Exclusive: RCA Removes Its Executive VP

Source: Failed Messiah

Rabbi Basil Herring – the man most responsible for the Rabbinical Council of America's bad conversion deal with Israel's chief rabbinate and for the RCA's biased and error ridden white paper on organ donation – has been pushed out of his leadership role by the RCA's new, more moderate elected leadership.

A source close to the situation tells me Rabbi Herring has been forced out as Executive VP, primarily because of his failures related to the conversion issue and organ donation.

In recent years, the RCA had shifted to the right, and Herring played to that shift willingly. Modern Orthodoxy became "Centrist" Orthodoxy, and those to the left religiously were no longer made to feel welcome.

Ultra-Orthodox demands with regard to conversion and organ donation were accepted. Converts and those needing transplants suffered.

The RCA's image suffered as a result – and so did Modern Orthodoxy.

But recent elections brought new, moderate leadership to power and Herring is now out.

This is decidedly good news for converts and for Jews who value Modern Orthodoxy, either as a chosen lifestyle or as a buffer to the increasing extremism of ultra-Orthodoxy.