aware of all this before sending their kids to Israel for any programs or vacations.
Some of the most hateful and nasty emails I have ever received from any group mentioned on the Ross Institute database have been from Aish and Ohr participants, which have denounced other Jews (e.g. Reform and Conservative) and have expressed often extreme, bigoted and even violent sentiments.