Two Rabbis Seem to Disagree – But Do They?
As the old joke goes, two Jews, three opinions. In the spirit of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the temple because of Jewish communal strife, two rabbis from vastly different backgrounds agreed to sit down and talk recently.
The conversation was hosted by Our Common Destiny, a joint initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora and Genesis Philanthropy Group under the auspices of the President of Israel. The organization is dedicated to embracing the diversity of the Jewish people and developing a collective vision for the Jewish future. How can we, despite our differences, move together towards a shared future?
What made the meeting of an Orthodox and Reform rabbi even more unusual is that it took place in Israel (via Zoom, of course), where the more liberal denominations remain small compared to North America and where the official religious institutions are run by the ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox. The meeting involved the Orthodox Rabbi Chaim Navon, and the Reform Rabbi Josh Weinberg.
Ultimately, the two learned that they shared much more in common than they thought — including they both grew up in Chicago and have family roots in Germany. In a dialogue facilitated by Zvika Klein of the religious Zionist news outlet Makor Rishon, the two rabbis talked about the state of Judaism in Israel and the Diaspora — and didn’t avoid hot-button issues.
The pair began by discussing perhaps the biggest point of difference — the Reform movement itself, and whether the fact that it interprets the Torah and Judaism to necessarily reflect contemporary values is too progressive.
While the Reform movement’s founders began by seeking to modernize and change many aspects of ritual, Weinberg said, “the pendulum swung back in the other direction. And we began to adopt and introduce more mentions, more links, or more connections to our Jewish national identity. We need to take a good look at tradition. And start with what is relevant and what is less.”
Rabbi Navon, who said his German-Jewish ancestors were actually opposed to drastic reforms and remained traditional, agreed that while some Reform rabbis seem to be pushing the most progressive agendas, “time passed and the Zionist movement succeeded and the Reformers, to my great joy, made a U-turn of 180 degrees and suddenly returned to the same old-fashioned and irrelevant values that my ancestors had so insisted on!” And while both rabbis, unsurprisingly, did not agree on the state, and fate, of Diaspora Jewry and Israeli Jewry, they both maintained that positive changes are taking place.
“I think Israeli society is going through a process that is optimistic in my eyes. If 30 years ago it was religious on the one hand and secular on the other, and we more or less ignored what is in the middle, today the traditional option is very dominant, it is also present in people who do not call themselves traditional. In other words, a center of gravity has been created within Israeli society, a mainstream that is not religious, is not secular, it is traditional,” Navon said.
Weinberg, meanwhile, said he was not concerned with those who predicted Diaspora Jewry declining due to less adherence to tradition. In the U.S., “more people identify as Jews, more people find their way to joining, connecting, activating, connecting together with our movement for the time being. Now the corona(virus) is also proving it … everything is online. We have seen an increase in the number of people who come to prayer, come to the Beit Midrash, come to activities, to lectures, to all sorts of things like that.”
Perhaps the two did converge the closest by advocating for more of a “marketplace” of Jewish ideas, in the Diaspora and in Israel. Though Navon said he expects more Jews will lean toward tradition, they agreed that more competition is better— if, for their preferred outcomes. They also agreed that there should be more efforts in North America to become comfortable and proficient in Hebrew. “If you give the Jews in Israel the choice, I think the vast majority of them prefer Judaism in its Orthodox version,” Navon said. “And I’m ready to compete, with that.”
Weinberg said he also supported an open playing field for Judaism. In fact, he added, “it’s already a free market.”
(This article is based on a conversation that was translated from the original Hebrew to English).
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