The Limits of Jewish Pluralism

There are two daily minyanim at the Jewish Theological Seminary. They are colloquially known as “Stein” and “Willace.” The Stein minyan meets on the first floor of JTS and features simple white wooden benches and a variety of different and old prayer books. It is also the non-egalitarian minyan at the Seminary and has separate seating for men and women. As a result, women do not count towards the minyan and sit on the sides of the chapel, separated from the men by two short bookshelves. Alternatively, on the second floor, is the Women’s League Seminary Synagogue (“Willace”). This minyan is fully egalitarian and meets in the old reading room at the Seminary.

I attended Stein my first two years of Rabbinical School. I liked praying in the same seats where other JTS giants like Saul Lieberman and Israel Francus prayed. Furthermore, my rabbi, Joel Roth, davened there every morning.

However, something happened during my third year of rabbinical school. One of my classmates asked, “How can you pray in a place where I don’t have the same rights and privileges that you have? A place where I can’t lead or get an Aliyah?” I struggled; I didn’t have a good answer. My usual answer of “it ends five minutes earlier” didn’t seem to have the same weight as before. From that moment on, I attended Willace. Today, Stein minyan still meets in the Seminary because of the Conservative Movement’s pluralistic approach to Judaism. I am right, you are right, let’s both be right—but in separate rooms.

The multiplicity of Jewish practices is nothing new. Different Jewish communities have always maintained different customs and traditions. We see this acutely in our own movement. Can one use electricity on Shabbat? Yes and no. Is domestic hard cheese kosher? Yes and no. Can one drive to shul on Shabbat? Yes and no.

But we are not the only movement whose adherents vary in religious practice. The Reform Movement also has its is-sues: Do reform rabbis perform intermarriages? Yes and no. Are the children of a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father Jewish? In America, yes; in Israel, no. Orthodoxy is no different. Can one eat kitniot (legumes) on Passover? Yes and no. Can women lead certain parts of public worship services? Yes and no. Pluralism is an inherent part of our tradition.

But are their limits to this openness? Are there any practices or beliefs that are beyond the Jewish pale?

For a long time, it seemed to me that the Left was always pushing the boundary. It was the Left that tinkered with matters related to Kashrut, Jewish identity, and liturgical change. The Right often critiqued the Left, using the slippery slope argument: if one is permitted to change one thing, then everything will change and nothing will be holy.

What’s more, I also believed in the idea that anyone who was more traditional was inherently more authentic. I might characterize some people as obsessive, detail-oriented, or fanatical, but they are always part of normative Judaism. It’s OK if they will only eat glatt meat, while I will eat non-glatt meat. It’s OK if they won’t shake my hand. It’s OK if they won’t eat off of my dishes. After all, they are authentic.

Today, however, it is increasingly the Right (the fundamentalist right, not moderate Orthodoxy) that is pushing the bounds of pluralism. The ultra-Orthodox in Israel, the Ḥareidim, have increasingly been demanding greater separation between men and women in Israeli society.

And Israeli society has always acquiesced.

Respectful of Orthodoxy’s desire to have men and women separated during prayer services, a small meḥitzah (divider) was installed at the Kotel (Western Wall). Over the years, this meḥitzah has grown and grown and now stretches several dozen yards out into the Kotel courtyard. Today, extremist groups are lobbying for separate entrances at the Kotel, streets in Jerusalem, and checkout counters at stores.

Several years ago, a group of Israeli women formed an organization called “Women of the Wall.” WoW gathers monthly to read Torah at the Kotel in observance of Rosh Ḥodesh. Last year in Israel, while joining WOW, one of my friends had plastic chairs thrown at her while she was listening to the Torah being read in the women’s section. The men who attacked the women were not silenced or imprisoned, and claimed they had to act in order to defend “authentic” Judaism.

I’d like to share three incidents that have shocked the Jewish world in the past few months.

Eight-year-old Na’ama Margolis and her friends have been taunted and harassed by a fringe group of ultra-Orthodox while they walk to school every morning in Beit Shemesh. Although she and her friends dress in long skirts and cover their elbows (and frankly, their attire shouldn’t matter), the extremists wanted them to abide by a stricter ḥareidi dress code. The parents complained to local officials and Orthodox rabbis, who did nothing to quell the attacks or condemn the instigators.

Over in Ashdod, a bus route was halted by an ultra-Orthodox man because he was upset that Tanya Rosenblit, a fe-male passenger on a public bus, would not move to the back of the bus. When the police arrived, rather than telling the man that the woman had the right to sit in the front, he politely asked if she wouldn’t mind just moving to the back. She refused and the man got off the bus. She stated, “The reason I am posting this story is not to declare the Orthodox Jews as pure evil and the oppressors of human rights and liberties. I want to point out that this is a social and educational problem… It is wrong to use religion as an excuse to eliminate people’s basic rights: the right for freedom and the right for dignity.”

The Right’s fanaticism is not limited only to the Land of Israel. It is also happening in America today. While covering the targeting killing of Osama bin Laden, the Brooklyn Ḥasidic Jewish newspaper, Der Zeitung, modified a picture of President Obama and his senior staff watching the events in Pakistan unfold. Up-holding the newspaper’s policy to only publish pictures of men, the newspaper airbrushed Secretary of State Hillary Clin-ton and Audrey Tomason, the Director for Counter-Terrorism, from the photo. Such actions distort the past and write women out of pivotal moments of history.

As can be imagined, the secular and more liberal Jewish movements protested these actions in Israel and America, demanding equal treatment of women in society, and pushing back on their perceived violation of freedom of religion. In response, the Ḥareidim organized their own protests, dressing as prisoners of Nazi death camps and carrying posters equating more moderate Israelis as Nazis and attacking the Jewish way of life. Rabbi Yitzhak Weiss, one of the protest organizers, said the use of Nazi symbols was intentional and aimed at highlighting what he said was a campaign by the secular media against his community. He stated, “The idea was to convey a clear and simple message: that wild incitement against the ultra-Orthodox community will not be tolerated. The Israeli media’s incitement is reminis-cent of the German media’s before World War II.” The counter-protest incensed survivors and Jews around the world.

So what do we do? How do we ensure that our Judaism is one that is active, inclusive, and non-coercive?

For some of us, it may mean getting involved in Israel politically, whether by participating in the annual AIPAC policy conference or through programs organized by the New Israel Fund or another Israel activist group. It may mean learning more about Israel through formal educational opportunities. In March, Temple Emunah and Temple Isaiah will join together to bring a new program entitled, “Engage Israel.” On February 4th, the Israel Action committee will host a movie exploring the tension between religion and politics in Israel (see page 3). The possibilities are endless.

All my life I have been taught that we must not only respect each others’ differences, but learn to see the beauty in someone else’s culture and different world view. Learn to see the world through their eyes.

But I believe there are limits. Regardless of one’s claim to religious authenticity, I cannot support or excuse a Judaism in which women are shunned and relegated to the back of a bus. Where women’s faces are eliminated from public view, and women are told that they don’t have a role in history.

I hope you will work with me, not to convince the fringe groups who are perpetrating these acts, but to empower and inspire those just to their left, to voice their concern, stand up to the extreme right, and fight for what is absolutely right.

Rabbi Michael Fel