I got up at 6 this morning and watched all three amazing parts of this series and I (of course) highly recommend them!

Oh and BTW Winston is practicing Jew and Scientist, which makes this series all the more interesting to watch IMO.

Unfortunately I don’t have time to do a proper post but I will mention that Winston at one point in part 3, interviews Richard Dawkins and IMO does a great job of keeping him in check.

Anyhow enjoy and if you do watch feel free to share your thoughts on the subject.

From the BBC Press Release:

Robert Winston presents The Story of God

Professor Robert Winston presents a definitive three-part documentary series on the history of mankind’s quest to understand the nature of God.

The Story of God is an epic journey across continents, cultures and eras exploring religious beliefs from their earliest incarnations, through the development of today’s major world faiths and the status of religious faith in a scientific age.

Read the rest of the press release here

The Story of God part 1 of 3

The Story of God part 2 of 3

The Story of God part 3 of 3

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This morning I woke up at the ung-dly hour of 5 something AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I decided to see if there was anything new and interesting to watch online and that’s when I came across this.

They do not believe in peace talks. They do not want to share the land. They are well armed and are carrying out increasingly violent attacks, even targeting innocent civilians. They are members of Israel’s militant far right, and they are threatening to become Israel’s next big problem.

Read more about this documentary on the PBS webpage.

I’m far from being the most informed person when it comes to the many complicated nuances involved in the Israeli/Palestinian situation. However I just don’t understand how the extremists in this video can see themselves as being any different than Palestinian extremists. Murder is murder and misappropriation of G-D is insanely wrong regardless of whether you call him Allah or Hashem. Don’t get me wrong I think that much of what is done at the hands of Palestinian extremists is horrible but watching this documentary it’s clear that the bullshit flows both ways.

Anyhow I was disturbed by this documentary but it was very informative and I highly recommend checking it out.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Part six

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Last weekend ABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program “The Spirit of Things” aired an interesting show looking at some of the schisms, opportunities and misunderstandings that exist within the Jewish/Christian dialogue.  I am listing to it now and thus far, it’s quite good.

Below is the show synopsis and a couple links for those of you who would like to listen to it for your selves!

SUMMARY: Since the parting of the ways 2000 years ago, are Christians and Jews any closer to bridging the gap of understanding and friendship? After a history of being persecuted by Christians, Jews feel they are still the object of antisemitism. Meanwhile Christians preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to an unredeemed world. How can these two traditions overcome the sibling rivalry and work for a better world? New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, and others from the International Council of Christians and Jews conference in Sydney point the way.

       1) Link  2) Enclosure

One thing that has really grabbed me was the interview with Amy-Jill Levine, a biblical scholar from Vanderbilt . I have a an excellent series of lectures by here on some of the great figures of the “Old Testament”. I had always assumed that she was a Christian theologian because that lecture series I have, used the term “Old Testament” instead of Torah in the title. I just thought that no Jew would do that. But nope she is in fact an accomplished (Modern Orthodox) Jewish academic.

One of her main points seems to be that we Jew’s need to develop a better understanding of who Jesus was and why he is so important to our Christians neighbors. More or less suggesting that we Jews a have been lazy especially since the Holocaust in terms of Judeo/Christian understanding. She goes on to to suggest many Jews seem to believe that Christians need to apologize and learn about us and our Judaism but we need do nothing but accept the apologies. To her this is not only a mistake but inappropriate. If you want to know why, well then you will have to listen for yourselves! 

NOTE: I just heard that Jesus wore “Tzitzit“. Nice!

Levine also briefly touches on how and why she wound up as a member of an Orthodox community, which is also interesting.

Oh, I wanted mention that she has written what promises to be a very interesting new book, titled “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus”. This is one, I’m sure to be reading in the not too distant future.

Anyhow, I haven’t even touched on the interfaith dialogue stuff but trust me it’s worth checking out!

Zed and Steg, if you guys end up listening to the show let me know what you think.

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Actually it looks more like a college classroom than a bar and this isn’t really even a joke but that’s ok.

I stumbled across this two-part video series of a recent interfaith discussion between a priest, an imam and a rabbi and felt they were worth sharing with others.

To be honest this discussion is at times a little slow and boring but the videos are certainly worth skimming because there’s some interesting stuff covered. For example some of the things which caught my attention included a discussion of creation stories, the nature of G-D and a discussion of free will, evil and original sin.

Watching the video I just assumed that the rabbi was Reconstructionist simply because of some of the views he presented in that funky Sephardic style Kippah he was wearing. However it turns out he’s a conservative rabbi which was pleasantly surprising but I don’t have much contact with conservative rabbis so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at all, who knows.

Anyhow the videos run over two hours in total but I just skipped around, watching both of them in 45 minutes or so and still managed to get a lot out of them.

Enjoy and as always feel free to share your thoughts if you do in fact watch the videos.

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On Friday Anxiety Maven posted a comment in my Foo Fighters post regarding another post with which she took issue. I responded but then decided to take down both my response and her original comment for several reasons which I’m not going to get into here. However after sitting with her comments this weekend I’ve decided to address them in this post.

I’m not looking to start a debate just address what I consider to be her legitimate points as well as those I feel are inaccurate and then move on to more interesting subjects. I don’t really want to debate this issue any further.

So here we go.

firstly, the idea that the rebbe is moshiach is halachically valid (please consider the wording carefully). the idea that jesus is moshiach is not. if you don’t agree with the rebbe being the messiah, that’s ok, but it’s still a halachically valid opinion.

I personally don’t buy any of the above but I’m certainly not qualified to disprove it. Having said that I believe that the Rebbe is dead and therefore is out of the running for moshiach status but what do I know. Secondly because I don’t view halachick law as binding, it just seems irrelevant to me to try and distinguish between the Rebbe and Jesus in the way that you have.

Incidentally I’m not alone in my halachick thinking because the Reform movement also does not except halachick law as binding. Feel free to disagree but just don’t say that it’s, just me and Jesus who feel this way because that isn’t the case.

secondly; regarding the author of the article: i don’t agree with any jew hurting another jew for differences of opinion like that. that is wrong.

I’m glad that you feel this way.

thirdly, i take great umbrage in your comments about chabad. i disagree with your terms that “chabad undermines interdenominational community building.” the rebbe himself once crossed out wording on a shliach’s flyer, a flyer that read “chabad is open to orthodox, conservative, and reform jews.” the rebbe said this is already creating divisions between yidden. that said, chabad desires to create jewish community/continuity in the deepest, truest of ways.

Oh where do I start because the above is just wrong in so many ways.

First let’s look at your comment regarding crossing out wording on fliers. It’s nice on the surface but it doesn’t take a lot thinking to figure out that it doesn’t mean much. I agree with you that Chabad is open to everyone no matter what denomination they are from. But it’s disingenuous to suggest this means that they equally accept everyone from those denominations as being Jewish. I’m a Reform Jew by choice so would I be counted as a Jew within a Chabad community? I’m quite confident that the answer to that question is no. How about somebody who is patrilineally Jewish, would they count as Jewish? Again I really don’t think so. And I am just scratching the surface regarding the subtle forms of discrimination that are contained within Chabad. Don’t get me wrong Chabad is entitled to feel the way they feel and from their perspective I and many others probably are NOT Jewish. However it is still discrimination nonetheless even if it’s justified from your point of view.

Oh yes in the deepest and truest (would that be like authentic?) ways.

Next lets look at attempts to interfere with the larger Jewish community.

Example 1 Montréal Mikva

Example 2 Chabad at Princeton

Maybe these claims are false (not that I believe they are) but they aren’t my claims and they certainly are enough in my opinion to warrant both concern and comment.

Last but not least and actually the most personally relevant one to this discussion. If I remember correctly you actually e-mailed my fiancé during the early stages of our relationship questioning her choices about me and I call that interference. I can only conclude that it was rooted in a bias against Reform Judaism and its converts.

This is a clear example of how people who believe in an authentic Judaism can and do engage in interference even if they don’t realize it. She’s not your sister, she’s not your friend and she’s not a member of your community. Yet you still felt it was appropriate to stick your nose in other people’s business and it certainly makes your opinion less relevant to anything I say, believe or do.

I found your behavior despicable (and even antagonizing) yet I chose not to call you on it because I understood where you are coming from. But if you’re going to come onto my blog and begin criticizing me for offending your sensibilities, I’m certainly going to bring it up.

your statement that chabad “claims” to be “true and authentic” judiasm, including “their messianic beliefs” is antagonizing, whether purposely or not.

Although from my perspective it is an accurate statement you’re right it’s antagonizing and therefore I removed some of it from the post.

chabad is authentic, and jews believing that their rebbe is moshiach is written about in the gemora.why don’t other chassidim hold that their rebbe is moshiach…? it’s certainly valid and it’s certainly authentic (check out the rambam for more on this topic).

Here in lies the problem at least from my point of view. You see I believe that academic scholarship both biblical and historical disproves any notion of a singular authentic form of Judaism. I and many others just don’t believe in it. I therefore believe that authenticity claims such as the ones made by Chabad are false becuse theres is no one authentic Judaism. Again you are free to believe what you like on the subject and my worldview is big enough to allow room for both of us but it doesn’t mean I’m going to allow myself to be bound by your views of what is authentic and what is not. Please remember this is not just me who feels this way but also The Reform, Reconstructionist and to a lesser degree Conservative movements do as well.

i think you’ve got some deep-seated stuff about the “box thinking it’s car” business. maybe you think if you can knock down chabad, that validates your own judaism? i’m just putting it out there.

Ouch, that was a rather rough poke. There was a time when you may have been right but not anymore. Chabad has painted itself into irrelevance at least to me that is. Don’t get me wrong there are things I like about Chabad and I don’t even mind participating in the Chabad community in Los Angeles. They just don’t have a monopoly on the truth and so I am way beyond defining myself by their opinions.

Having said that as a progressive and educated human being who believes in social justice and equality. Of course I’m going to poke at Chabad when I see them as being dishonest or homophobic, sexist or ehtnocentrically bigoted. Like it or not I’m allowed to be that way and if you don’t like it you are certainly free to avoid the topic with me. That should be pretty easy to do because I don’t believe I’ve ever gone on your blog and badmouthed Chabad, you or your views. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever badmouthed Chabad on anyone else’s blog at all. Come to think of it the few times I have discussed Chabad on other blogs I’ve actually been sticking up for them. But this is my blog and if I want to say something on it I’m certainly going to.

i’m not saying chabad is perfect, we’ve got issues (including dissonance amongst ourselves). that’s not news. nonetheless, i think your approach is vitriolic, though you claim to be respectful.

I’m sorry to read that things aren’t perfect but I’m glad that you can acknowledge it. As for my being vitriolic I believe I’ve already addressed that issue.

regarding considering yourself a post-halachic jew, well, i know somebody who considered himself the same: jesus..

Well speaking of vitriolic this doesn’t read as very kind to me.

Either your ignorant or just being dismissive to make your point and either way it doesn’t really matter because it’s easy enough to set the record straight.

Although the term post-halachick maybe my term and it may even not be a very accurate term the sentiment behind it is certainly not mine alone. Reform, Reconstructionist and again depending who you ask the conservative movement are all in different ways part of the same club.

p.s. my anti-spam word is “santa.” oy, the irony.

Ha ha!

You are welcome to continue reading and commenting on posts but you need to understand I’m a Reform Jew who believes in Reform values. I am sure that this will upon occasion rub you the wrong way but it’s to be expected.  

Also your points have been taken regarding the harshness of some of my criticisms and I will do my best in the future not to be unnecessarily inflammatory. I should be able to express my concerns in a fashion that is respectful and I will continue to build up my abilities in this department.

Be Well.

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Update: I’ve received some feedback from a reader who has taken issue with some of my characterizations of Chabad in this post. I’m certainly not going to apologize for my attitude and views of Chabad because I am after all entitled to my own opinions on the subject. However I can acknowledge that a few of the Chabad comments appearing in the original version of this post, were not relevant to the point being made. I have therefore decided to remove them.

————————————————————————————————————-

A while back I was reading this Jerusalem Post Article which in of itself wasn’t all that interesting, however I was struck by one of the reader comments at the bottom of the article. It was a comment made by a ” Messianic Jew” living in Israel and was about her sense of isolation and discrimination at the hands of other Jews.

I don’t recall all that much about the article but something about it really stuck with me. She brought an interesting point worthy of consideration about what she perceived to be a double standard within the Jewish community.

Anyhow before I move into my own thinking about the topic let me share with you the actual quote so you can see for yourself what I’m talking about.

I can relate, as a Jew who believes in Jesus. Most seculars accept me. I keep biblically kosher, I observe all the feasts and the blood hasn’t changed in my veins just because I recognize Yeshua is the Messiah. However, I’m told I’m no longer a Jew and it’s not okay to ‘prostelytize’ other Jews. But, it’s okay for others to believe that Schneirson is the Messiah and go around in their “Torah mobile” and speak to little children (the very thing they say if I ever do they’ll put me in jail for five years) about their Messiah. The Orthodox will spit on Messianics, threaten to steal our children, throw fire bombs in our windows, burn our books and slash our tires. Seculars will say “whatever works for you” which I don’t necessarily agree with, but at least they accept me as being one on their team. I had free tickets to leave during last years Lebanon war and a free home to stay in the States. I chose to stay here, with my people, secular or Orthodox because we’re ONE people under ONE G-D. We are ALL Jews. Some observant, some not. Yes, we must be a light to the nations but hatred and name calling others who do not follow our practices will never, ever convince our fellow bretheren to walk the path of the righteous. Love, bottom line, is all we need. The Beatles had it right, All we need is love, G-D’s love.

Even reading this again now weeks after my initial read, I feel that she brings up several interesting points related to Jewish identity, cultural diversity and a double standard. In some ways what’s been bugging me about this is that this is not just a religious question. It is a much broader one at least when I think about it through the perceptual filter of Judaism as an evolving civilization.

It would seem that for many it is OK to reject G-D, Torah and any notion of religious truth and still be considered Jewish. Including secular humanists , Communists and the Israeli/cultural Jews. It’s also okay to believe in G-D but reject the word for word literal truth of the Torah and the binding nature of Halacha and still be Jewish. It is OK for organizations such as Chabad to run around to promote what they claim is authentic Judaism.

All of these are in some way considered to be legitimate expressions of Jewish identity. I am not suggesting that I or anyone else should take issue with this fact.

There are even Jew-bu’s and HinJews out there and they are for the most part considered to be Jewish. Yet someone who proclaims “I believe in Jesus” gets blacklisted, regardless of what that might mean for this person . Don’t get me wrong because I’m not a fan of Christian evangelical attacks against Jews(or anyone else for that matter) and am repulsed by what Jews for Jesus are doing.

My point isn’t that Chabad and Messianic Judaism are the same thing because I don’t believe that they are. Although I do believe that they sometimes share similar approaches to outreach. Anyhow that is all besides the point and I’m not trying to bash Chabad with this post I understand that they are a Jewish Organization.

I am able to distinguish between a Messianic Jew and a Jew for Jesus.

Jews for Jesus are an evangelical group bent on infiltrating and converting Jews and I believe that they’re willing to do anything regardless of how inappropriate it is, because they believe that the end justifies their means. Jews for Jesus are not a religion they are an outreach organization targeting the Jewish demographic and I think that’s despicable.

I also realize that there are no Jewish Buddhist organizations which are actively trying to recruit and convert Jews to Buddhism. Therefore I can accept that there is probably a huge difference between the average Jewbu and Jew for Jesus.

However I believe it’s a mistake to assume that a Messianic Jew automatically equates a Christian evangelical with a hidden agenda a.k.a. a Jew for Jesus. After all if were willing to still consider a Jewbu a legitimate Jew because they aren’t evangelical, should we not be willing to extend a similar level of tolerance towards a Messianic Jew if the same criteria are met? If not then shouldn’t we be reconsidering our laissez-faire approach to Jewish identity, one which has ample room for just about everyone except those who claim a relationship to Christ? Are we making a mistake by painting every Jew who brings up Jesus with the same brush?

I don’t know if the woman who made that comment is a Messianic Jew in the way that I have suggested one can be a messianic Jew, or if she’s just a Jew for Jesus trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes but I don’t think it really matters. I say this because I’m not convinced that the issue is really all about “ them” and not at least in part also about us, and by us I am referring to those who give a shit about this question.

I’m a progressive (a fancy way of saying post- halachick ) Jew by choice and to be honest I’m more bothered by Jews who perpetuate halachick forms of ethnocentric prejudice, homophobia, sexism, dogmatism and environmental irresponsibility, then I am by a Messianic Jew doesn’t proselytize (if such a person does in fact exists).

I don’t know what the answer to this question is but my own inner voice is telling me that something is not quite right with this picture. At any rate I haven’t formed any solid conclusions about any of this and for the most part this post is just a way of airing out some of my own muddled thinking on the topic.

Incidentally The Velveteen Rabbi put together a very interesting post on a similar topic a few years back.  Like I said it is a few years old but it read to me as still being relevant, not to mention that it ties in relatively well to this post.

And on that note as always your thoughts on the subject are welcome, however I ask that you do so with both tact  and respect.

Be Well

Technorati tags: Jews for Jesus, Messianic Judaism, Jews by Choice, Reform, Orthodox, Who Is a Jew

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Over the last couple of weeks several interesting news stories have come my way all sharing one exciting theme. How Progressive Judaism is forging its way into new territory all around the globe and sharing a vision of Judaism that is more in sync with the modern world.

The following are a few snippets on the subject which have caught my attention and I thought other might also enjoy reading about.

With the help of donations from British Jews Russia gets its first and only community owned Reform synagogue.

In Poland “There’s been a tremendous resurgence of (Progressive) Jewish life,” said Rabbi Joel Oseran, vice president of international development with the World Union for Progressive Judaism in Jerusalem. “We see young people searching for Jewish meaning, people who have come anew to their own Jewish identities. And Poland is the best example of that.”

In March ABC Radio (Australia) aired an excellent documentary entitled “ Who is a Jew” discussing the status of progressive Judaism in both Australia and Israel. Featuring interviews with Rabbi Uri Regev head of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio, Australia’s first (and I believe only) female pulpit rabbi. It’s definitely worth listening to and if you’re interested you can check out my uploaded copy here.

Now for something closer to home. In Berkeley Rabbi Yoel Kahn the rabbi-to-be at Berkeley’s Reform Congregation Beth El is saying “We don’t do Judaism as they do in the Bible, we don’t do Judaism as they did it in the Talmud and we don’t do it as they did in the Middle Ages. But each of those informed the Judaism we do today.”

And last but not least in Israel progressive and secular Jews are saying “It’s true, if you ask most secular Israelis if they believe in God, they would say yes,” says Rabbi Meir Azari, from Tel Aviv’s Beit Daniel, the city’s center for Reform Judaism. “But for secular Israelis, the question has become, why are the Orthodox the Jewish voice? We’re not less Jewish than they are.”

I realize that these stories reflect only tiny drops of change in a vast ocean, however nonetheless I view them as a positive sign and I am reassured by the potential they suggest. It is exciting to see that more of the world Jewry is hungry to embrace the Judaism that reflects the progressive values of equality, tolerance and modernity.

Be Well

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Note: this post originally started off as a comment on another blog but I decided to expand it into a post of its own.

As a progressive Jew I’m sympathetic to Michael Lerner’s work but having said that something about him just doesn’t grab me. I don’t own any of his books, although often times when I walk into a bookstore I feel like I should be picking up the Left Hand of G-D. I have on several occasions spent 20 to 30 minute in-store sessions flipping through the pages but the book just always winds up back on the shelf. I’m not exactly sure why but I guess there’s some subconscious red flag that keeps popping up and preventing me from making the purchase.

Like I mentioned above I am sympathetic to what Rabbi Lerner is trying to accomplish both with his book and with his Network For Spiritual Progressives (NSP). I certainly agree with the basic tenets of the NSP and view them as things I can stand behind on both ethical and spiritual grounds.

For those of you unfamiliar with the tenants here they are.

Basic1. Changing the Bottom Line in America

Today, institutions and social practices are judged efficient, rational and productive to the extent that they maximize money and power. That’s the Old Bottom Line. Now Here is the NEW BOTTOM LINE for which we advocate: We believe that they should be judged rational, efficient and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring, ethical and ecological sensitivity and behavior, kindness and generosity, non-violence and peace, and to the extent that they enhance our capacities to respond to other human beings in a way that honors them as embodiments of the sacred, and enhances our capacities to respond to the earth and the universe with awe, wonder and radical amazement.

2. Challenging the misuse of religion, God and spirit by the Religious Right

Educating people of faith to the understanding that a serious commitment to God, religion and spirit should manifest in social activism aimed at peace, universal disarmament, social justice with a preferential option for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, a commitment to end poverty, hunger, homelessness, inadequate education and inadequate health care all around the world, and a commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, environmental protection and repair of the damage done to the planet by 150 years of environmentally irresponsible behavior in industrializing societies.

3. Challenging the many anti-religious and anti-spiritual assumptions and behaviors that have increasingly become part of the liberal culture

Challenging as well the extreme individualism and me-firstism that permeate all parts of the global market culture. We will educate people in social change movements to carefully distinguish between their legitimate critiques of the Religious Right and their illegitimate generalizing of those criticisms to all religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. We will help social change activists and others in the liberal and progressive culture become more conscious of and less afraid to affirm their own inner spiritual yearnings and to reconstitute a visionary progressive social movement that incorporates the spiritual dimension, of which the loving, spiritually elevating and connecting aspects of religion has been one expression (but so has the group-in-fusion experience of the movements of the 30’s and the 60’s and the communitarian aspirations of many other efforts–social healing and health care, progressive summer camps, the wide appeal of service and service learning, the women’s spirituality movement etc).

from the Network of Spiritual Progressives website

Yet somehow I just can’t escape this feeling that there’s an underlying one-sided holier than thou aggressiveness that permeates the Network as well as Rabbi Lerner’s work in general. I don’t think it’s intentional so maybe the term infected is a more accurate descriptor. I just seem  to get this sense of us versus them and vilifying the other side, which in this case would be the right and religious right. In fact to the point that they (the right) are pure evil and don’t hold any piece of the truth. I’m certainly a liberal and left of center by nature but I don’t think that means that there is nothing of value in what the right is trying to accomplish.

So I must unfortunately agree with Ken Wilber when he writes about Lerner’s Left Hand of G-D on page 297 of his own new book “Integral Spirituality”.

“His latest book, the left hand of G-D, is even more polarized and more intensely green than usual, so in my opinion, this is not looking promising.”

I’m far from being a guy who has a handle on my own judgmentalism and I certainly can be aggressive. I guess I just have higher standards placed upon organizations like the SPN and community leaders such as Rabbi Lerner.

All of that being said I do believe that the work being done by Lerner and his organization is important and worth checking out. I’m just convinced that it all still needs some fine tuning if it’s actually going to make a difference.

Regardless of whether you’re going to buy the book or not if you’re interested in this topic, you might want to check out the following 80 minute video lecture by Lerner which in my opinion does a decent job summarizing the book.

Be well

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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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Over the last couple of days I managed to stumble across two separate synagogues which identify themselves as being Reconstructionist/Conservative affiliated institutions and to be honest I’m a little bit confused by it. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a great idea and both times I stumbled across this phenomenon my gut reaction was one of “hey that’s really cool” but I’m just not clear on how it works.

All right I realized that in terms of lineage the Reconstructionist movement evolved out of and split from the Conservative movement so there’s obviously a historical connection. I just sort of assumed that there were a handful of irreconcilable differences between both groups and that’s why they split apart but I’m far from being an expert on the subject.

If I understand things correctly Reconstructionist’s completely reject the notion of Chosenness as well as the binding nature of halachick law. Again if I understand things correctly both of these things are essential components of the Conservative Theology. Therefore I’m left wondering, how are these two apparent contradictions reconciled in communities that claim duel Reconstructionist & Conservative affiliation?

I thought that the Reconstructionist had full acceptance, inclusion and equality for same-sex couples and this until very recently hasn’t been the case within the Conservative movement. So how did people work around this right up until last fall? Also although the conservative movement has struggled towards rectifying the same-sex situation it’s still as I see it not full equality because the Leviticus prohibition has been upheld in terms of male/male sexual relationships. So again how are such duel affiliation communities addressing this issue that is if it’s an issue at all, I guess I’m not really sure?

There are probably other contradictions which come into play but the above are the only ones which came to mind while I was writing this post.

Anyhow the bottom line is that I think it’s an amazing thing that there’re communities which are apparently making both theological commitments work together, I’m just not sure I get how it works.

So basically if anyone is a member of such a community or understands how this works I’d love for you to explain it to me.

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