12 Friday, April 22, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Patrilineal Descent May Splinter Klal Yisrael
-
(Continued from Page 1)
appropriate and timely
public and formal acts of
identification with the
Jewish faith and people."
According to the 1909
Rabbis' Manual of the
CCAR, a child of a Jewish
father is to be regarded as a
Jew if the child attends a
Jewish school and goes
through appropriate life
cycle ceremonies. Suppor-
ters of the March 15, 1983,
declaration pointed out that
most Reform Rabbis have
been following this recom-
mendation since 1909. One
can argue, then, that far
from expanding conferral of
Jewishness by birth to chil-
dren of Jewish fathers, the
resolution has withdrawn
that automatic conferral
from children of Jewish
mothers.
Now, matrilineal Jewish
children also will have to
practice Judaism in some
form(s) in order to be con-
sidered Jewish. By this
resolution, the Reform Rab-
binate is now more
makhmir (restrictive) on
children of Jewish mothers
than are Conservative and
Orthodox rabbis. At least,
theoretically, there are
children of intermarried
Jewish mothers who will be
considered to be Jews by the
Reform rabbinate, i.e.,
those children who have
performed no "public and
formal acts of identification
with the Jewish people."
Nevertheless, the resolu-
tion is a triumph of ethics
and feminism as normative
vim
principles for Reform rab-
bis. The logic of feminism is
that all criteria and treat-
ment applied to women
should be equal to those
applied to men. By this reso-
lution, Reform rabbis have
voted to do that; henceforth,
they will require of children
of Jewish women the same
obligations as are required
of children of Jewish men.
Moreover, if you do not
consider inherited halakhic
categories to be immutable
and you consider being
deemed a Jew to be a
privilege, then there is an
ethically compelling argu-
ment for the resolution.
Why should a child of one
Jewish parent suffer be-
cause that one parent hap-
pens to be a father rather
than a mother? The ethical
base of the resolution is a
strong one.
Of course, by voting their
ethical judgments, the Re-
form rabbis have overrid-
den the claims of Halakha
and respect for a millenia-
old tradition. The framers of
the resolution dismissed the
argument from tradition.
Past practice, they claimed,
was motivated by "the fact
that the woman with her
child had no recourse (in an-
cient times) but to return to
her own people" but this is
no longer true, socially.
With this sociological
put-down of the mat-
rilineal tradition, the
sponsors ignored both
the classic belief that the
categories of descent are
divinely ordained and
VIDEO
PROFILES
CORPORATION
COMPLETE "BROADCAST" COLOR
VIDEOTAPE PRODUCTIONS
CALL 354-0438 AND
DISCOVER PROFESSIONAL
QUALITY
(IRWIN DANTO, VIDEOGRAPHER)
I
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I
•1
the historical passion of
Jews who defied the rape
of Jewish women by per-
secutors by specifically
affirming the Jewishness
of children of Jewish
mothers more than those
of Jewish fathers.
A much stronger argu-
ment for changing the inh-
erited tradition was the con-
tention that; in the light of
the Holocaust, children of
any one Jewish parent
should be deemed Jewish, if
possible, since their lives
are on the line and they will
be deemed as Jewish as,the
other when it comes to
tyrdom.
Against this argument,
however, the upholders of
the tradition argue that the
lesson of the Holocaust
should be to solve all prob-
lems in the spirit of Klal
Yisrael and to reject solu-
tions that are good for any
one denomination but come
at the expense of the unity
of community and fate of all.
The main driving force
behind the resolution was
sociology. There has been a
gigantic jump in intermar-
riage in the past decade —
such marriages now ap-
proach 50 percent of all
American Jewish mar-
riages. Most of those inter-
marriages still are between
Jewish men and non-Jewish
women.
A lot of Jewish parents —
many are members of Re-
form congregations — want
their grandchildren to be
Jewish or, at least, to be
considered Jewish whether
or not the non-Jewish par-
ent converts to Judaism.
Most of the parents of in-
termarried couples and
three-quarters of the voting
Reform rabbis felt that it is
more urgent to make a sym-
bolic statement of
encouragement to those
mixed marriage families —
and to themselves — than it
is important not to offend
the Orthodox and Conser-
vative Jews who uphold the
present halakhic ruling.
•• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
•
•
THE VERY FINEST
HAS GOTTEN STILL BETTER.
'4111
CUSTOM DRAPERY CLEANERS has completed the installation of cleaning
equipment that will help still more to preserve your most delicate fabrics.
o
•
• DRAPERIES • BEDSPREADS • BLANKETS
•
(Cleaned or 'Laundered)
•
• WINDOW SHADES • LAMPSHADES • PILLOWS
•
VENETIAN BLINDS (Cleaned, retaped & re-corded)
•
ANY OTHER ITEMS YOU MAY HAVE — IF IT CAN BE
•
•
CLEANED, WE'LL CLEAN IT AND CLEAN IT PROPERLY
•
•
I
S . If you're moving we can remake and re-install
•
your existing draperies to fit another window or
•
room.
•
S.
•
aim
•
VISA'
We Remove & install
•
I
•
•
•
DRAPERY CLEANERS
•
•
Suburban Call Collect
• `All that the name implies."
VISA & MASTERCHARGE
• •
°%N °
A
891-1818
master0arg
•
•:
•
'S
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•••••••••••••s••••••••••••••••••••••
The obvious question
is: how significant is this
gesture and what is its
value in motivating
Jewishness? Those who
care to be Jewish in some
active way would likely
be willing to undergo
conversion. As for those
who dot not care, what
significance can the bes-
towal of Jewish status
have for them?
The resolution was also a
triumph of Americanism
over the spirit of Klal Yis-
rael. In America, the inter-
marriage rates are high and
the sense of the binding
'force of Halakha is weak. In
Israel, the proportions are
reversed — the intermar-
riage rate is extremely low
and the respect for the
authority of Halakha
especially in matters of per-
sonal status is high even
among non-observant Jews.
No wonder then that the Is-
rael Council of Progressive
(Reform) Rabbis objected to
the resolution, stating: "The
motivation is to resolve a
pressing problem for our
American movement," but
"if we affirm that we are an-
integral part of the Jewish
people, we cannot limit our
horizons to the Reform
movement in North
America alone."
Said the Israeli Reform
rabbis: "The recognition
that the Reform rabbi
serves in these matters as
an agent of the entire
Jewish people imposes on us
an obligation to give serious
consideration to the posi-
tions of other Jews and to
their . . . reaction to our acts
and judgments. This is a
price we should be willing to
pay for the privilege of be-
longing to the Jewish people
and for maintaining unity
whenever possible both
within the Reform family
and within Klal Yisrael."
The Israeli Reform rabbi
considers that, in Israel, Re-
form is a small minority
which must live with the
Orthodox community and
rabbinate. The American
Reform rabbinate believes
that the majority of Ameri-
can Jews are so Reform or
non-observant that Reform
can shake off Orthodox ob-
jections. But this consti-
tutes "thinking American"
rather than deciding on a
worldwide basis.
Israeli Reform believes
that, through dialogue,
self-restraint and respect
for tradition, it can legiti-
mate itself either with the
Orthodox establishment or
with the non-observant
majority of Israel which
demands a decent respect
for tradition as the creden-
tial of any religious move-
ment.
American Reform
spiritual leaders have
made the judgment to
write off Orthodox con-
cerns. In the words of one
Reform rabbi defending
the resolution, this will
not add divisiveness be-
cause, "The Orthodox
community has consid-
ered us outside of the
realm of ... 'Torah true'
Judaism for a long time."
The pity is that there is
truth to this last statement.
After, decades of trying to
meet halakhic expectations
by requiring circumcision,
immersion and ritual ob-
servances from converts,
the Reform Beth Din led by
Rabbi Gunther Plaut in To-
ronto found that the Or-
thodox rabbinate would still
not give its status a scintilla
of legitimacy. Still, people
like Rabbi Plaut (who is the
incoming president of the
CCAR) opposed the resolu-
tion because they still hope
for dialogue and some un-
ified approach to be worked
out with the rest of Klal
Yisrael, especially the Con-
servative and Orthodox
rabbinate.
The last time this resolu-
tion was introduced at the
CCAR convention, a major-
ity voted with Plaut to table
the matter. The passage of
the resolution this time
shows that the majority of
Reform rabbis has given up
on dialogue with halakh-
ists. Reform spiritual lead-
ership's priority is to
dialogue with and please its
borderline groups — the
mixed married, etc. —
rather than traditional
Jews..
Given the swing to the
right in Orthodoxy, this
new ruling may be a politi-
cally astute judgment as to
which group — the Or-
thodox or the intermarried
— is the more promising
partner for the future, but
the decision signals more
bitterness and social splits
down the road. The un-
happy dynamic is all too
predictable — each
radicalizing step will be in-
voked to justify a counter-
reaction of writing off the
other.
Already, before this reso-
lution, Rabbi Moshe Reins-
tein, dean of the Orthodox
poskim (decisors), had ruled
that Reform rabbis are not
rabbis and their marriages
are not valid halakhically.
Cooperation and social
interaction will decline
further. This will reduce
the availability of Jewish
marriage partners, in-
crease intermarriage,
lead to more radical deci-
sions on both sides in an
ever-escalating spiral.
Cooperation in other
areas such as support for
Israel will yet be strained
and even more bitterness
can be envisioned.
It is hardly a recipe for
ahavat Yisrael (love of Is-
rael) or maximum Jewish
survival.
There is a desperate need
for a systematic program of
dialogue and intensive
learning and joint explora-
tion of issues between rab-
bis and theologians of all
the denominations. Forma-
tion of alliances and com-
mon concerns and friend-
ship across group lines
might affect halakhic and
sociological judgments and
give us some constructive
unifying options before an
irreversible cycle of aliena-
tion, sectarian separation
and rejection sets in.
In the face of external
threat and massive assimi-
lation, we need to work to-
gether to save every possi-
ble Jew or would-be Jew.
We need to learn from each
other and to incorporate
each other's best values and
insights into our own.
It will be no excuse before
the bar of history and God to
answer: it was their fault,
they ignored/rejected us.
Those who believe in the
unity and totality of the
Jewish people must band
together and create re-
sources and mechanisms for
positive work together.
In the interim, I would
urge Orthodox and Conser-
vative rabbis who want to
resist polarization to ex-
press their critical reactions
to the resolutions without
burning bridges between
the groups. On the contrary,
they would step up dialogue
with Reform rabbis, recog-
nizing that it was the
weakening of personal con-
nections and of hope for any
mutual cooperation that
enabled this resolution to
pass.
I would urge Reform
rabbis who care about
Klal Yisrael to make the
conversion ceremony the
preferred fulfillment of
the resolution's require-
ment of "public and for-
mal acts of identification
with the Jewish faith and
people" from children of
Jewish fathers.
In sum, the patrilineal
resolution is an advance
warning of a coming era in
which converts, children of
second marriages and many
other Jews of one denomi-
nation will be denied
legitimacy by others. The
social divisiveness could
split the Jewish people yet.
In the absence of any hope of
recognition, the majority of
Reform rabbis refused to re-
strain themselves for the
sake of traditional Jews.
But there is an alterna-
tive to simply waiting with
folded hands. Let a joint
active program of learning
and dialogue be undertaken
to study the issue and assess
if the strategy of legitima-
tion will strengthen the
overall Jewish community.
If the conclusion is that it
will, let a halakhic way be
found so all can do it to-
gether.
It is time for the whole
Jewish community to pres-
sure the rabbis to get to-
gether and work on these
problems. Maybe Halakha
is too important to be left
just to halakhists — or just
to Reform rabbis.
Bill Draws
AJC Support
NEW YORK — The
American Jewish Commit-
tee has gone on record as
favoring the passage of Se-
nate bill S 615, the "Natural
Gas Consumer Regulatory
Reform Amendments of
1983," which would re-
structure government regu-
lation of the gas industry
and result in lower gas
prices to consumers.
•