Twenty-eight Rabbis Together in Jerusalem

What do you get when you engage 28 rabbis in creative Jewish learning and programming in the heart of Jerusalem?  For nearly four weeks, I participated in the first stint of the fifth cohort of the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative (RLI), sponsored by the Shalom Hartman Institute.  Our cohort consists of rabbis spanning at least 25 years in age and representing a broad ideological spectrum.  

Among the group are several Renewal rabbis as well as members of the faculty of Yeshivat Maharat, which describes itself as “the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as spiritual leaders and halakhic authorities."

 

In the coming months, I will be writing and speaking further about what I’ve learned so far through RLI.  At this point, I want to give some impressions and a few anecdotes as an introduction to the scope and depth of the program.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning in Havruta, study pairs, with my rabbinic colleagues.  This summer, we examined classical and modern texts in order to illuminate the relationship between Judaism and ethics.  We wrestled with Talmudic passages about the impact of ethics on communal policy and considered Maimonides’ take on the relationship between belief in God and interpersonal behavior.

A highlight for me was an exploration of passages from Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, that suggest what ethical criteria qualify a person to join a mystical cohort.  Two outstanding instructors exposed us to some fascinating passages in the Zohar that most of us had not seen before.

All of this learning, in pairs and in larger groups, took place during the day.  In the evenings, we were treated to discussions on contemporary issues facing the Jewish communities in Israel and North America.  We heard Anat Hoffman and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin give their opinions about the treatment of Women of the Wall and their prescriptions for how the religious leadership of the Kotel ought to define the parameters of worship there.  Surprisingly, there was very little difference between their suggestions.

MK Tzipi Livni spoke eloquently one evening about how Jewish values motivate her in her negotiations with Palestinians leadership.    At the graduation ceremony for the previous RLI cohort, MK Dov Lipman captivated the audience with a description of his involvement with Yesh Atid, an Israeli political party that includes religious and secular Jews.  Another evening, Professor Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian pollster, analyzed recent research that he has done among Palestinian residents of the West Bank.  He concluded, based on discussions with Israeli pollsters, that Palestinians and Israelis are more willing to make concessions toward an agreement than either side imagines regarding the other.

Some of the most enjoyable moments of the program were informal, like when we imposed ourselves en masse on unsuspecting restaurants downtown or when we shared poignant or humorous experiences about our rabbinic work.  One Shabbat afternoon, a group of us sat together in an apartment garden schmoozing and singing as the sun set and concluding with Havdalah.

When I was in Rabbinical School, Rabbi Gil Rosenthal offered the graduating class a profound insight based on a well-known verse in Deuteronomy.  He chose to read a statement about the Jewish future as a question and answer.  When will redemption come?  When the leaders of the people gather themselves together.

I have no inside track when it comes to redemption, nor am I convinced that it will come at a single point in time.  But the immediate and subsequent impact of Jewish leaders crossing boundaries to learn, debate, sing and joke together is undeniable.  It’s what you get when you bring 28 rabbis together.  I look forward to the next chapter of the program and to sharing more reflections about this unique opportunity;