RUTHFULLY YOURS

A Jew’s Guide to Synagogue Life : Werner Cohn ****

Posted By Ruth King on December 24th, 2015

http://www.wernersopinions.com/2015/12/18/a-jews-guide-to-synagogue-life/

It seems like a new development, but of course it has been under way for some time:  a wave of extreme assimilationism, much in the form of anti-Israel agitation, in non-Orthodox American synagogues.  I am writing from Brownstone Brooklyn where this neo-Hellenism seems particularly rampant.

First, there is the extreme form, (still) relatively rare:  “brit shalom.”

Here is a frequently-heard witticism at a brit (or bris), a circumcision ceremony: iz shver tsu zeyn a yid, it’s hard to be a Jew.  But now there are people who have found a way around the problem:  let’s not do it, the circumcision, let’s just say we did. This “non-cutting naming ceremony for Jewish boys”  is disingenuously called Brit Shalom, provided by  the “Jews Against Circumcision.“  We are told that there are 216 “celebrants” who will (for a fee) perform the service, among them 132 rabbis, or at least people who say they are.

As it happens, two of these “celebrants” — David Mivasair of Vancouver and Brat Rosen of Chicago —  enjoy considerable  public attention because of their leadership positions in the radical anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace.  Both men hold ordination from the  Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, home of the bulk of anti-Israel rabbis.  But despite each man’s vigorous protestation, there is doubt about the extent to which either can be called Jewish at all.  While Mivasair had his nominally Jewish congregation in Vancouver, he also, at the same time, held the title of Chaplain at the United Church of Canada.  Rosen, while Rabbi of  Tzedek Chicago,  is also, simultaneously, the Midwest Regional Director of the Quakers’ American Friends Service Committee,

An explicit embrace of non-Jewish religion, though rare among self-described Jews, is not confined to men like Mivasair and Rosen who affiliate with Christian groups.  The late Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, one of the fathers of the Jewish Renewal movement, was also a practitioner of both Buddhism and Sufism.  At the time of his death he held the (modestly named) World Wisdom Chair at the (Buddhist) Naropa Institute of Colorado, and, if that weren’t enough, he was also described as a Sufi shaikh, whatever that means.

But the gravamen of the radical new assimilationism among certain  non-Orthodox rabbis does not lie in any explicit syncretism with other religions.  It lies in the embrace of the trendy new philosophy of “human rights” — sometimes called a movement for “social justice” — which tends to override any loyalty to the Jewish people.   Its organizational exponents, to varying degrees, are the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the New York based Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), T’ruah “the rabbinic call for human rights,” and JStreet.  All these groups have substantial adherence by non-Orthodox rabbis.  All have special boards of rabbinic advisors.

No straight-forward parsing of “human rights” or “social justice” will reveal the significance of these terms for  these groups; the terms do not mean here what they seem to mean.  Broadly speaking, the victimology of the new Hellenism embraces Muslims and (sometimes) African Americans.  In the very prolific propaganda literature of these groups, Jews are (almost) never mentioned as aggressed-upon, only, generally, as aggressors.

Take the newly-found sin of “Islamophobia” which the Jewish Hellenizing groups never tire of castigating.  As I have shown for 2008 data, hate crimes against American Jews, proportionately, are four times as frequent as hate crimes against Muslims. The most recent data show the persistence of the trend:  Jews are far more often targeted than Muslims.  Yet none of our Hellenizing groups, insofar as I can see, mention anti-Semitism as an evil.

My attention to Hellenizing rabbis was recently piqued by the reaction to the current intifada by two Brooklyn Brownstone rabbis.

The first of these rabbis was Carie Carter of the Park Slope Jewish Center, a synagogue which I have attended in the past at the invitation of family members.  Someone shared with me the rabbi’s message to her congregation dated Oct. 13.  It contains a listing of violent incidents in Israel and the Palestinian territories, treating the recent knifing attacks against Jews as of the same quality as the loss of life of the Arab assailants.  Assailants and victims are treated equally.  Rabbi Carter sits on the board of JFREJ, and as part of her letter she asked her members to “join me in choosing your favorite organization that works on behalf of co-existence in Israel and Palestine.”  I wrote to the rabbi on October 14, as follows: “Dear Rabbi Carie,Your letter suggests that Jews and Arabs are equally at fault.  This leaves out the root of the problem: the ongoing incitement to violence by the political, religious, and media leadership of Palestinian Arabs.  There is nothing comparable on the Jewish side.Our fellow Jews in Israel need our support, by way of solidarity trips and other action.  They do not need advice from the self-styled “progressives” of Brooklyn “peace” groups.”  My letter has remained unanswered.

My communication with my own rabbi, Samuel L. Weintraub of the Kane Street Synagogue, was a bit longer but, essentially, as one-sided as my correspondence with Rabbi Carter.  Here are some highlights:

On October 16, shortly after news reached us about the current intifada,  I wrote to Rabbi Weintraub to suggest that KSS organize an emergency solidarity trip to Israel for Synagogue members.  I included some details on how such a trip could be organized, and I offered to contribute financially.  This letter has remained unanswered to this day.

On October 20, Rabbi Weintraub sent a message to his members in which he expressed sentiments similar to Rabbi Carter’s.  While he never expressed criticism of the Arab elites that incite violence against Jews, he was careful to find fault on the side of the Israelis:  “We are now in a time when anti-democratic and triumphalist groups are exerting great pressures on political processes in Israel. It is important to also broadcast strongly the voice of democracy, tolerance, diversity and open discourse.’ And, like Rabbi Carter, he urged his members to support leftist groups: “You can also strengthen your support for organizations and groups in Israel which reflect your deepest Jewish values.”

I wrote to the rabbi to voice my concern over his stand, resulting in a brief, inconclusive correspondence between us.

Finally, Rabbi Weintraub once more wrote to his members on December 9.

In this new missive the Rabbi attacks Donald Trump for his allegedly “vile” statements.  I am no supporter of Trump, but the rabbi’s statements here involve the synagogue in partisan political activity incompatible with its 501(c)3 tax status.  Pew has a very detailed discussion of the IRS rules; it is quite clear that KSS is in violation.

But another aspect of this letter is of even greater concern:  the rabbi calls on his members to go into the streets and demonstrate shoulder to shoulder with Congregation Kolot Chayeinu, with the Arab American Association of New York, and with T’ruah.  He could have added JFREJ, which also sponsored this event.

1)  The Arab American Association of New York.  On the surface, an anodyne grouping devoted to social services for its immigrant community.  But a bit of research with google reveals a leadership enmeshed with anti-Israel activity.  This is true of Mirna Haidar, the “Lead Organizer and Advocacy Trainer” of the group, and even more so of Linda Sarsour, its Executive Director.

2) Congregation Kolot Chayeinu of Brooklyn has been front and center of anti-Israel activity in the New York area for a number of years.  The rabbi is Ellen Lippmann, a board member of JFREJ.  The president of the synagogue is Cyndy Greenberg, a leading member of Jewish Voice for Peace. In Rabbi’s Lippmann’s public statements there is always a certain nod and a wink in her opposition to Israel;  no, she has never publicly said that Israel should be immediately destroyed.  But she has not been able to fool the folks at Mondoweiss, a radical anti-Israel site, which says that Lippmann is “highly regarded.”  There is also some doubt about whether this congregation can be called Jewish at all, at least in the strong sense of the word.  Rabbi Lippmann has a wife,  Kathryn Conroy, who is not Jewish but is nevertheless recognized as the congregation’s “rebbetzin.”  Coroy explains that she will not convert to Judaism because  “I cannot convert to anything because I am already who I am and what I am going to continue to be.”

3) Truah, “the rabbinic call for human rights,” was formerly called Rabbis for Human Rights.  Like JStreet, it is  heavily subsidized by George Soros. (Urgent suggestion:  get the free download of Alexander Joffe’s brilliant, essential monograph “Bad Investment.  George Soros and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.”) T’ruah has a very long list of rabbinic “chaverim.” Many are fully supportive of Israel, but the list also contains just about every rabbi who has declared against the Jewish state.  The “human rights” that it champions are not those of Jews.

4)  JFREJ, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.  As I have said in previous posts here and here, there is no more anti-Israel group in the United States, though, as I have also explained, it takes care to veil its character to the casual observer.  But now it has released its 25-year jubileum publication which should lift the veil a bit for anyone who cares to know the facts.  For example, we find certain names among its leadership that are also prominently associated with the Jewish Voice for Peace:  Cynthia Greenberg, Donna Nevel, Marilyn Neimark, and probably others.  Moreover, there is a place of honor for the late Henry Scharzschild, who was given an award by JFREJ some time after he announced  “I now renounce the State of Israel, disavow any political connection or emotional obligation to it, and declare myself its enemy.”

By way of summarizing my complaint about the Hellenized rabbinate of our days, I present some summary data about a number of synagogues of which I have some acquaintance.  For each, I  give the name of the senior rabbi, followed by the names of any other rabbis associated with the group.  In some cases these are assistant rabbis, in other cases they are rabbis emeriti.  For each name, I supply affiliation, or lack thereof, with five of the groups I have discussed:  Brit Shalom, JVP, JFREJ, T’ruah, and JStreet (which I have not discussed because its chracteristics will be familiar to the reader.  My own previous discussion can be found here and here.) Most of the synagogues are in Brooklyn, but, for reasons of comparison, I also list some that are in Manhattan and elsewhere..

I have placed the synagogues into three groups:  anti-Israel, pro-Israel, and gray area.  I have made these placements on the basis of my own experience with these groups, so to some extent there is an element of subjectivity.  I have been most heavily influenced, on the one hand,  by whether or not I have seen a rabbi at an AIPAC meeting and/or the annual Salute to Israel parade, which would place him in the pro-Israel group. On the other hand, a rabbi’s hostile or questionable affiliations and statements would place him in one of the other groups.

I might summarize the results as follows:  while not absolutely foolproof, a synagogue’s relationship to the Hellenizing organizations is a good guideline for a Jew in search of authentically Jewish community.

The Anti-Israel Synagogues

Gray Area Synagogues

Some Pro-Israel Synagogues

Rabbi Weintraub has not responded to my request for comments on a pre-publication version of this posting.

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