The article did not bother me and actually touched upon a point I feel strongly abouit. I think we in the Orthodox world have to be more vocal about the fact that unaffiliated American Jews or those who are Reform (and probably Conservative, too) are not actually Jewish. We need to treat them and consider them non-Jews – unless there is evidence to the contrary.
The fact is, most Americans who consider themselves Jewish (but are not Orthodox) are not the child of a Jewish mother. They may have a Jewish relative or they may have a relative who converted into Judaism under a non-orthodox “conversion” but that is about it.
And long gone are the days that non-orthodox Jews had something, anything, Jewish about them. A majority do not believe in God (and that goes for their rabbis, too). They don’t care about kosher, pesach, nothing. The last vestige of Judaism they held on to was Israel but that is not the case any more, either.
So to recap, they were not born Jewish, they do not believe in Judaism (or any religion for that matter) and have no connection to Israel. In what way are they Jewish? The answer is, they are not.
So thankfully intermarriage is diluting these people – more and more every year – but the time has come to stop looking at them as Jews, at all.
Now, I do not hate them in any way. I am delighted the rabbi and his congregation were saved. Unlike R’ Avigdor Miller who says he hated reformed, I do not. But I do not hate people just because they are not Jewish. They are not Jewish. Full stop.
God willing, if more Jews take this approach, we can stop hearing about “Jews for [insert liberal/anti-Torah phrase here]”, women of the wall, etc. We can stop hearing about these goyim masquerading as Jews and supporting all sorts of anti-Jewish and anti-religion causes.
I wish them nothing but the best, as goyim. We do not need them and do not want them. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.