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Tales From The American Talmud

A special prog ram for older adults with memor y impairments

RABBI RICH KIRSCHEN

University of Michigan Hillel

I f you are going to be in herein
(ex-communication), it's nice to
have company
This is the way I felt after
five days at one of the more powerful
rabbinic retreats I have attended. Set
in Newport, R. I., in a small hotel, 20
rabbis, approximately a third Conserv-
ative, a third Reform and a third
Orthodox, were brought together for a
week of learning and dialogue by the
National Jewish Center for Learning
and Leadership (CLAL). What I
learned at the conference was nothing
new in terms of being one people
divided by religion. But the friend-
ships made between the participants
were particularly powerful in helping
to break down the walls we put up
and the judgments we make con-
sciously or unconsciously between
Conservative, Orthodox and Reform.
As a Reform rabbi on the fringe of
his movement (which puts me on the
tzitzit), I well understand how denom-
inations have split the community and
many of us find that we fall through
the cracks. And yet, whether we like it
or not, these three main approaches to
Halacha (Jewish law) are not going
anywhere for a while and for the most
part, tend to define the Jewish playing
field in America. What I learned at the
CLAL conference was that there is an
almost dizzying array of approaches
within these movements. And no mat-
ter what one's approach to modernity
and mitzvot, we are all made to feel
uncomfortable by the other move-
ments, and even our own movements
at some point or another.
Perhaps my biggest surprise was
the extent to which my modern
Orthodox colleagues suffer. For
some reason, I always believed that
while my Conservative and Reform
colleagues bore the mark of illegiti-
macy, our Orthodox colleagues were
safe and sound within the protective
laws of their halachic system. But
these days no one has it that easy. If
my weddings and conversions are
tref (unkosher) in certain areas of the
Jewish community (one large area
being the Jewish state), the actions
of my modern Orthodox colleagues
are constantly suspect by the ultra-
Orthodox. Modern Orthodox rabbis

Rabbi Rich Kirschen is associate
director of the University of Michigan
This article originally appeared
in the Washtenaw Jewish News.

are constantly being watched and
constantly being pushed to the right.
Whether it is their hasgachah (kosher
certification) or any other ruling, they
often feel they are on the defensive. I
learned that they also feel pressure
from the Reform Movement with its
watchword of autonomy, which does
what it wants. If modern Orthodoxy
regards Reform conversions or wed-
dings as not kosher, the Reform
Movement has an answer to this - it
regards Orthodox standards as irrele-
vant. Meanwhile, the Conservative
Movement has its own Jewish law
committee to which Orthodox,
Reform and its own Conservative
members pay little attention. So on
one level, maybe we are all tref and if
not tref, just irrelevant.
My friend Rabbi Leon Morris
likened our situation to one that is, well,
very messy, like the sacrifices in the
Temple. And the key to this week of
learning was to come together and figure
out how to make this whole process a
sweet and savory offering to God. And
that is what we did during this confer-
ence. If you have 20 rabbis, Reform,
Conservative and Orthodox, men and
women, how do you daven Shachrit (the
morning service)? With all the issues of
mechitzah (partition), of nusach (chanti-
ng), of egalitarianism, of boundaries,
etc., how do you bring 20 Jews together
to pray? And yet, each morning we were
willing to work it out a little differently.
And the bottom line is that we were
actually able to hear and listen to each
other. When we could do that we were
able to make it work and say SMna Yis-
rael (Hear 0' Israel) with the emphasis
on "hear.
So, for a week with 20 other col-
leagues, I learned that we all feel a lit-
tle tref and a little bit in herem. But
when you stop and learn to listen
(sh'ma) and put a human face on the
one with whom you agree to disagree,
that's when you create Torah. If our
teachers in the Talmud - Hillel and
Shamai, Rabbi Meir and the Sages and
even Rabbi Gamliel and Rabbi Joshua
- could learn to live, study and argue
together, then so must we.
Maybe we need to all chip in and
send the esteemed leaders of all our
movements away for a week together.
If we could get Ismar Schorsh (Con-
servative), Eric Yoffie (Reform) and
Norman Lamm (modern Orthodox)
to spend a week alone in the Catskills,
who knows? At least it would make
for a great aggadah (rabbinic legend)
in our own interesting version of
American Talmud. E

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e. Directo

Detroit Jewish News

37