Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you all well.
It's been a busy few weeks with Purim festivities, and our Moot Beit Din's trip to Houston last week. (Now on to Passover!)
For those who are unaware, Moot Beit Din is a project of Prizmah, the Center for Jewish Day Schools, and is a mock trial competition where teams from Jewish day schools throughout the US and Canada study a question and attempt to discern how Jewish law should respond. Last year they opened the competition to supplemenyary school students, and we participated, and we were happy to do so again this year. Last year we studied biomedical ethics, and this year we studied about driverless cars and responsibility for damages when one becomes involved in an accident. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to interact with some of our teens, and a great way for them to have fun in a Jewish context. They did great, and I'm proud of our team. But don't take my word for it - come hear the team this Shabbat (i.e. tomorrow) morning, as they'll be presenting their material at shul as part of our Shabbat morning service.
My thanks to the Judakens for sponsoring dinner and musical services for the Young Families tonight. Our intrepid musical crew will be there for the service at 5:30, and dinner is at 6 pm for those who've registered. Of course, all are welcome to come to the service - it will be a short, family-style service and all ages and stages are welcome.
As you may have read in last week's Hebrew Watchman, the leadership of the Conservative movement changed their policy around synagogue membership for non-Jews. For many years, the policy of Conservative synagogues (and Orthodox and some synagogues of other streams of Judaism as well) has been that non-Jews were welcome to attend synagogue functions, but could not be members of Conservative synagogue, nor could they take part in Jewish ritual. Over the years, both of those prohibitions have been repeatedly addressed, as congregations have found reason to question each of them.
Why change them? A few examples:
Let's say a Bar or Bat Mitzvah only has one surviving grandparent and that grandparent isn't Jewish but has been very respectful of the family and wants to be the one to purchase the tallit for their grandchild to start wearing on the big day? May the non-Jewish grandparent give them their tallit and a blessing in English while they do so? (We do allow non-Jews to come up for English readings, so I certainly wouldn't have a problem with a grandparent giving their grandchild a blessing).
Other questions are more difficult:
May a non-Jew open the ark? Some synagogues allow this, some don't. Is opening the ark a ritual honor which we should limit to Jews or it just a functional need and irrelevant who opens the ark?
May a non-Jew be part of the synagogue's choir or musical ensemble? (This has actually been a long-standing tradition even in much of the Orthodox world, as many of the cantorial choirs require specialized musicians, who may often be found amongst opera and choral singers, many of whom aren't Jewish).
Can a non-Jewish custodian move prayer books from one room to the next? Can they move a Torah from the sanctuary to the chapel?
(I'm not a fan of that happening, and it doesn't happen here).
Can synagogues honor and celebrate the marriage of a Jewish member of the synagogue to a non-Jew? This situation has come up a few times in recent years, and the ritual committee decided to allow an english blessing of congratulations to be offered. Each of the couples who've experienced this have found it meaningful.
Can a non-Jew stand next to their Jewish spouse while the Jewish spouse has an aliyah? Some shuls allow this, and some don't. At Beth Sholom, my understanding is that this has sometimes been allowed, and sometimes not. Personally, I don't have a problem with this, as if they are just standing there they aren't hurting anyone, and can be sharing in a moment of holiness with their spouse or family.
On the other hand, can a non-Jew come up for an aliyah themselves? In our shul, no, although there was one day when it happened accidentally a few years ago. It was at our Celebration of Jewish Learning, and we had group aliyot to celebrate all who took part in learning. One very kind and studious non-Jewish gentlemen was here for Hebrew classes with Judy Holzer, of blessed memory, and was a dedicated student. When the Hebrew class came up for an aliyah, so did he, though I believe he was asked not to ahead of time. At that moment, Judy and I looked at each other and both understood that it would be a worse sin (in our opinion) to embarrass him publicly by asking him to sit down than it would for him to take part in a group aliyah (since others were having the aliyah and he wasn't taking away from our obligations). And the look on his face as he said the blessing was one of complete wonder and awe and reverence for God and our people (I wish all Jews had that same sense of reverence when coming up for an aliyah, but that's neither here nor there at the moment). While I wish he hadn't come up, it was very moving to see him do so.
Ritually then, non-Jews can't fulfill an obligation for Jews.
Can non-Jews be members of synagogues though?
Historically, the answer has always been no. Synagogues are for Jews. Why should we allow non-Jews to be members? They can go elsewhere...
Given rising rates of intermarriage over the last few decades, however, more and more non-Jews are coming to synagogue with their families. Some of them also attend churches or other religious venues, yet for many coming to synagogue is their only participation in religious life. Many consider synagogues to be their spiritual homes. Some spend significantly more time in synagogues than their spouses! A few will at some point choose to convert and formally become a member of the Jewish people, and some are happy to keep coming and consider themselves part of our community nevertheless.
Should we deny them membership in synagogues? Do we need to maintain the Jewish purity of the membership roster? If non-Jews can't participate in fulfilling our ritual obligations, is there any reason not to be lenient around membership? What do you think?
In case anyone is wondering, there is no movement to address this at Beth Sholom right now. I honestly wasn't aware that Conservative movement leadership was discussing this, until Geo mentioned it to me last week. Said leadership decided that each synagogue may now determine membership policies for themselves, so we could change ours if we wanted to.
I'm curious to hear what you think.
What do I think?
Knowing that this issue may bring up lots of emotion for people, and that it is a significant change to consider, my answer to Geo was that this is a wonderful issue for Rabbi Horwitz to decide! While I was joking (somewhat), I am clear that this is not a decision to be made without significant thought and congregational discussion, and it doesn't seem at all fair for me to begin that process a few months before Rabbi Horwitz is to arrive here.
That being said, personally, I am fine with non-Jews being members of synagogues, so long as they don't fulfill ritual obligations of our services. In a time when so many people are walking away from Jewish life, it seems to me that we have an obligation to be as open and welcoming to those who want to be a part. I'm not honestly sure that saying that a Jewish spouse can be a member of the synagogue while a non-Jewish spouse can't is a difference which we need to maintain. On the other hand, can a non-Jew serve in a leadership role in synagogues? Some shuls have allowed it, and some don't. That's also an interesting question.
We live in interesting times, and there are difficult decisions to be made to address the blessings and challenges of living in Jewish community. I'd love to hear your opinion on these issues, and I repeat again, that there is no movement to change things here. On the other hand, I'm sure these issues will continue coming up here, so I hope Beth Sholom begins the conversation.
Hope to see many of you tonight at our Young Families service and dinner and tomorrow morning to hear our Moot Beit Din team share reflections on their learning and journey.
Wishing us all a Shabbat of blessing, joy, love, and peace.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ilan
