Posted on 09/22/2008 10:48:40 AM PDT by dalight
It ain't enough of a disclaimer to save you from the shellacking you are going to get for that stupid sexist statement.
Being Jewish doesn't protect you from making a fool of yourself by not talking about what you know about.
My congregation has a female Rabbi and frankly she is great. She is not our ownly Rabbi and there are times when she just has to step aside and let a male Rabbi handle the task. Nevertheless, the women of our congregation are greatly enriched as we all are by her contributions. When my daughter was in trouble, she could reach out to the female Rabbi when it would have been terribly difficult for her to do so with a man.
Rabbi's are scholars and teachers and the sex of the individual is no where near as important as the quality of that person.
Remember, Deborah was a Judge and the highest authority in Israel in her time. God sees past genitals. And so should you.
Ladies aren't suited for everything and thus it is a challenge when a congregation only has a female Rabbi, but a wise person provides for the needs of all in the ways available. Just as a male must sometimes cross into territory that is only comfortable for ladies.
Flexibility is power, not weakness when it is balance with care, tradition and corrected through experience.
This man and the whole lot of them need a copy of David Freddoso's book.
When I was little there were no female rabbis of any kind.... They are supposed to be male and still are with the Orthodox
The word rabbi literally means teacher. Traditionally, a rabbi was an observant Jewish male who obeyed mitzvot, knew Jewish law (halacha) and tradition, resolved halakhic disputes, and instructed the community. A rabbi does not have to serve as shliach tzibur (prayer leader), and has no more authority to lead services than anyone else. Prominent Orthodox feminist thinker Blu Greenberg believes that female rabbis, like their male counterparts, don’t need to serve in a congregation or to be prayer leaders. “There are countless men,” she writes, “perhaps the overwhelming number, who are ordained in the Orthodox community, yet do not perform any functions additional to those of their lay fellows. So be it for women.” (Greenberg, Judaism, 31).
The role of women in the rabbinate has been hotly debated within the Jewish community. The Reform movement was the first to ordain women rabbis, in 1972. The Reconstructionist movement, followed suit by graduating their first woman rabbi in 1977. The Conservative movement lagged slightly behind, ordaining their first woman rabbis from its rabbinical school in 1983. The Orthodox movement has yet to officially accept women in its rabbinate, although a few Orthodox women have ordained in some seminaries.
Each movement, except the Orthodox, has come to accept the right of women to become rabbis after long periods of reflection and debate regarding their own religious philosophies.
Sir you are digging a hole. Remember the first rule of holes.
Remember I am the guy who decided to call all of these Rabbi's out because I am stunned by their error. To ask all to write them so that they may reconsider this choice.
I am not a kumbaya guy. I attend every soldier's funeral, comfort the families and have made it to Washington for each of the GOE events. I face down folks who repeat smears in front of me even if that person is a Rabbi, a Millionaire or a tramp.
I have had to write more times than I care letters to the URJ and Rabbi Yoffee pointing out the error we are committing and I have to copy all of my own Rabbi's so they may not be out of the loop even though they just shake their heads when they see me coming with that look.
Like it or not, the Torah was fashioned by the hands of man, certainly as guided by God, but the document is and is not what we say it is.
The advent of Higher Criticism exploded the Bible for so many years and now, the Bible is reasserting itself as the incredible document that it truly is.
Judaism is so much more than we ever had any understanding up until now, and it is the Reform movement that taken the risks and innovated to reach for the possibilities that this faith can provide.
Loyalty to the Torah is a trap that can only be sprung by insisting that the Torah earn its way into our very being. And, it can if you let it.
The Torah teaches that Homosexuality among men is an abomination. Dennis Prager has written the most cogent and thoughtful analysis of why this is so. But, individuals lost in homosexuality are still humans and this demands that they be treated with dignity even as we seek to help them see the error of their choice, as homosexuality is not the way of life and the lifestyle is a poison to the heart and the soul.
As the cult of blood sacrifice has passed into history for now, many of the 613 are just their to increase the count for now.
At its end, the 2nd Temple scandalized the Romans because of the flow of blood from its channels, and that is hard to do. In this world, the practice of ritual sacrifice in accordance with Torah would be such that it would make the skies weep for the carnage.
Yet, this carnage goes on every day spread across the world, not all in one spot and managed by Priests.
And, frankly, each human lives by consuming other living things, plants and animals and this is the nature of life.
The great turning point for the Reform Movement really was the recognition that there is a limit. That the Humanist sect was something we could no longer recognize as Judaism. This line has not cause us to exclude our brothers and sisters who attend such a shul, but they are not members of our movement and they must join our Temple to enjoy its facilities. This drawing of lines is the process of sanctification. It is also the process of division of the Jewish people one from the other. Sometimes this is necessary and other times it is seriously counter productive.
I challenge you to prove that the people on that list that you claim to know are worthy of the title of Rabbi as that title is properly defined.
The key weasel words in this lame challenge is "properly defined" which means as you care to define it. But, Rabbi simply means teacher and any Jew can function as a Rabbi. The process of ordination of Rabbi's differ between the various sects, and all of this is about establishing a standard of achievement and knowledge that establishes the person as being worthy of the title.
Rabbinic Judaism is extra Biblical, outside of the definitions set for the Levites and the Cohanim.
All Rabbis operate outside of the parameters of the Torah and that makes us all Reform Jews to some extent irregardless of how Orthodox we might present ourselves to be. This is why Orthodoxy ultimately can become a trap and then a fanatical dead end. God closed the door on the Priesthood for his own reasons and he will do as he pleases in the future.
If you usurp the title of “Rabbi” and lead thousands astray with false gods and anti-Torah values, you are not only not deserving the title, you are deserving much worse than anything I could say in polite company.
I agree, but we disagree on who is responsible for this judgment, I would assert that the Orthodox are in no position to claim that their leadership is any more in accord with God's wishes than the path of the Reform Movement.
Ignorance is at your back in this. We are called to Justice, we are called to Peace. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit.." This is not Kumbaya, this is the real deal.
Abortion, progressive taxation, socialism.. these are follies and sometimes plain evil. I personally see Abortion as murder, but this requres argument to support. I am comfortable with this and I do at each opportunity. This is a Holocaust and I work for the day of its ending.
Yet we are taught about sedaka and the obligations of the rich to the poor, the necessity of leaving the gleanings so that the poor may gather their own with some dignity. Judaism is rich with Liberal teachings as well as Conservative values. It is even richer on the Great teachings, such as the Rule of Law rather than the rule of man. The Servant's heart being superior to the Master's hand and the fact that God is our only worthy King, that no man can be trusted with such power, so that the seeds of Democracy are sewn in the pages of the Books of Samuel.
Do not call your brothers and sisters charlatans without just cause. The individuals signing this Letter and agreeing to support Obama have made a poor choice but it is not for you to paint each with names and unsubstantiated charges.
I recieved a fairly decent Jewish education in my youth and never heard the phrase "Tikkun Olam" at all. I understand it is mentioned but once in the Talmud, and there it has absolutely no connection to Marxism or socialism.
Translated literally, it means roughly "repair the world." And that implies that is is too vague to be a Jewish value and is subject to a myriad of interpretations. What has happened is that the lefties of the Jewish world have found a catch phrase that they can interpret in their own favorite way to try to convince ignorant people that Judaism and leftism are one and the same. That stands language and logic on its head.
Its a Kabbistic concept. Repairing the world.
In practice its a title that covers a rubric of social activism relating to performing direct community service by ones own action. Because it is a frame of reference to organize actions of sedaka for the Jewish and greater community that we live in.
There is nothing evil in this and much good. When it becomes a guidance in itself, it can become problematic and thus lead folks into error.
Marxism and Socialism are pseudo-Judaisms that were intended to create Utopian societies not based on the guidance of God but by the will of men. This dooms these institutions to failure and evil such as we have seen.
As for your interpretation of Tikkun Olam.. these are the downsides getting lost in the concept of Tikkun Olam rather than following the Torah's teachings and organizing a group of these things under this title.
As for me, I am not a great fan of Messianism or the Kaballah, but these are great threads in our history and thought.
True, but it's a righteous justice that we seek, not a "justice" that Obama and his 'Rat buddies endorse - which judges people by the color of their skin (e.g., affirmative action and racial quotas) and makes Republicans like Scooter Libby (who is Jewish) felons while Democrats who commit serious crimes like the Clintons are beyond the reach of the criminal justice system.
Justice, Justice you shall persue.
I agree, Obama has shown very little inclination toward the cause of Justice, Freedom or Courage for that matter. He is but the guy standing in front of the shell, attempting to be all things to all people. Any rational world would have laughed him out of the race when he attempted, "I'm every woman" as the ultimate pander. Now he is claiming to be a fiscal conservative.
Folks who buy this are getting the ultimate Okey Doke... its amazing.
That's exactly because the Jewish left has co-opted the meaning of a Hebrew phrase that is very vague and subject to thousands, if not more, shades of meaning, surely not all relating to "social activism."
Caroline Glick on the War Path!!!...Our World: Your abortions or your lives!
Whew! Hit em again harder!
Barfn Dervaizn. Hakhrazat Barf.
Haven’t any DNC officials warned them that their tax-exempt status could be looked into for using their pulpit to endorse candidates? Or does that only apply to rallies against Iran where just one candidate shows up?
LOL
Some Church is going to force a test case through the Supreme Court on this and then it must fall, unless the current crop of Justices are still in place and then you don't know what you will get. As the Court can't seem to read the plain language of the 5th Amendment - as witnessed by Kelo.
All of the names on this list that I recognize don't seem to have congregations. This doesn't mean that their aren't congregational Rabbi's on this list.
But, in today's environment, a Congregational Rabbi would be putting his congregation at risk by making such an endorsement.
Like it or not, the Torah was fashioned by the hands of man, certainly as guided by God, but the document is and is not what we say it is.
The advent of Higher Criticism exploded the Bible for so many years and now, the Bible is reasserting itself as the incredible document that it truly is.
Judaism is so much more than we ever had any understanding up until now, and it is the Reform movement that taken the risks and innovated to reach for the possibilities that this faith can provide.
Loyalty to the Torah is a trap that can only be sprung by insisting that the Torah earn its way into our very being. And, it can if you let it.
Sir: If you don't believe in the divine origin of the Torah and its immutability as the word of G-d, if you believe it is a "loyalty trap", if you believe Bible criticism has made even a tiny scratch in the beautiful pristine armor of Torah truth and, especially, if you think so-called reform Judaism has done anything other than destroy real Judaism, you and I really are standing on two different planets and further conversation is pointless. Let's test my hypothesis: 1. What is your proof that the Torah was "fashioned by the hands of man"? 2. Name one sentence in the Bible "exploded" by Bible criticism. 3. True or False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous alienation of millions of Jews from their traditions for close to 200 years. 4. True of False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous reductions in Jewish population and affiliation through intermarriage. 5. Name one "innovation" made by Reform judaism that has actually militated against the two disastrous trends in 3 and 4. 6. The only Jewish demographic that is actually increasing at an explosive rate is the Orthodox community, particularly what is referred to as the Ultra-Orthodox community. This is because of two trends: a) high birth rate and b) returnees to authentic Judaism. If Torah loyalty is a trap, why is Torah loyalty the only form of Judaism that is thriving today? I reject your cheap effort to make it sound as if I am inhumane towards homosexuals. The Torah says what it says. That is G-d's law, not mine. Meanwhile as an average Orthodox Jew, I make no blanket condemnation of any person on an individual level. We condemn the sin, not the sinner. We pray always that all sinners should repent and not suffer for their sins.
Like it or not, the Torah was fashioned by the hands of man, certainly as guided by God, but the document is and is not what we say it is.
The advent of Higher Criticism exploded the Bible for so many years and now, the Bible is reasserting itself as the incredible document that it truly is.
Judaism is so much more than we ever had any understanding up until now, and it is the Reform movement that taken the risks and innovated to reach for the possibilities that this faith can provide.
Loyalty to the Torah is a trap that can only be sprung by insisting that the Torah earn its way into our very being. And, it can if you let it.
Sir: If you don't believe in the divine origin of the Torah and its immutability as the word of G-d, if you believe it is a "loyalty trap", if you believe Bible criticism has made even a tiny scratch in the beautiful pristine armor of Torah truth and, especially, if you think so-called reform Judaism has done anything other than destroy real Judaism, you and I really are standing on two different planets and further conversation is pointless. Let's test my hypothesis:
1. What is your proof that the Torah was "fashioned by the hands of man"?
2. Name one sentence in the Bible "exploded" by Bible criticism.
3. True or False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous alienation of millions of Jews from their traditions for close to 200 years.
4. True of False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous reductions in Jewish population and affiliation through intermarriage.
5. Name one "innovation" made by Reform judaism that has actually militated against the two disastrous trends in 3 and 4.
6. The only Jewish demographic that is actually increasing at an explosive rate is the Orthodox community, particularly what is referred to as the Ultra-Orthodox community. This is because of two trends: a) high birth rate and b) returnees to authentic Judaism. If Torah loyalty is a trap, why is Torah loyalty the only form of Judaism that is thriving today?
I reject your cheap effort to make it sound as if I am inhumane towards homosexuals. The Torah says what it says. That is G-d's law, not mine. Meanwhile as an average Orthodox Jew, I make no blanket condemnation of any person on an individual level. We condemn the sin, not the sinner. We pray always that all sinners should repent and not suffer for their sins.
I will point you to this book as a beginning by Richard E. Feldman Who Wrote the BibleOne hundred years later this is only controversial in the minds of those who have not taken the time to study seriously. You miss so very much if you don't dig past this level.
2. Name one sentence in the Bible "exploded" by Bible criticism.
The most important explosion was the discovery of the Deuteronomist. The most brilliant writer perhaps of all human history. This hand wrote not only Deuteronomy but most of the History from Joshua to the end of Kings. The above book speculates this writer to be none other than the Prophet Jeremiah and backs up this assertion as well as can be for the moment. Some speculate that with Jeremiah's work done, God no longer needed the Temple and this is why the Ark passed into history. But who knows. The Great Redactor is most commonly identified as the Prophet Ezra who stitched together the Books of the Bible with care and deep respect to form the bulk of the Great Work we possess today. Ezra, who brought the Bible to every Jew and burnt it into our hearts and minds forever, forged the Jewish identity into what it is. The Tribes removed by the Syrians only a short while before were lost not because they were moved, but because they didn't have the Bible at their hands and in their hearts.
3. True or False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous alienation of millions of Jews from their traditions for close to 200 years.
Clearly and idiotically false. Reform Judaism is a response to the alienation of millions of Jews from the excesses of Orthodox Practice that divided Jews and made them vulnerable and outcast in the various societies that they lived. But, these communities preserved Judaism more or less pure and whole and the people as well. God does nothing without a plan. Higher Criticism is certainly part of the cause of this alienation, but Spinoza and his objections and the rise of modern athiesm as the accepted core world view of "rational scientific thought" forms the challenge that Reform Judaism responds.
Modern Scientific method and the rise of the "Enlightenment" the rediscovery of Greek rationalism and philosophy in Western Civilization have been both a blessing and a curse. The Great Philosophers of the 18th Century attacked the world view of the Christian and Jewish faiths just the same. This has been a sustained attack that has only recently begun to flag and fail due to the contributions being successfully absorbed by the Religious communities in a way that no longer defies God and his will but exposes the Great Triumph of his work in raising humans to living in accordance with Torah out of understanding and respect rather than blind obedience.
4. True of False: Reform judaism is responsible for spectacularly disastrous reductions in Jewish population and affiliation through intermarriage.
Once again false. You need to read some history. Reform Judaism in America diverged from the practices of Judaism in Germany because of the work of its founder Reb. Issac M Wise, who created a practice suited to American sensibilities and integrated Jews into the fabric of America. This was aided by the Founding Fathers and many Zionistic politicians such as Abraham Lincoln who valued the Jewish contribution to America rather than just tolerated Jewish communities like Germany.
The Holocaust and the advent of world guilt for antisemitism has opened the opportunity for Jews to intermarry and drift away from the community. The rise of Socialism, Communism, and Atheism as well as to an extent Buddhism have all contributed to providing confusing substitutes for Torah. The Reform Jews have slowly been focusing on Torah and more Torah in response. In the Reform world, intermarriage is not resulting in more Jews not less. Our Temple looks like America and it is a joyous place. Spouses of other faiths are welcome, and often find that they enjoy Judaism and become Jews by choice but they are not compelled or made uncomfortable in any way, unless they choose to be so, because we keep studying and praying and learning Torah.
5. Name one "innovation" made by Reform judaism that has actually militated against the two disastrous trends in 3 and 4.
I have already covered much that answers this above. I will say more though. Name one "innovation" that Orthodox practice has made that did any more to fight against alienation and assimilation of Jews that didn't end disastrously. My family in Poland are witnesses to the folly of the schtetle. American Judaism survived and thrived when European Jewry was consumed in the fire. This has been the cause of much guilt by the survivors. But they provided the money and brains and courage and support that made Israel possible against all odds. The Orthodox have managed to alienate the vast majority of the Citizens of Israel such that its very existence has become threatened by the non-religious who recoil at the excesses of the Orthodox. The Reform movement is weak and yet growing slowly in Israel. But, religious observance and practice in Israel is at a low, not a high and this can only be laid at the feet of folks such as yourself.
My daughter who visited Israel had to fight to attend services because the Orthodox and Conservative children who were the majority of the others on this trip had no interest at all in Shabbot services. That is unthinkable in Reform organized trips, though the Reform teenagers can be just as unserious as any other teen about their faith.
Reform religious schools unfortunately teach alot of Liberal claptrap with the Torah teachings but so do all American schools with regular studies. Yet, a significant percentage of our Reform teenagers are now graduating from Reform High School and many have a deep and abiding commitment to the faith rather than an enmity of the practice of their faith as imposed by their elders.
I find great hope and joy in Reform Judaism.
Your contempt is only a product of ignorance, rather than true understanding. Time to bend the knee more and jerk the knee less, I say.
Yet, you keep on yammering. Showing your limits and your poor scholarship for all to see.
Higher Criticism is not criticism at all, it is digging deeper. God loves jokes and this was a great joke played on those who would attempt to destroy the Torah and in fact opened it like a time capsule, so that we might pluck out 10 and 20 times the riches that were previously undiscovered. Higher Criticism makes possible books like
An unparalleled work of scholarship by Robert Polzin. Read this and find the joy of true Revelation as the Bible sews the seeds of the founding of the United States and modern Democracy that was impossible to conceive of at the time. Our founding fathers were deeply influenced by these portions of the Bible though. They had a seeming understanding that only current scholarship lays bare for the layman. How marvelous that we had such men who were such scholars.
The rest is a cross post, bad form. My answer to these lame mewings is found in this thread:
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