Jewish: August 2004 Archives

Introduction
For most of my life, I have been involved in the rabbinate. I grew up with a father who was a pulpit rabbi for almost 20 years. I was in the YU system for 7 years, studying with many rabbis-in-training and eventually becoming ordained myself. Most recently, I served as intern for at the "Bridge Shul" in Washington Heights.

Between my varied experiences with the rabbinate, my studies this year, and the evolving nature of the profession, I have been constantly refining my thoughts on the rabbinate. This week, I’ll be posting a series of essays about the rabbinate based on my studies and experiences from just about every perspective.

I have decided to organize my thoughts into three or four posts. The first will be about the Rabbi as an abstract institution, focusing on the halakhic role and authority of a contemporary Rabbi. Then I will address the realities of the current state of the rabbinate, including the nature of communities and how it effects the future of rabbinical schools. Finally, I’d like to elaborate on the existential side of being a rabbi while maintaining a personal identity (such as it is). If there is time or interest, I might add in a post on why I made the educational decisions that I did. I’ll probably conclude with a post responding to comments.

Disclaimer: Although I will focus on the pulpit, I will not be referring to any specific community or congregation in particular, but to my collective experiences.

The Moscow Times is reporting about a wave of Russians moving back from Israel. What's really ironic is that they're moving back for economic reasons as well as social and religious acceptance. Some stories are unfortunately old:

"One of them is that most highly educated immigrants have to take blue-collar jobs in Israel. "Doctors, physicians and mathematicians were cleaning the streets," Gorin said."

Personally I find the social and religious tensions more upsetting. I heard a line once where a Russian said, "When I was in Russia, I was a Jew. When I was in Israel, I was a Russian."

Another reason for returning was what Dzhadan called the "sectarian" structure of the society. In order to rent an apartment or find a job, a person has to operate through members of his party or immigrants from the same country or area.

"I didn't like it," he said. "I'm used to operating in an open society where people don't ask you to what community you belong."

In another context, I once complained that for all the efforts put in to people making aliyah, there is relatively little effort in maintaining the people who are actually there.

Think about how bad it is when someone can seriously write, "Russia's capitalist economy 'allows you to exist regardless of your religious beliefs.'"

"Olam Hafuch Ra'iti" - (B. Pesahim 50a).