WASHINGTON -- With the Capitol dome behind them, hundreds of Orthodox rabbis gathered Wednesday as Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood sounded the shofar, the ram's horn heard in synagogue during the Jewish high holidays that begin Sunday evening.
Golden's blasts this time were not a call to worship but a call to Congress to reject the agreement curbing Iran's nuclear program for more than a decade in exchange for relaxing sanctions. He blew the shofar as Congress began debating the deal.
While enough Senate Democrats have endorsed the agreement to ensure that Congress will not be able to override President Obama's expected veto of any resolution rejecting the deal -- and may be able to prevent the Senate from getting the 60 votes it needs to pass the measure -- the Orthodox rabbis said they weren't going to remain silent.
"We continue to lobby our legislations, and as religious Jews we lobby God," said Rabbi Shalom Baum of Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, president of the Rabbinical Council of America. "When you have an opportunity to scream and dissent and you are silent you have done wrong. We scream out today in protest and prayer."
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White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Wednesday that the likelihood of Congress rejecting the deal had become more remote.
"We've been gratified that over the past few weeks, as more lawmakers learn and study this complicated deal, the passing or overturning a veto on a resolution like that has become less and less likely,'' he said.
The rabbis' protest was led by the advocacy arm of the Orthodox Union, whose OU on grocery packages is the gold standard for kosher products, and drew rabbis from across the country. It preceded a much larger rally against the agreement staged across Constitution Avenue, which featured Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
The Orthodox Union's executive vice president, Allen Fagin, said the deal will give international recognition to "the most evil and dangerous regime in the history of the world" and therefore the group must push for additional military support for Israel. Iran leaders have threatened to destroy the Jewish state.
Even if opponents of the deal don't have the votes to kill it, Fagin said, "we gather to lobby for the narrowest of margins and pray that saner heads will prevail."
Baum joined Gov. Chris Christie at a press conference at Rutgers University last month to urge U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to vote against the deal. Booker announced Sept. 3 that he would support the agreement, albeit less than wholeheartedly.
"We're disappointed in Senator Booker,'' Baum said before Wednesday's protest. "He's voting for the deal but with a great deal of ambivalence. I wish he would have paid more attention to the ambivalence."
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.