Reform's New Head Rav
Some Rabbi news of note:
The CCAR will install Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus of Homewood, IL as their new president at its 120th convention in Jerusalem next week. A few notable significances here:
Out here in Chicago-land, we’re kvelling that another hometown rav is stepping up. (Outgoing prez Rabbi Peter Knobel hails from Evanston, IL).
It’s also worth mentioning, as the JTA points out, that with Rabbi Dreyfus’ ascension, three of the four main American rabbinical associations will have women at the helm: the RA recently named Rabbi Julie Schonfeld as its new executive vice president and Rabbi Toba Spitzer is the current president of the RRA (soon to be replaced by Rabbi Yael Ridberg in March.)
RCA, you ready to make it four out of four?
Well, not the RCA, but I received word from JOFA that Sara Hurwitz is receiving “a new title reflective of her religious and spiritual role” “having completed the required course of study in Yoreh Deah” at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in late March.
yes- but remember that usually when people finish Yoreh Deah in the orthodox world they receive the title of “rabbi”- Jofa’s announcement avoided mentioning what this new title might be. Currently, she is called the “madricha ruchanit” at the hebrew institute of riverdale. http://www.hir.org/madricha_ruchanit.html
but JOFA aside kudos to rabbi dreyfus on her new position.
It’s worth mentioning that Schonfeld’s post is a professional one unlike the others cited, as we discussed ad nausea when she was promoted. Who is the lay president of the RA these days?
dlevy-
I could be wrong, but I do not believe the RA has a lay president.
The current president of the RA is Rabbi Jeffery Wohlberg of Washington DC’s Adas Israel Congregation
Yes,Rabbi Jeffery Wohlberg is the lay president of the Rabbinical Assembly. So they have a professional head (elect).But in one year, if all goes as presumed, Rabbi Gila Dror will be selected as the president of the board. That would mean that the Conservative Movement’s rabbinical association will be the first to have a woman rabbi serve in both the professional and the board leadership positions at the same time.
But let us not get too excited. Golda was Israel’s first prime minister. It hardly opened the doors for others to quickly play in the game at the highest levels. Livni is decades later.
How many of the Movements have women serve as Edim for Gittin (here the Reform and the Reconstructionist Movements do not necessarily require a traditional halachic Get, or Ketubba – so I am not sure that the fact that they recognize women as eligible for edut is entirely a triumph- though it is certainly praiseworth and maybe will shake some doors open). Many in the Conservative Movement are still hesitant. But too many of the Conservative rabbis believe that while it may be the right thing to do – they are too busy looking over their shoulders at the Orthodox. It is time to do what is “right” for our “rites”- rather than what rabbis feel will give them credibility in the Orthodox world – ’cause that ain’t gonna happen.
Some of you seem to know quite a bit about the US Reform/Conservative movements. I haven’t been following them much. Can I get a couple of paragraph primer from someone on where you see these movements going over the next two decades? From my – admittedly uneducated – perspective, it seems they’re adopting humanist/universalist traditions, but it seems like things are constantly changing, and at an increasing pace. Will we recognize these movements 50 years from now?
I don’t know what you mean by humanist/universalist traditions….but my answer to your question is no, we’re unlikely to recognize these (or any other) movements 50 years from now. All of them, including the Orthodox movements, are changing pretty dramatically. How they’ll be different is likely to be unpredictable though.
Meir Eynaim brings up some really excellent points. Let us not get ahead of ourselves. Surely we should be proud of the moves and changes that have been made, but the fact still remains that it is not, by any means, an even playing field, professionally or halakhically. We still have to grapple with the fact that male and female rabbis often work under different standards and usually work under different pay-scales. B’ezras HaShem the distinction between rabbis by gender will soon come to an end.
I think the question of edut on gittin is silly; for starters, it has nothing to do with the title “Rabbi”. Second, if that’s the only remaining fossil, and all the real issues, such as ritual participation and pay parity and such are resolved, then I think I’ll do okay with it. Third, “Rabbi” is also a professional title. It refers to a person who holds a pulpit at a synagogue, much as “Minister” or “priest” do in the christian worlds. The degree/honorific “Rabbi”, when used in settings other than a synagogue, is just that: an honorific.
This cover story in the Chicago Jewish News includes an extensive interview with Rabbi Dreyfus, and addresses much more than just her gender.
Of particular significance to many Jewschool readers:
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Another consideration involves the younger generation of Jews. “The way the whole world and the Jewish community are changing, I’m concerned that we as a community, including the rabbinate, need to be more flexible and agile about how we respond to a generation that may not join brick and mortar synagogues in the same way their parents and grandparents did,” she says. “If we are going to be relevant and serve the Jews of the up-and-coming generation, then we need to rethink who we are as a community and rethink the institutions of our community. These conversations are starting to happen and I want Reform rabbis and CCAR to be part of the conversation and not simply react.”
[…]
“Outreach” is a Jewish community buzzword, but, she says, “it’s not just a question of doing outreach to Jews in their 20s and 30s with the ulterior motive that they join our existing congregations. I think we need to be bold in rethinking what community means. This is a generation that has virtual communities. If we keep thinking that whatever has been sufficient in the last 150 years is going to be sufficient in this century, we have another think coming.”
The fact that a significant percentage of the Jewish community does not affiliate with a synagogue “says something about them, but it also says something about synagogues,” she says. “There are many things we’re doing right but I don’t think we can sit on our laurels.”
Amit-
That is simply incorrect. A rabbi need not work for a synagogue. If that is the case a majority of rabbis are not rabbis according to you. A rabbi is someone who has taken the time to master their community’s approach to Jewish practice and tradition. For the Orthodox, that is a mastery of Yoreh Deah of the Shulkhan Arukh. For Conservative, that is a mastery of Talmud and modern Jewish thought. For Reform, it is a mastery of something else (not minimizing it, I just really don’t know) And each community decides for themselves who they call Rabbi. But to say that they must work on a pulpit? Preposterous. Is a doctor who does not work in a hospital not a doctor?
That is simply incorrect. A rabbi need not work for a synagogue. If that is the case a majority of rabbis are not rabbis according to you. A rabbi is someone who has taken the time to master their community’s approach to Jewish practice and tradition.
This is a semantic problem that has led to acrimonious misunderstandings here a number of times. The word “rabbi” is overloaded with two meanings. One is a degree/honorific/title; the other is a job description. We conflate them to our peril.
I’m not sure what you’re saying, BZ. The fact is that for most of rabbinic history Jewish communities did not have rabbis that worked in synagogues as prayer leaders, they were legal deciders. By Amit’s understanding most of the rabbis in the Talmud weren’t rabbis… That seems a little problematic. As far as I know, Rav Yosef Karo spent more time making legal decisions and training other rabbis than working in synagogues, was Rav Yosef Karo not a rabbi? I could go on… All of the people from whom I seek halakhic and spiritual guidance do not work in synagogues, and only one of them has ever, are they not rabbis? Because they’d be shocked to find that out…
I’m not calling anyone “not a rabbi”; I’m saying that we all might communicate better if we had two different words, rabbi1 and rabbi2. Then we wouldn’t have confusing exchanges like:
“My minyan is lay-led; we don’t have a rabbi.”
“What are you talking about? Lots of rabbis attend that minyan!”
yes- but remember that usually when people finish Yoreh Deah in the orthodox world they receive the title of “rabbi”- Jofa’s announcement avoided mentioning what this new title might be.
Word on the street is that her new title will be “morateinu” (our teacher). Bleh. Sara deserves better.
RCA, you ready to make it four out of four?
What a strange demand. I have plenty of issues with the RCA and with the OU. But that they must be feminized according to Liberal Judaism’s wishes is a peculiar request.
And to be clear, Liberal Judaism is hardly egalitarian, though it is quite feminized.
The numbers suggest that this is not the core issue that the professional Jewish-feminists claim it is. Non-Orthodox Jews are increasingly voting out. Perhaps we need to examine why. That might mean putting victimology on the back burner, despite our communal addiction to such a lens.
Meir Eynaim wrote,
But too many of the Conservative rabbis believe that while it may be the right thing to do – they are too busy looking over their shoulders at the Orthodox.
Half the truth. Conservative rabbis spend much of their time looking over their shoulders at both the Orthodox and the Reform. But that is what the Conservative movement is for. The real Judaism debate in the U.S. has traditionally been between the Modern Orthodox and the Reform. The Conservative movement should accept their obsolescence, and divide their assets between these two groups. Reform and Modern Orthodox are the big dogs. The Conservative should stop pretending that a truce is possible. Let these two powerhouses of Judaism fight it out.
And before any right-wingers point to Israel, I meant powerhouses in American Judaism. We are talking about the U.S. And yes, the Reform is a powerhouse here. Deal with it.
dk,
Admittedly my post is not on the same topic that has been discussed so far but I am suprised to hear that you think the great debates in American Judaism have been between the Reform and the Modern Orthodox. To what are you refering?
Who is your great Reform thinker that is participating in these conversations? I would think the greatest Reform thinker of the 2oth century was Eugene Borowitz who for the most part is arguing against boundariless Reform Judaism. If we were to point out the most important American Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, I am not sure a Reform Jew (and by that I mean Big R URJ/UAHC Reform) would make the cut.
And just for kicks, it would be great to hear what people think are the salient debates in american judaism for the last 100 years.
I will start with
responsibility and duty in the modern age
relationship to god after the holocaust
jladi,
I am not looking to specific leaders, but to what is resonating among the masses, although ultimately, if you want to see what leaders are driving the Reform, it may be men like Spinoza, and I heard the ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Isbee once claim that the way the bulk of the rabbinic community handled Shabtai Tzvi contributed to the Reform as well.
The traditional (Orthodox) leadership embraced a charlatan as the Messiah, and excommunicated the greatest Western Jewish philosopher.
It was only a matter of time before segments of the Jewish community revolted. One way was through ardent secularism. Another through Liberal Judaism.
In the U.S., Eldridge St. (the Modern Orthodox cathedral on the Lower East Side) was created to counter the power of the Reform. The Orthodox Union appears to have been partially created for that purpose as well. In the basement of Eldridge, no less.
The way the Conservative movement positioned itself for decades and until now makes it clear that the Reform and the Orthodox were the two poles of power, as well as the suggestive name itself.
Ethical Monotheism is always the underlying motivator among its better leaders. Unfortunately, much of the Reform get quite carried away with the social-activism and constant cheerleading of social revolution.
It’s hard for many to pretend to be excited by that on a constant basis. It really doesn’t address the larger questions.
jladi writes:
I would think the greatest Reform thinker of the 2oth century was Eugene Borowitz who for the most part is arguing against boundariless Reform Judaism.
Is anyone arguing *for* “boundariless Reform Judaism”, or is it just a straw man?
DK writes:
Unfortunately, much of the Reform get quite carried away with the social-activism and constant cheerleading of social revolution.
Unfortunately, not enough.
BZ wrote,
Unfortunately, not enough.
Well, it’s your movement. As you wish.
How would you consider it “feminized” and yet “non-egalitarian”?
http://www.beritmila.org/
Interesting website but so what?
I have very little to contribute to this conversation, but I just wanted to let you guys know it’s a fascinating read. Please try to throw in some more explanations for those of us who aren’t familiar with all the implied terminology (“charlatan as the Messiah”?).
Sabbetai Zevi was a Jewish leader in the 17th century who proclaimed himself the Messiah and won over lots and lots of followers. Then he converted to Islam. Turns out he wasn’t the messiah after all. Oops, big embarrassment to the Jews.
BZ, I think what DK is trying to say is that the URJ should engage in more of the counter-Orthodox polemics that YOU do on your blog.
Which polemics are those? Counter-2-day-yom-tov isn’t counter-Orthodox; there are at least a million Orthodox Jews who observe 1 day.
No, that’s not it at all. I think “counter-Orthodox” was probably the wrong term, but the essence is that you defend Reform Judaism and its merits on traditional and modern grounds, and that acts as a counterbalance against those who would attack Reform and other liberal forms of Judaism.