Dear Leaders of the Modern Orthodox World:

   We, the undersigned, implore you, the organizations that represent Modern Orthodox Jewry, to make a public statement in defense of our religious liberty.  We have already been silent too long. It is time for you to unequivocally speak out in favor of the American tradition of religious liberty.

   Health and Human Services has promulgated regulations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring employers to provide health insurance plans that include, at no cost to the employee, abortifacients (including the drug Ella which functions in a manner similar to the abortion drug RU-486), sterilization, and contraceptives. The exceedingly narrow conscience exception, purportedly designed to protect religious liberty, fails to protect religious organizations including charities, hospitals and schools. It would not protect a day school, Yeshiva University, or a Jewish Charity. 

     The administration's so called "accommodation" is indefensible.   An accounting gimmick cannot make that which is unconscionable conscionable. Religious organizations remain required to purchase a product which includes abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilization for their employees.The fact that the cost of those items would not appear on the receipt is a financial fantasy that cannot undermine the moral reality. The "accommodation" requires religious organizations to violate the tenets of their faith.  This meager fig leaf would not even pretend to protect the many religious organizations that are self insured.  This "accommodation" has not relieved you of your responsibility, as our communal leaders, to stand up for religious liberty. It is all the more imperative that you stand up and announce that in America the government must not mandate that religious people compromise on their faith and that our long tradition of the free exercise of religion cannot be satisfied by an insulting shell game.

   I believe that, as religious Jews, we should be appalled that the government is mandating that Orthodox Jewish employers provide employees with abortifacients like Ella.  But, you must speak out against this regulation even if you do not agree. Our religious brethren, indisputably understand this mandate as requiring them to violate God’s commandments. If Modern Orthodox Judaism stands for anything it stands for the notion that we live in the wider world and interact with our friends and neighbors. How can we stand idly by when the government is giving schools, hospitals and charities the cruel dilemma of violating their religious obligations or facing legal penalties? 

     I am not asking you to come down on a political issue. This is not a choice between the right and the left. Numerous Democrats and members of the President’s own administration have recognized that this a grave injustice. This a choice between speaking out as the leaders of the Modern Orthodox world and remaining silent in the face of a major issue facing every religious American. We cannot afford to let the only voices that speak for Judaism come from the streets of Bet Shemesh or non-halachic movements. If Modern Orthodoxy is to have a voice in the world, if we are to be an "or la-goyim," this is the type of issue where our voices must be heard.  All too often Modern Orthodoxy is over-looked. If you do not do the right thing today, in the face of this grave injustice, that dismissal will be justified.

     Our own religious liberty may soon be in peril in areas including bans on ritual slaughter and ritual circumcision. Such legislation has passed in other countries and been proposed in parts of the United States. In the light of this mandate we can no longer rest comfortably and assume that such affronts to our tradition of religious liberty could never happen in America.  Now is the time to take a stand to defend ourselves. You are the leaders of this community, your voices resonate and therefore it is your obligation to speak out. Our Christian neighbors take every opportunity to stand with us on issues from Israel to private school vouchers. Right now it is incumbent on us to stand by their side and defend our religious liberty together. We, the undersigned are asking those organizations that represent the Modern Orthodox world to please release public statements supporting  a conscience clause which would be broad enough to ensure that no religious person had his religious liberty disregarded.

Thank you