THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Rabbi Weine Counsels Rabbis:
Don't Undermine Your Successor
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
A rabbi who has retired
from his pulpit and chooses
to continue to live in the
community can inadver-
tently create major prob-
lems for his rabbinical suc-
cessor, a retired rabbi has
reported.
He is Rabbi Max Weine,
who retired five years ago as
rabbi of Congregation Beth
Israel in Camden, N.J.
I Rabbi Weine, who now lives
in Oak Park, described his
retirement experiences in a
recent issue of "Conserva-
tive Judaism," the quar-
terly publication of the
Rabbinical Assembly, the
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association of Conservative
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America, the Conservative
school.
Rabbi Weine declared
that "the best advice" he
could give to a retired rabbi
who remains in the commu-
nity he served is to diseng-
age himself "as completely
as possible" from his former
congregation and from his
successor. Rabbi Weine
commented that he knew of
a number of situations in
which the life of a younger
colleague has been made
miserable because of the
presence of a rabbi emeritus
in his congregation or in the
community."
He urged retired col-
leagues to "move away
from your former
neighborhood, worship
in another congregation
and even become a
dues-paying member
there." He added, The
fact that I have joined a
congregation and pay
dues has been one of the
most significant sources
of satisfaction in my re-
tirement."
He urged the rabbi
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CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID
invites inquiries
concerning membership
We are a family-oriented congregation located in
Southfield. We are committed to traditional
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• A few family memberships are currently
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• Special reduced rates are extended to
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children 4-14
We welcome anyone who wishes to visit our Sab-
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Shabbat Services
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557-8210
Alan R. Weiner
President
Morton F. Yolkut
Rabbi
Hyman J. Adler
Cantor
RABBI MAX WEINE
emeritus not to offer any
advice to his successor "un-
less asked" and then as de-
licately as possible." He as-
serted that the chances are
that if a layman asks the
rabbi emeritus for advice,
the functioning rabbi is pre-
tty well acquainted with the
situation anyway" and he
will speak to his predecessor
if he wants to.
He urged the retired
rabbi to adopt a program of
activity — "non-rabbinical,
if possible" — and warned
the retired rabbi to "steer
clear of doing any kind of
rabbinical work that will
hurt your successor or other
colleagues in the commu-
nity."
The rabbi emeritus will
naturally have ties to
former congregants and will
be asked to participate in
family celebrations, Rabbi
Weine declared. But he
warned that if the retired
rabbi is asked "to partici-
pate in any official
capacity," he should do so
"only at the invitation of the
functioning rabbi" and he
should tell the family he
could do so only if the rabbi
invited him. Rabbi Weine
added that the retired rabbi
deserved "a direct personal
invitation" from the incum-
bent rabbi in such situa-
tions.
He declared that one of
the pleasures of rabbini-
cal retirement was that
he could sit in the pews
during services, next to
his wife, "like everybody
else. It is a real privilege
and joy to me. I can relax,
get out of the public eye
and enjoy coming to shul
— even a bit late at
times."
He declared that if the
congregation and the rabbi
insisted on the rabbi
emeritus, sitting on the
bima, there was no reason to
refuse "but any functioning
as a rabbi should be only at
the invitation of the man
who succeeded you. Re-
member it is now his con-
gregation and he is the
rabbi."
Cash Chairman
NEW YORK — Edgar L.
Cadden of Chicago has been
appointed national cash
chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal.
They that are perverse in
heart are an abomination to
the Lord; but such as are up-
right in their way are His
delight.
Friday, August 10, 1979 21
Homosexuality Prohibitions
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
The basic Jewish prohibi-
tion against homosexuality
stems from an explicit pas-
sage in the Bible: "Thou
shalt not lie with a man as
one lies with a woman; it is
an abomination." (Leviticus
18:22).
The Bible goes so far as to
consider homosexuality
hideous enough to require
capital punishment
(Leviticus 20:13). The Mid-
rash states that the genera-
tion of Noah was con-
demned to destruction by
the flood because they
legalized homosexuality
(Leviticus Rabbah 18:13).
One explanation in the
Talmud indicates that the
Hebrew word for abomina-
tion means "You are going
astray because of it"
(Nedarim 51a). This would
indicate that an act such as
homosexuality would lead
one astray from proper be-
havior.
A second source
(Pesikta Zutarta and
Sefer ha-Chinuch) exp-
lains that homosexuality
frustrates the intention of
man's sexuality which
was meant for the
procreation of the
species. It is impossible
for any procreation to re-
sult from homosexuality.
Some medieval commen-
taries explain that
homosexuality is wrong be-
cause it tends to either
break up families or pre-
vents the organization of
families, since homosexuals
have no need for partners
from the opposite sex.
There are some who as-
sume that -homosexuality
was especially abominable
because it was used by na-
tions in antiquity (like the
Canaanites) in their prac-
tice of idolatry.
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14450 West Ten Mile Rd.
Rabbi Milton Rosenbaum
Rabbi Lane Steinger
Lyle Parr, President
Cantor Norman Rose