by Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek [➚] · Friday, October 2nd, 2009
One of the best parts of my job at AJWS is that I get to run our Rabbinical Students’ Delegation Program. I’m an alum of the program, and I think it is the best way to think hard about Judaism and justice in a globalized world.
For the last six years, this program has only been open to rabbinical students. However, the upcoming delegation to Muchucuxcah, Mexico from January 3 – 14, 2010, is open to all graduate students preparing for careers in Jewish leadership. Are you a rabbinical student? Apply. Are you a cantorial student? Apply. Are you an education student? Apply. Are you a ethnomusicology student planning to record long-lost Yemenite trope? Apply.
There are more details here, but in short, the program is led by me, and will be joined by scholar-in-residence Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy, professor of Talmud and Director of the Social Justice Track at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. We will be doing hands on work with Hombre Sobre La Tierra, one of AJWS’s long-standing grantees, connecting with colleagues from other movements, and learning about international human rights from a uniquely Jewish perspective.
The participant fee for RSD 8 will be $200 and applications, which are due October 26, 2009, are availablehere.
by Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek [➚] · Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
In her recent graduation speech at JTS, my boss Ruth Messinger called on us to “work for greater equity, for social justice, and for global citizenship.” For this, the New Jersey Jewish News called her out for being “insufficiently tribal.”
Excuse me?
It’s true, there was a time when tribalism was alive, and American Jews were defined primarily by our enemies and our blood. When, as the NJJN news puts it, “the classic communal concerns of the last century [were] anti-anti-Semitism, pro-Israel activity, and Holocaust remembrance.”
There was a time when tribalism was so alive that major Jewish denominations were reluctant to perform conversions at all, because Judaism resided “in the blood.” (See Eric L. Goldstein’s The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity for a fascinating exploration of this.)
There was a time when the negation of Hitler replaced the worship of God as the theological cornerstone of American Judaism. Thankfully, that time is coming to a close.
American Judaism is stronger now because thousands of Jews are reengaging and reinvigorating Jewish practice in a variety of exciting and dynamic ways. Some, like our friends at Hadar, Drisha and Pardes, are fostering an unprecedented breath and depth of traditional textual fluency; some, like the folks at Elat Chayyim, B’nai Jeshurun, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality are facilitating meaningful davening and meditative experiences; some are part of minyanim around the country which are building engaged communities in ways that are profoundly shaping peoples’ lives. Some, like the folks at the Six Points Fellowship, JDUB and Storahtelling are finding renewed power in the arts. And thankfully, there are organizations, like AVODAH, American Jewish World Service and Jewish Funds for Justice that are fighting for the human rights of all of God’s creatures, not just those who are Jewish.
The NJJN argues that “tribal identity” is a prerequisite for the pursuit of global justice. This couldn’t be further from the truth – the pursuit of justice is more accurately seen as a prerequisite for Jewish identity. Judaism is a system of practices – some ritual, some interpersonal – and to claim the “tribe” of Judaism, without claiming its practices, is to claim a hollow shell.
The Rambam says (in Issurei Biah 19.17): “Anyone who is brazen or cruel, and hates other people, and does not treat them kindly, is highly suspected of being a Gibeonite, for the characteristics of the holy nation of Israel is that they are humble and kindly.”
In other words, behavior defines identity – not the other way around. There are some, like Korach, who believe that the whole nation of Israel are holy, and it is a legitimate religious stance to be concnered only with the needs of this holy slice of God’s creation. To quote Yeshayahu Lelbowitz, that is nothing more than racist chauvinism.
by Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek [➚] · Friday, October 31st, 2008
When Joe the Plumber emerged as the everyman railing against Obama’s “one-step-closer-to-socialist” tax program, progressives were quick to jump. We jumped on him because he wasn’t really a plumber, he wasn’t anywhere near buying a plumbing business, and that in the life he actully lived, Obama’s tax plan would be better for him than McCain’s. We thought it was just another case of the working class voting against their own self interest.
What we failed to grasp is that Joe the Plumber wasn’t talking from who he was, but from who he would like to be. We all have internal narratives in which we locate ourselves, and in Joe’s narrative, he wasn’t an unliscenced plumber, but a man on the verge of becoming a small business owner. The fact that Republicans have been consistently better than Democrats at speaking to people’s narratives, to their aspirations to be wealthy is no small part of why they have been so successful the past 30 years (though hopefully not next week!)
The legal philosopher Robert Cover talked about law as the bridge that connects where we are to where we see ourselves. Thankfully, Obama is a democratic candidate who undstands that and has buildt a campaign around it. Hopefully the rest of us who want to effect progressive social and religious change will be able to do the same.
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