Mar 25 2008
An interesting story titled “Imagine Jews worshipping together,”found its way into my feed reader this evening. Unfortunately, the author a Baltimore Rabbi turned business man doesn’t really offer any solutions to our denominational troubles but none the less, I like his take. More importantly, I like how he shows that an Orthodox Jew can be just as open to a big tent, as many of us who come from the liberal streams Judaism claim to be.
Here is my favorite part.
Large metropolitan areas usually boast synagogues of every denomination, citadels of theological correctness. Yet, none of these fortified institutions can boast that they bring Jews together as one. It is high time for the soldiers of dogma to lay down their swords, embrace creative solutions, and cross the widening chasm of Jewish self-righteousness so that they can raise their voices to God. Together.
You can read all of it here.
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I agreed with many of Singerman’s points in the full article. But I must be less disturbed by Jews praying in different ways than Singerman and you, Avi. My shul in Newton, Mass., had two, and sometimes three, services on Shabbat morning. (Early minyan was at 8, main minyan at 9, and sometimes a women’s service at 8:30 as well.) Sometimes there were tensions about these ("Why do they need a separate minyan?" "They’re creating divisions within the congregation!" "Hey, they’re having a baby-naming in the beit midrash!" "What’s up with the fleishig kiddush at 10 in the morning?"), but they always ironed out over time. What this microcosm represents is the fact that even in a community where procedure is pretty well set, people have different needs. Davening takes on a particular character depending on the size of the space, who’s there, and who’s leading the service. No shul–or minyan–can be expected to be one-size-fits-all.
I’m all for dumping the acrimony and in-fighting. I don’t think that relaxing certain standards (or tightening others) spells the end of Jewish civilization as we know it. I think there are occasions in which Jews of different stripes could (and should) join together in observance, such as for Purim celebrations and Pesach seders. But to think that creating a new Jewish Universalism in shul (even if such a thing could be achieved) would make everyone feel at home while at prayer is assuming a lot.
And besides, I’m not sure the different styles of prayer are really at the root of the troubles that plague us as Jews. Singerman accuses denominationalism of creating the malaise that keeps so many Jews out of shul, but I wonder if it is really that, or if it isn’t other things like a desire to identify with the non-Jewish majority, a feeling that endogamy is racist or exclusionary, or a belief that all organized religion (not just Judaism) breeds evil in the modern world. He identifies an interesting problem, describes it in fairly vague terms, and points to a pie in the sky as a solution. Interesting, impassioned, but at the end of the day, not so constructive.
I wasn’t really suggesting that we all need to pray “together” and to be honest, if that’s all this article is all about, well then I missed it! I read it more as a piece pointing out how denominational dogmatism (coming from everywhere) ultimately misses the point and does more damage than good.
LOL! Maybe we don’t see things the same way after all!
BTW I’m totally behind offering multiple services at the same shul. In fact Our shul has a minimum of three any given Saturday morning and that’s one of the reasons I call it my shul.
While I agree with Singerman’s basic premise he seems to be pointing the finger at most other denominations (and singling out the Conservative branch) and not the Orthodoxy … and all I can really say to that is Pot, meet Kettle. It has been my experience that the Orthodox are by far more strict in the realm of dogmatism. All of us Jews by choice that have not undergone an Orthodox conversion are not recognized as Jews and it’s as simple as that. I’ve also witnessed more pissing matches than care to recount over who is "more" Jewish - and it’s frequently initiated by members of the Orthodox community.
That is not to say that all the other branches are without fault, they are most certainly culpable in the divisiveness. That said, it has been my personal experience that many Orthodox Jews want little to do with non-Orthodox Jews when it comes to religious life. I’ll leave you with this article from the NY Times on "proving one’s Jewsihness." Granted the examples come from Israel, I think it still sheds light on the problems of being authentically Jewish in the eyes of the Orthodox.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/magazine/02jewishness-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
Rachamim you wrote:
"That said, it has been my personal experience that many Orthodox Jews want little to do with non-Orthodox Jews when it comes to religious life. "
My life and friends are proof positive thats this is not always the case!
Avi,
I have no doubt that you and your Orthodox friends are welcoming and accepting of Jews of all stripes, but you are probably the exception and not the rule. I also, qualified my statement with "it has been my personal experience …" Also, I’m probably hypersensitive about this issue at this particular moment considering several unpleasant experiences I had just yesterday on my day of conversion. My conversion experience was wonderful; however, some of the people I encountered at the Orthodox shul where the mikveh is located were less than pleasant.
Like I said, I agree with his premise I just think more often than not, a great many Orthodox Jews hold the religious practices of non-Orthodox Jews in contempt which makes the notion of "bringing Jews together as one" a difficult proposition.
Interesting perspective. I believe that Avi Weiss’s Open Orthodoxy (http://www.yctorah.org/) represents the kind of open tent mentioned in the article.