Over the Shabbat of 30 th and 31 st July various members of Liberal Judaism came to Edinburgh to take the erev Shabbat and Shabbat services, and to discuss with us both ‘practical' and ‘religious/doctrinal' aspects of Liberal Judaism. Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, the Liberal Judaism Outreach Director, took the erev Shabbat service and answered ‘religious/doctrinal' questions after the Friday night service. The Shabbat service was taken by Rabbi Mark Goldsmith, Rabbi of Finchley Progressive Synagogue and chairman of the Liberal Judaism Rabbinic Conference. After the Shabbat service, questions on all aspects of Liberal Judaism were answered by both Rabbi Goldstein and by Nigel Cole, the vice-chairman of Liberal Judaism.
As noted above, there were two question and answer sessions. However, since there was some overlap of questions from one session to the other, I have grouped the notes below by topic. As such the notes are not in chronological order. I hope, however, that they are an accurate record of our discussions over the two sessions.
At the start of the discussion on Saturday, Nigel Cole gave an overview of LJs history and its current structure. The start of the LJ movement can be traced back to a meeting in October 1902 of like-minded people. In 1910 the Liberal Jewish Synagogue was founded, and today there are now some 35 congregations with 9,200 members affiliated to LJ. Nigel said that the original founders of the movement had been both visionaries and ambitious, and LJ has been keen to keep this visionary principle. He said that in November 2002 there was concern within the movement that this had been obscured, and with the need to appoint a new chief executive at this time the opportunity had been taken to review the post of chief executive.
The conclusion was that the existing role of chief executive was too difficult to fulfil, and so an interim chief executive was appointed. A document was then produced, entitled ‘Into the Future', which embodies the future for LJ and says what the Chief Executive needs to be, and in particular that s/he doesn't necessarily need to be a Rabbi. (Previously this has been the case.) The report talks about ‘6 pillars', as follows:
LJ has its own liturgy and its own rabbinic board and conferences
A clear decision was made to focus on this
Education
LJ will fund the Centre for Jewish Education – Leo Baeck College (CJE-LBC). Synagogues will carry out their own teaching/education to bar/mat-mitzvah and kaballah-mitzvah age. Training for cheder teachers will be open and available to all.
LJ employs 2 full-time workers on youth activities, organising camps, weekends, educational activities etc. LJ is currently recruiting a youth development officer to work in communities outside London.
Nigel's comment was that this is a ‘difficult' subject, and Rabbi Goldstein commented that everyone has different views on Israel. LJ has run leadership tours to Israel, and promotes co-existence. It works with UJIA and Leo Baeck College in Israel. LJ supports the right of Israel to exist, but maybe disagrees sometimes with the government.
LJ is passionate about this and undertakes a significant amount of work on this in the communities.
Nigel went on to say that LJ now has action groups for each of the above 6 ‘planks'. These determine LJ policy on the various subjects and the action groups are made up of lay people and a Rabbi who is involved in the area. Nigel said that this is an example of how LJ works, by involving individuals, Rabbis and congregations.
Nigel then explained that LJ is based at the Montague centre in London. There are 10 permanent members of staff, and the plan is to increase this to around about 15 within the next 2 years. There is an annual budget of approximately £800,000, which is spent on funding the above 6 ‘planks', plus general administrative costs and the Chief Executive (when in post!). The majority of the income is derived from a levy on constituent shuls. Currently this is 17% of free income – that is general income, with shul income for things such as building projects etc. not included within the definition of free income. However it was pointed out that the over-riding concern is inclusivity and LJ would never put a congregation at risk by asking for too much, and arrangements can always be made if the levy is a problem. Lastly Nigel pointed out that last year a centenary fundraising appeal raised some £500,000 and as a result, LJ is now intending to put in place ‘patron funding' – essentially asking some of the richer Liberal Jews for additional money!
After a brief discussion, it became apparent that this question was about LJs views on the traditional orthodox view of the torah (given by God to Moses at Sinai, and that it should be read literally) as compared to the scientific evidence about evolution, suggestions that it was written over a period of time etc.
Rabbi Goldstein started off his answer by stating that LJ can affirm two aspects of Judaism. One is where all Jews have common ground, the other is where we are different. He highlighted two aspects of LJ where there is difference, one aspect being LJs approach to biblical criticism, the other being LJs inclusivity.
Rabbi Goldstein then expounded on LJs approach to the torah. He suggested that how some of the archaeological evidence affects an individual probably depends on ‘where you are' with your faith. As far as he is concerned, the findings do not affect his faith. He then went on to say that LJ does not take the torah as literally the word of God. Rather, we need to use our tradition of looking at all the different sources of information to try and help us arrive at an understanding of the torah.
There then followed some brief discussion as to whether faith and science are inherently opposed or not, without any conclusion being reached!
Rabbi Goldstein then further reiterated that LJ does not accept that the torah was given in its entirety to Moses at Sinai. He went on to say that LJ also does not ‘glorify' the Rabbis. LJ does accept their wisdom, but also notes that the Mishnah is simply an oral tradition, not a divine halachic system
The question was then asked that if LJ questions everything, is there anything that it regards as central or core? Rabbi Goldstein answered this by saying that LJ does accept the unity of God and that torah is a central and vital starting point. LJ also wants to be part of K'lal Yisrael – it does want to engage with other Jews as we are all part of the house of Israel. Other points made were that LJ supports the right of Israel to exist, that its emphasis is on prophetic rather than religious aspects of Judaism, and that its support for education is shown by its funding of the CJE-LBC.
In response to a question about the level of pre-bar/bat-mitzvah (Jewish) education generally and Hebrew teaching in particular, Rabbi Goldstein said that you have to work with the reality of any given situation. So it would be great to get kids to cheder for more than 2-4 hours per week, but the reality is that this is unlikely to happen. Similarly, you might want a Jewish school in Edinburgh, but again the reality is that it won't happen.
The discussion then widened into general Jewish knowledge, and Rabbi Goldstein pointed out that while it would be great to have everyone knowledgeable in everything, again this would not happen in reality. He used himself as an example – he said that he knew his knowledge of Talmud was not as good as he would perhaps like. However, as the Outreach Director for a movement which places a high priority on its moral and ethical stance, he was comfortable that he has spent more time on such matters. He quoted the example of LJs bereavement counselling training, which has now been rolled out to all LJ shuls and indeed some orthodox ones as well.
Discussions on the above topics spanned both discussion sessions, but the general attitude was summed up by a comment from Rabbi Goldstein that LJ wants to include as many people as possible. As regards status, LJ wants to accept not just those who are halachically Jewish. Thus LJ accepts someone as Jewish with a Jewish father, and since its inception in 1902, there has been full equality for women – there are women rabbis, men light the Shabbat candles etc. So, anything to do with sexism, or anything where halacha defines something by sex, is an area which ‘needs to be thought about.' Excluding people on the basis of sex/sexism is not what LJ is about. If an adult finds s/he has a Jewish parent, LJ will help that person by way of a course of education to ‘find' their Judaism – they would not have to convert, but they would have an acceptance/confirmation of status ceremony. Almost as an aside, Rabbi Goldstein noted that while for a conversion the convert has to gain and show a knowledge of Judaism, most Jews are not religious, and his comment was ‘who knows where things will go?'
In response to a question about children, Rabbi Goldstein said that the requirements for bar/bat-mitzvah are the same regardless of whether the child has a Jewish father, mother or both. Following on from this, it was stressed that the LJ attitude to non-Jewish partners is that the non-Jewish partner is completely involved, but there are some things that they can not do – for example, there can not be a Jewish wedding for a Jew and a non-Jew. In most congregations, there is an ‘associate member' status, and it is common for non-Jews to be involved in most parts of a service. Typically what they cannot do is have an aliyah, or sit on the rites and practices committee. They would, however, be able to be involved with things such as security. In summary, the attitude is to include people as much as possible, but if it is concerned with ‘religious' matters, the non-Jewish partner can not be involved.
As regards conversion, Rabbi Goldstein said there is no standard course – either for LJ or RSGB – rather it is up to the individual Rabbi. He then said that there are clear standards which people have to work to, and also said that the LJ Beth Din is different to the RSGB Beth Din. This means that LJ does concentrate on different topics as compared to RSGB. LJ does encourage the use of the mikvah, and a doctors note is required if a man is not circumcised. Where the choice is made not to use the mikvah, this does not prevent conversion but the possible consequences are pointed out. As regards the acceptance of LJ conversions, Rabbi Goldstein said that the Conservative movement in the USA mostly recognises LJ converts, and indeed most non-UK orthodox communities also accept them. It tends to be UK Orthodox which is inflexible. He also said that RSGB conversions are recognised by LJ, although it is not always the case the other way round, although usually there is not a problem.
Rabbi Goldstein said that LJ has both gay and lesbian rabbis, while the question of carrying out same-sex commitment ceremonies is down to the individual congregations and their rabbis. He noted that all the congregations are autonomous, and whether ceremonies would be performed would depend on the attitude of both the rabbi and the community. He quoted as an example that he himself would be happy to carry out such a ceremony whereas his father was less certain whether he wanted to or not.
Following on from the LJ attitude to same-sex commitment ceremonies, Rabbi Goldstein said that many communities were happy to carry out a mixed-faith blessing. While it is obviously not possible to have a Jewish wedding for a mixed marriage, it is possible to have a blessing. Rabbi Goldstein emphasised that the principle was to make people feel accepted.
A question was asked about support for communities such as ourselves. Rabbi Goldstein quoted the example of the Norwich Community, which ‘lost' its part-time Rabbi who had visited the community once a month. Rabbi Goldstein has so far been to the community 4 times this year, and other Rabbis have also visited the community. This took the pressure off the lay leadership, who have now been able to appoint a new Rabbi.
Other examples quoted were the Hereford community. This started with 30-40 members, and Rabbi Goldstein has worked with them so that they now have 60 members, run regular services and education classes. Both Rabbi Goldstein and a student Rabbi have visited the community, and he and they have worked with the CJE-LBC to help with the cheder, which has a small number of children with different ages.
For the Eastbourne community, which is a new one, Rabbi Goldstein has provided all the life-cycle support and arranged for Rabbis to visit. Burials were an issue and he was able to support them finding plots. As a start-up community, they have a nominated ‘foster-Rabbi' to help them out but having a nominated Rabbi provides continuity. Rabbi Goldstein noted that a ‘foster-Rabbi' could be himself, or it could be another Rabbi.
The question of whether our distance from London is an issue was briefly discussed – there was general agreement that with the cheap flights to London, it would not present any problems. Rabbi Goldstein stressed that there is money and support available for helping new communities, and that help would be provided for life-cycle events, adult education etc.
In response to a question as to how LJ would typically support a community such as ours during the first 2 years of affiliation, Nigel said that typically we may wish to join as an affiliate member. This is essentially an introduction level, and the only difference to full membership is that we wouldn't get a vote on (LJ) matters relating money and policies. We would have access to all the LJ facilities and support. Fairly quickly he would expect that we would move to full membership. At that stage we would be able to attend the quarterly LJ Council meetings and have full voting rights. Again it was noted that payment of fees is something which would be discussed on an ‘individual basis between Sukkat Shalom and LJ'.
As regards our access to resources, Rabbi Goldstein said that the only constraint would be the ability of LJ to deliver in the sense that he (Rabbi Goldstein) could only be in one place at a time. We would receive rabbinic support, be it from Rabbi Goldstein himself, a student Rabbi or however else, and for example the youth movement would come to Edinburgh to work with our children. It was also noted that where parents of children can't afford fees for summer camps, LJ always does its best to involve children regardless of finance.
Rabbi Goldstein answered this question by saying that in nearly every case, the main difference between Reform and Liberal Judaism is that Reform is more pragmatic, while Liberal values its intellectual integrity. He said that, for example, LJ will strive for inclusivity, but equally LJ is very clear on conversion and will not ‘let anyone in' – LJ includes people with integrity.
Rabbi Goldstein also noted that the LJ rabbinate is quite a young rabbinate, with many rabbis in their 30s and 40s. This means that LJ is ‘pushing the changes'.
Liturgically, the RSGB prayer book is an anthology with different options while the LJ prayer book sticks to a structure with readings found elsewhere in the book.. The LJ prayer book includes both matriarchs and patriarchs and has included or added to many passages phrases such as ‘and to all humankind' after, for example, ‘peace to Israel'.
As regards similarities with Reform Judaism, Rabbi Goldstein said there are many. He also pointed out that within LJ, as RSGB, there are differences between the different communities.
(Note – the acceptance of patrilinearity had already been discussed hence was not specifically mentioned.)
There was some considerable debate on the subject of Israel. It started with Rabbi Goldstein making the comment that LJ Rabbis tend not to make many pronouncements on Israel since they don't usually help. In response to this, the point was made that maybe LJ should make statements, on ethical issues, particularly since it may be the case that many non-affiliated Jews are not affiliated because of their ambivalence towards Israel. Rabbi Goldstein quoted his own position as an example of his approach, whereby he does a lot of local radio interviews trying to ‘put things into context' and discussing moral and ethical attitudes. He does not, however, do ‘big articles' with the Jewish Chronicle. This then lead onto debate about the letter which Rabbi Goldsmith (who, unfortunately, was not present) had published in the JC. While not really reaching any conclusion, Nigel summarised the LJ stance on Israel as being that LJ confirms the right of Israel to exist. Thereafter there are many individual attitudes.
Other topics that were briefly discussed were as follows:
The LJ approach is that if an adopted child is brought up Jewish and has a bar/bat-mitzvah, then s/he is regarded as being Jewish.
There was some discussion about how LJ tries to ensure that all its members, and particularly children, have the Right of Return to Israel. Rabbi Goldstein said that LJ works closely with the Israeli Embassy to ensure that any of its members, including converts, fulfil all the relevant criteria. LJ is also careful to ensure that it keeps all records which might be relevant. However Rabbi Goldstein said that the part of the process over which LJ has no control is the attitude of the Rabbi in Israel, and while there is still an anti-Progressive attitude, this will continue to be an area of uncertainty.
In response to a question as to whether dual affiliation (to LJ and RSGB) was possible, both Nigel and Rabbi Goldstein said they didn't really know! However, they said that they were unsure how it would work – which Beth Din would we recognise? Which prayer book would we use? Which Rabbinic conference would we ‘go with'? The comment was made that at some point we would have to go with one or other liturgy, Beth Din for conversions etc. It was also pointed out that the community in London who had previously been dual-affiliated were now only affiliated to one movement
LJ is involved with the World Union of Progressive Jews (WUPJ) and in particular its European region, with UJIA and with the LBC in Haifa. LJ has contacts with the Union of Hebrew Congregations (UHC) in the USA and the American Reform movement. (Rabbi Goldstein pointed out that he had spent a year in America and so has a lot of contacts there which enable him to access a lot of material which might otherwise be difficult to get.) LJ Rabbis visit various European countries to take services, and there are Liberal communities in e.g., Milan and Barcelona.
Nick Silk
August 2004