In your September 4 article “Largest Outreach Effort for Alums of Birthright Raises Concerns,” Reform rabbis Eric Yoffie and Andrew Bachman express concern over what is being taught at the Jewish Enrichment Center, which is staffed by Orthodox rabbis, and call for greater pluralism in Jewish outreach efforts.
What a great idea! The problem is, if you look around, you’ll see there aren’t many Conservative or Reform rabbis out there doing this sort of outreach work. The idea of teaching young, unaffiliated Jews the beauty of Judaism, for modest pay and limited pulpit prestige, seems, for some reason, unappealing to anyone but Orthodox rabbis.
There are numerous Jewish outreach programs in New York City — the Manhattan Jewish Experience, JEC, Young Jewish Professionals, Aish Center, Jewish International Connection, SoHo Synagogue and various Chabad centers — run by Orthodox Jews. But where are the established outreach programs run by Reform or Conservative rabbis? Do the Conservative and Reform movements even care about engaging the unaffiliated or addressing our intermarriage problem?
Maybe the finger-pointing needs to be turned around. Instead of Reform rabbis complaining about what is or isn’t being taught to unaffiliated young Jews at certain outreach centers, perhaps they ought to just do something about it. Nobody is stopping them.
Justin M. Baer
New York, N.Y.
Noam Neusner clearly has a problem with rabbis (“What if Rabbis Heed Obama’s High Holy Day Appeal?” September 4).
He is also out of touch with contemporary synagogue life. He writes that “nobody really listens to rabbis in non-Orthodox synagogues.” That’s an outrageous attack with no basis in fact. Where has he been hanging out on Shabbat? I can cite countless instances of lives transformed by a sermon, and most of my colleagues can do the same.
He derides rabbis for never having “to make payroll in their lives.” Actually, thousands of rabbis across America are struggling with budgets drastically affected by the economic crisis inherited from the previous administration and are providing amazing support for women and men who are losing their jobs and homes.
Neusner concludes with a reference to the rabbi as “ignoramus.” I will let readers judge that statement for themselves.
Most important, underlying Neusner’s angry anti-rabbinic assault is a profound misunderstanding of the mandate of Torah — that we are all created in God’s image and that those of us especially blessed are expected to care about the plight of the poor and disenfranchised.
Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff
Rabbi Emeritus
Temple Emanu-El
Westfield, N.J.
The writer is a past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
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There are no Reform outreach centers for good reason...that mainstream Jews do not proselytize. To our credit, the Jewish people have traditionally valued free choice. In addition (except for those who fund heavily the Chabad-type outreach groups), we do not admire people who try to manipulte others. This mentality has kept us an eternal people. Naysayers need to hold tight, and know that we, the Jews, are on the right side of history, and even with intermarriage, our people will be confident and proud of their heritage--a heritage that values integrity and education more than deceptive arm-twisting, however subtle. (yes, there is a difference between education and arm-twisting.)
Reform does not proselytize because it has nothing to share, nothing to give that is of a particular jewish interest. Reform' focus is always non-particularistic, minimalistic and assimilationist.
I was in Israel this past August for two weeks and stayed with friends in Bet Shemesh. Every morning I took bus 417 to Jerusalem and back in the evening. I had no idea what I was getting into until I got into the bus the first morning; most passengers were Haredi males, each sitting next to the windows but occupying the aisle seats with their hats. I quickly decided to sit on the third or fourth row, pointed to the hat and saying “slicha” made a gesture to sit; with no response from the guy I lifted the hat and sat. In the evening the situation turned out easier for me as I took the buss at the first stop and was able to select a seat; my preference was always one of the first row, among other reasons because I get car-sick if I ride in the back of a bus; from my vantage point I was able to observe passengers behavior as the bus made its various stops and became crowded. Most women, some carrying babies I their arms and not necessarily ultra-Orthodox, mounted the bus from the back and then made the tortuous way to the front of the bus to pay the driver. Male’s preference was invariably the front seats; as they saw me in “their territory,” I had to put up with defiant dirty looks. The mornings however became the most difficult for me to handle each day, as I was determined to sit where it pleased me and yet I was fearful of an encounter. Each day I had a different kind of problem. The third day was the worst, as a guy refused to let me sit next to him; I raised my voice and the driver told him to let me sit; he refused and I, with my blood boiling inside, sat on another seat behind him. On other days, the guys “allowed me” to sit but immediately moved to another seat, while looking as if I was the most disgusting sight. The Haredi males in buss 417 lacked, to say the least, civility towards women. Either they kept looking at the “infinite,” as if women were invisible, or they refused to let them sit next to them. Haredim treat Israeli buses as if they were ultra-Orthodox synagogues, not public places where all passengers have equal rights, and where women with children and the elderly have priorities. Unless they are stopped by force, there is very little hope that they will reason. Now, back in the safety of the US, when I happen to cross paths in my neighborhood with an ultra-Orthodox wearing a fedora hat, my hair stands, my blood heats up, and I remember all the Israeli women that have to take bus 417 to go on with their daily lives.
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