I came across an interesting news article in one of my RSS feeds this morning and it got me thinking about community, diversity and my own status as a Jew.
I suppose another reason this topic is on my mind is that I have realized that pretty soon I will be finding myself smack dab in the middle of the Chabad community in Los Angeles. A community which by the way doesn’t really consider me to be a legitimate Jew.
Before I get into all of this I do want to make it clear that although when it boils down to it, I am not a fan of Chabad the organization. However I have also found benefit in many different aspects of the work that they do as an organization.
Their web presence is phenomenal and has helped me (and certainly other liberal Jews as well) immensely in terms of developing my own level of Jewish literacy. Also the community I had the chance to participate in for six weeks while visiting Tamara showed me how tight and caring a Jewish community can be and that is something commendable. I have several friends who are Chabadniks and I value their friendship and perspectives on a wide range of subjects but I have to separate them from the organization in order to do it.
Unfortunately when I try to look at things objectively, I can’t help but recognize that Chabad as an organization is prejudiced against liberal streams of Judaism as well as ethnocentric, heterocentric if not homophobic and by simple virtue of being ultraorthodox sexist.
All of which unfortunately leads to a multitude of discriminatory practices, not to mention (in my opinion) ongoing attempts to undermine many of the reforms found in liberal Judaism.
For example recently in Montréal a community Mikva which is administered by a Chabad Rabbi has for the first time in 26 years shut off access to converts. This is not a Chabad built Mikva and from what I understand it is a communal facility built for use by the general Jewish community including non-Orthodox streams. It should be noted that this prohibition applies to all converts including those converting under Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Communities. However allegations have been made that this is an attempt by Chabad to interfere with the non-Orthodox conversion process. You see there are other Orthodox Mikvas in a community where halachick conversions can be conducted but this community Mikva is the only one available to non-Orthodox converts, therefore creating something of a problem.
Of course the official reason given was that an increase in conversions has led to an overuse of the facilities making them impossible to maintain. But according to the article over the past year or so the majority of orthodox converts have been using a Mikva located at another facility. Therefore it would seem that when the rabbi is referring to overuse, he’s really referring to overuse by a non-Orthodox converts. I for one see this evidence as anecdotal and that best circumstantial but considering my own experiences with Chabad and their views towards non-Orthodox conversions, believe there is indeed reason for concern.
Regardless of whether or not the intent behind the prohibition is malicious it highlights a situation which should not be tolerated by the broader Jewish community. It also serves only to reinforce many of the concerns and skepticism that liberal Jews have about Chabad. Also looking at this from a personal perspective it’s something that definitely concerns me. If I lived in Montréal and was converting now I might not be able to complete the process and that would have just been sad.
Also of interest and I should add the story that prompted this very post, is the recent announcement that a Chabad Rabbi has been denied affiliation with Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life (CJL) because there were concerns with Chabad’s practices as an organization as well as with this specific Rabbi.
This post is becoming a little too long so I won’t go into all of the juicy details but you can read the entire article over here and I will share a few quotes which caught my eye.
“The issue ultimately is that for Rabbi Webb, he’s trying to practice Chabadism which is bent on coercing other Jews into its rubric,” Skloot said. “And that coercive ideology is fundamentally problematic. Pluralism has never been their strong point.”
Skloot also said that Webb has “proven that he’s an untrustworthy figure.”
He added that while there are many strains of Judaism, “Hillel as an institution says all of those are recognized forms, and yet Chabad would not allow and denies the authority and the legitimacy of those movements except itself.” Hillel is an international campus Jewish organization of which the CJL is a part.
As a progressive Jew I’m glad to see that people are standing up for their convictions and saying enough is enough. I am a pluralist, a liberal and I don’t believe that fundamentalism should be tolerated in the broader community. I’m glad to see people are saying no to Chabad’s prejudices and absolutism, which is antithetical to pluralism. I do believe that Orthodox Jews have every right to practice the Judaism that makes sense to them but the reality is that they are a minority and they need to learn how to cooperate and exist within a pluralistic framework.
The bottom line is that we as liberal Jews have a responsibility to send out a loud and clear message that halachick elitism is no longer something that is going to be tolerated. Because unless we do incidents like the Mikva banning in Montréal are going to continue and progressive Jews along with their rabbis and institutions will always be second-class citizens in Israel. Reading stories like the one about the CLJ at Princeton are important because they are evidence that we can in fact create positive change if we want to.
I recall writing a post last year where I stated there was room in my Judaism for Orthodox Jews but that I feared there wasn’t room for me in theirs. Today I still feel like there’s room in my Judaism for them but I now understand that certain things simply should no longer be tolerated. If they don’t want to count me as a minion that’s fine but denying my status outside of their synagogue or in terms of Israel is unacceptable and will be fought tooth and nail. If they don’t want to attend shuls led by women rabbis that is their prerogative but their sexism and prejudice towards female rabbis and those of us who are fine with such things can no longer be tolerated.
And on that note TTYl.
Be Well
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