Last post for a little while

Hey Guys so this is going to be my last post for a little while. Nothing bad is happening its just that I am very very busy. First off there're class nothing to awful but enough to keep me busy on top of that Emily and I have our duties as co-chairs of the student society, and of Rabbinic students for Pro-Zion.

Then there is limmud, for which I have taken on rather a lot. But I am excited about it nevertheless, then there is my placement. So end result is I am very very busy and want have much time for blogger. I will try not to fall off the end of world completely though.

At school my class are still interesting although challenging emotionally but I think my internship is going to be great I am learning a lot and its fun and really and truly why I got into this whole business in the first place.

Today I went down to Kingston and taught/interacted with the Kabbalat Torah Class. Who are great and it was defiantly a fun activity. On Thursday I celebrated my birthday it was quite low key I went to the Dignity with Emily, Haim, Sam, and Hannah I didn't drink because I was going to meet with my personal trainer.

It was a really nice night great conversations, tasty food, and lovely friends.  The next day I meet up with Danielle and the training was easier than last time but still it made me very tired so I cam home for a rest.  In the evening I went off with Emily to Southgate Progressive Synagogue. And then today it was off to KLS.

I still have a bunch of reading to do for next week and I need to work on a few details for upcoming events.

General stuff of life

The General stuff of life seems to have been taking up a lot of time lately.  The boiler in our flat broke, so no hot water and no heating.  It then of course decided to get really cold so that was fun.  Then part of our fence fell down. And finally the washing machine broke.
Washing machine man came and mended it, and then boiler man came.  The person who is going to mend the fence is going to come on Wednesday...but then boiler was working on overdrive, so had to be toned down a little and washing machine broke again!!!
But I now know how to get it restarted so thats okay.
It snowed yesterday so the walk to school was slippy it also meant that there were less people there than normal. I am busy and a little stressed, well thats normally really and I am already looking forward to gaps in the schedule when things will be a little easier.
However, academically things are still going smoothly so all in all things are okay.

Essays

I am busy working on essays at the moment, I have three which need to be completed in relatively short order (although I am nowhere near the dead line as of yet). My psalms easy is very nearly finished. All that remains is to translate some Rashi for one of my appendices and too add a couple of lines about Ibn Ezra's comments, apart from that its done. (It will of course need to be corrected) I am actually really happy with it, its a good essay.
I am also working on an essay on the Aleinu (for liturgy of course), this is coming together nicely although its a more demanding topic and naturally I am not making life easy for myself. But nevertheless it is coming together well.
I am really only at the note taking and reading stage for my history essay. But even so I am happy with how the whole is forming in my mind.
But as always I am struck by how diverse essay topics (and for that matter presentations) like together and one part of one essay triggers something in another.
It is one of those things that makes being a student and studying worthwhile.

On a different note I am enjoying the rest of being back home.  Recovering from the year so far at LBC and of course from Limmud.

limmud update

As I type I am still at Limmud and am having a truly amazing time. Attending sessions, many of which have been expectional. But I have also been meeting up with people, old and new, as well as networking.
I have enjoyed being part of the Limmud chevrota project, and I think that the first of my two sessions went well. My second session (which is on Tamar and Judah) is later on today. A couple of the sessions will really stay with me, I think that some of the materials I learnt in Yehoshua Engelman, will give me food for thought in the coming weeks and months.  I am certain that the session I attended on Tuesday by Levi Lauer will not only give me intellectual stimulus but will also provid me with the impetus to attactually get up and do stuff.
I am only sad that it is drawing to a close as I feel that I could do with a lot more limmud, but I still have the remainder of today and at least a part of tomorrow to look forward to. I am currently looking after the LBC stand in the 'market place'. And will go to a session by Naamah Kalman, shortly.
I hope that everyone to whom it is applicable had an amazing Christmass.

The end of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is over (well very very nearly) and so is the semester.  Emily and I have done our presentation for Psalms (I was actually really pleased with how it went).  We have also had our last class on reflecting on our experiences with/at Jewish care. So the rest of the semester one week is really a bit of a drawing in especially as we have some cancelled classes next week.
There is of course the assessments for the first semester which remain: Three essays (One for liturgy, one for History and one for psalms [based off our presentations] and one of the mini-essays for Rabbinic literature.  I do of course have to prepare my limmud sessions, which start in a week. And there is one last visit with Jewish care to do but apart from that we're done.

I enjoyed Hanukhah although I only got to send one day of it back home.  Friday I went to FPS and their celebrations were really nice and on Saturday I went over to WCS I always enjoy the service there and the community is lovely and welcoming.

I did have a moment of intense nostalgia when in a newsagents I saw Snapple ice tea and more magazine about swimming than I thought there could possibly be these made me think of Tina and Laura and of course HUC and Jlem.

The trip over to WCS was interesting among other unusual things that happen was there there were parrots in the park (the local park to Emily and I).  Shortly I am off we some of my fellow LBC students to see the Hobbit which should be great fun.

Towards the end of the semester

The title of the post maybe a little premature, there is after all almost a whole month before the semester is actually over, but it feels like the end is coming. I find hard to believe that in a day and four weeks my fifth semester at rabbinical school will be over with.
Not all that much has happened since my last post, I have had lots of class of course, and have continued to work both in the academic and in the non-academic settings in which I find myself.
The classes are still going okay. No problems to report. And I am still enjoying/am finding what I am doing as part of my pastoral program.

I had my meeting with my rabbinic tutor yesterday which was probably the most positive of those that I have had. So all that is good.  The only downside is that we have reached that part of the year when I am tired nearly all the time from when I wake up until the point when I can go back to sleep again, and there is always so much that needs doing. Its stressful and tiring. The are few other things going on in the world/my life which are only adding to the stress levels-but I guess that this is the same for almost everyone at LBC and in all probability for my friends at other rabbinical institutions.

Then of course there has been the whole situation in Israel, which I have of course been following and worrying about, and thinking about all my friends out there. All taken together has made for a difficult few days, but ones if I reflect upon them calmly and rationally it becomes clear that not only are things okay but that everything is going well and all thing is kol b'sader.

-Today in comparative religions class we went to a Hindu temple, which was an interesting trip and the building itself is very beautiful every inch of it is carved, and as someone who used to do cravings I was very very impressed.

Well I had better get on with work

Shabbat Lech Lecha

I have just returned from my first Shabbat Lech Lecha, this was my visit to the Community in Blackpool. They were very friendly and the community, although small is very active and welcoming.  I got to the station mid-afternoon on Friday and was met there by the couple who were going to be putting me up.
We had a chance to have a proper chat though the service. And I had rest then it was time to go to the synagogue.  I think the Friday night service when well.  I even did more singing than I would normally do.  I had been asked to speak a little about myself instead of a D'var Torah.
The service was followed by a chavua supper, the food was excellent and I spent my time going around from group to group introducing my self and saying hello.
After that there was a celebration of the sixth birthday of one of the friends of the community.

The next morning I led the shabbat service, read the Torah and gave a more formal sermon/D'var Torah.  I think that everything went well and I felt that I had been made welcome and carried a good impression of the college.

Before I headed home the community took me out for some fish and chips.  And then it was a long train journey home.  I was shattered when I got home and went to bed almost straight away and slept for about twelve hours.  I must have really need it.

I have quite a few things to do today, before the school week starts again. And I have my second Lech lecha visit to look forward to.

One long day

Today was very long.  It started with my studying Talmud Daf Yomi with my chevaruta partner.  Leah we got though a lot today a whole ammud.  Then there was the morning service and then my class on the Prophets with Charles. This was really interesting today a good article which both Emily and I had enjoyed.
After that came Rabbinic Literature intensive we are still working on the opening sections of Kiddushin but today we had LC teaching us so that was both good and challenging.  Then I had a brief informal meeting with Leah and Haim about the organisation of services followed by a more formal meeting about Shabbat Lech Lacha.
After that I had my class on Medieval Jewish History which interesting although we kind of got of topic.
Latter in the day I had one of my extra-homiltecis class.  But when I got home I was very tired.

Wait!, when did that happen.

I am home again on a flying visit, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and thought it was time again to make a posting here in this blog. So Hi people over here.  I am a third year now. Which is scary, I mean very scary.  Looking back over year two it does feel as if I learnt a lot. Although at times during the year itself it didn't really feel as though I was leaning all that much. But somehow in the end I did.  For example as I was writing my essay for parshanut (classical commentaries on the Biblical text). I found that yes I could read Rashi, and Rashbam, and Radak, Ibn Ezra was a little tougher but even so it was doable.
Also looking forward to the High Holy Days although its still a massive amount of work but it feels so much more realistic than it did last year. Also in myself I feel more assertive and confident. However, I still don't feel as fully formed (rabbinically speaking) as feel I should be/hoped to be by this point. But its probably a exponential process.
I have also been to NewPort and had my assessment, the lady doing it said she had never quite seen a profile like mine (which is at least in part unsurprising but a bit wired nevertheless).  So this is the still before the storm (Yomim norm) and then the 3rd year. The new AGrad.dip and working more in the community.
I have had a chance to catch up with friends. Went out with Matthew and Mandy. We ended up at the same pub where Emily and I ended up at during our not all that successful trip to IKIA.

End of second

The Second year has ended. The last week was our summer programming (Kol Bo) which this year was about Israel. Interesting but very intense especially after such a long year. I would get home after each day and just collapse.
Yesterday there was a really nice service at college. The three five-years (who will be ordained on Sunday) led it and were presented with tallitot by Charles and Deborah. So now all I have to do are two things related to my practical rabbinics course. (very little indeed really). And then its just a question of waiting on results. Not that I am all that concerned all I want is pass, which is an unusual thing for me to say but a pass is a pass is a pass. And as our teacher Laura keeps telling us thats all that really matters none will care what we got in our second year midrash class for example. Tomorrow I am reading Torah and preaching at WCS and then that really is it for the second year.
I am trying not to think about the 3rd year to much, i have to pass the second year for one thing and secondly its really just to far away to be concerned with.
last Weekend I went to Chaggigah the British Reform Biennial which was great. Really enjoyable but so tiring and when added to exams and assessments which came before and Kol Bo that came after I'm shattered and am not feeling well. Although I am pretty sure that its nothing more than being overly tired and warn out.
Apart from that I am feeling okay, upbeat even. Time, shortly to take a few deep breaths and relax.

D'var Torah

So here is the D'var Torah that I gave at LBC today. I think its pretty good and I was happy with my delivery. As an aside there are a number of things that I have learnt about giving sermons. 1) Make sure that your kipper/tallit and tefillin are in go order and aren't going to fall done during the sermon. 2) Don't staple your sheets together 3)Use a clear font and large letters and DOUBLE SPACEing. 4) As I learnt today pause before starting. Bechukkotai The Bible is sometimes known in popular parlance as the ‘Good Book’ in a sense that I think is meant to imply wholesomeness. I must say I have never been comfortable with this name. The Bible and its stories are many things but wholesome is not the first word that springs to mind! They are challenging, life-changing, and fascinating to be sure but good? Sometimes, however, the challenging nature of the Bible is obscured to us or we simply fail to or do not want to see it. In order to understand this it may, sometimes, be necessary to try and hear the stories as if for the first time. When I first decided that I was going to apply to the Leo Baeck College to train to be a rabbi I threw myself into the life of my synagogue in order to learn as much about the day-to-day life of a busy community rabbi as possible. One day I was given the task of entertaining a young girl while her parents and older sister discussed Bat-mitzvah plans. We went to the synagogue's library and selected a suitable book and I started reading Bible stories (as adapted for children) needless to say this week's Sidra Bechukkotai was not included. All went well, we read story after story and enjoyed looking at the pictures until we reached the story of the Judgment of Solomon. When she suddenly burst into tears, I was somewhat taken aback, it was after all a children’s book and the story had a happy ending. But on reflection I feel prompted to ask why do we tend to think that such stories as the Judgment of Solomon are suitable for children? Why have they lost their power to shock? One answer is that we know them too well, we have read or have heard them so many times, that we know before they even start that, in the end, the baby won't be cut in half or when reading about the Akedah, we know that Isaac will not, in the end, be sacrificed. But when they are new to us, or when we let them, the stories in the Tanakh have a real and deep ability to shock. One thing that can safely be said of this week's Sidra Bechukkotai is that it is profoundly disturbing. It is not a part of Torah that we are likely to allow to flow over us without really taking on its message. I first encountered it fully last year while studying in Israel when I experienced something of the same shock as that young girl when she first heard the story of the Judgment of Solomon. We were studying a midrash when a few words I could read jumped out of the Hebrew at me, as it turned out they from Bechukotai: 'You shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. (Leviticus 26:27)' At first I hoped I had misread or misunderstood it. When that proved not to be the case I went to read the verse in its original context. Sadly, this did little to help. Bechukkotai starts with a short section of all the good things that will happen if the Israelites follow God's commandments. This is followed by a much longer list of curses which will befall them if they fail to follow them. Putting the quotation, that so shocked me, in its Biblical context did little to help. It was still awful and overall Bechukkotai was very theologically troubling. But this raises a larger, practical question. What can be done with sections of the Torah, and for that matter liturgy, that we find theologically disturbing and even shocking as well? One approach might be simply to ignore it. To pretend that it isn't there. In this case it would mean not reading this section of the Torah. Indeed both the Liberal and Reform lectionaries give options for Torah-readings that do not cover the more shocking and difficult verses. In fact in the past, in some Progressive congregations, whole sections of the Book of Leviticus were simply not read. Alternative readings were substituted in their place. In a similar way in some Progressive Siddurim to this day the Second Paragraph of the Shema is omitted because of theological objections. The early Reformers objected to the ideas of reward and punishment expressed in the Shema's second paragraph but even though both Bechukkotai and the Second Paragraph of the Shema deal with reward and punishment, the Shema does not have the shocking quality of the curses in Bechukkotai. Even in Traditional circles a similar technique is, sometimes, used to effectively pass over the more difficult parts in this week’s Sidra. All the curses are read within one aliyah and verses which are not curses are read before and after them, which not only means that reading them is completed as quickly as possible but also that the curses themselves are not blessed. This is a similar strategy that is used when reading of the execution of the Ten sons of Haman (their names are read in a single breath), or at the end of Grace after meals when the lines 'I have been young and have grown old but I have never seen a righteous man go hungry or his children begging for food', which if they are said at all are recited very quickly. In these cases it is almost as if the person speaking does not want to hear what they are saying. Although I cannot offer a strategy which would make the more difficult parts of the Torah easier to cope with, I do not think that trying to pretend that hard parts aren't there is the way to go. In fact I think that we should be pleased that even in the Book of Leviticus there are passages that not only grab our attention but are so shocking that they demand it. In other news I passed PCCS with flying colours even if I do say so myself. Today was the last official day of s although we do have a few catch up classes next week

Admission week

Last week was admissions week. We had five candidates in the college all of whom seem nice and quick just the kind of people one would like to study with. I remember from my time being interviewed at the college how tough and how exhausting it can be so i tried my hardest to be friendly and welcoming.
The boring services were really good a good turn out from the students and because we had extra-canidates in college it felt fully and lively which is really nice. Most of my classes were interesting. I especially enjoyed Talmud class we are tattling some hardish texts now. I am also looking into getting some extra-Talmud classes which should be interesting.
On Thursday Rabbi Fuchus from the world Union came to speak with the student society which was most enlightening. All in all a good week.

Sermon at Leo Baeck college

This is the text of the sermon I gave at LBC a couple of weeks back. Hope you all like it. I am leading services next week so am busy planning/working on that but now its time to go think about getting ready for shabbat and being peaceful for a little while. Shabbat Shalom.

And when Israel saw the mighty power which the Eternal had wielded in Egypt, the people feared the Eternal and they had faith in the Eternal and in His servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31)

The Children of Israel are no longer slaves in Egypt. They have just crossed the Reed Sea, which had miraculously parted for them. They have seen Pharaoh and his armies drowned in it. Now they believe in God and in Moses. In fact they are about to overtaken by prophetic ecstasy and will burst into song; known to us as the Song of Sea.

But how quickly things can change. In the very next chapter the Israelites will complain about Moses. And even before the giving of the Torah has been completed, while Moses is still on Mt. Sinai, they will build and worship the golden calf. The same people who had been saved from slavery and had seen all the miracles, which went along with the redemption, will commit idolatry.

Idolatry and its consequences became a theme of Israelite history. Over and over again the Israelites rebelled against God and worshiped idols: both during the forty years that they spent in the wilderness and when they settled in the Land of Israel, in the period of the Judges and then the Monarchy.

In the Book of Judges every time the Israelites turned away from the Eternal and worshiped idols they would be attacked by the neighbouring nations and according to the Babylonian Talmud one of the main reasons for the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile that followed it was idolatry.

This phenomenon continued and presented the Sages with a difficult question. How could people who had witnessed the presence of God or had heard the words of the prophets or were very wise possibly have committed idolatry?

The not especially earth-shattering answer they reached was that past generations had an inclination to worship idols.

The power of this desire, to worship idols, is related in a story in Tractate Sanhedrin. A Rabbi was lecturing about King Manasseh, a King of Judah famous for his wisdom and infamous for his idol-worship; during the lecture the rabbi referred to Manasseh in a disparaging way. That night the king appeared to the rabbi in a dream and asked him a difficult halakhic question.

The rabbi was unable to answer and after Manasseh had answered his own question the rabbi asked. 'If you were so wise how did you come to worship idols?' To which Manasseh retorted, 'Had you been there you would have rushed to serve them!'

How could this have happened? The answer is given in one of my favourite talmudic narratives, which can be found in Tractate Sanhedrin.

When the Men of the Great Assembly were building Judaism after the return from exile they were concerned that further idolatry might result in more hardship. So they prayed for their people to be relieved from the inclination to idolatry. Their prayers were successful and they were able to capture and subdue the inclination to idolatry.

Although the inclination to idolatry may no longer be with us, the Yetzer Hara, the inclination to evil very much is. But this might not be such a bad thing, for unlike the doctrine of original sin the Yetzer Hara is not an inherently bad thing.

This idea is powerfully expressed in the continuation of the Talmudic story about the Men of Great of the Assembly and the inclination to idolatry. When they had succeeded in subduing this inclination they prayed to be able to do the same to the Yetzer Hara: at which point the Yetzer Hara appeared in the form of a cat. While attempting to capture it a single hair was pulled from its coat, at which it let out a roar so loud that it shook the building. The Men of the Great Assembly decided that it would be wiser not to try and slay the Yetzer Hara so they sealed it up in a box instead.

And what was the result of a world without the Yetzer Hara?

Basically everything stopped.

The Sages concluded that without the Yetzer Hara people would not learn a trade, study, build a house, or raise a family. According to the story when the Yetzer Hara was imprisoned even chickens stopped laying eggs. Faced with the realisation that the Yetzer Hara was necessary the Men of the Great Assembly released it.

Although the Yetzer Hara is not entirely evil it is essential to balance it with the Yetzer Hatov, the good inclination. Because of the prompting of the Yetzer Hara we work and study hard and go about the business of life. And through the struggle required in balancing the Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Hatov, personal growth becomes a real possibility.

Adam Frankenberg
February 2012

End of the semester

The semester is almost over I'm first here in London and the third at rabbinical school. So what's changed; I think I know a lot more than when I started which is a good thing given the amount of time, effort and money invested even at this early stage. I am more open to new things both within and external to the Jewish world. And thanks to my time at HUC I have picked up some Americanism. Hence school, which courses so much confusion with my family and UK friends. I also now talk about stores rather than shops and the edge has come off my (rather posh) English ascent. We only have one more day of school left a catch up class for all the sessions we missed because of the haggim (So Monday is Wednesday) and then I'm off on brake. I have a few assessments to do (get ready for) but there is plenty of time and its nothing to onerous so that's okay. This semester has been a lot harder than last (although academically speaking its still far from difficult). I miss Jerusalem, a lot, and my HUC friends. Thank God for Facebook and Skype.
I have been having extra-reading classes because of my dyslexia...and I am enjoying the Bar-Mitzvah tutoring that I am doing. Really its working in the communities that I am enjoying most. It reminds me of why I am doing this. I am looking forward to Hunnakah and then off to spend some time with my family.

Better late than never

So I thought it was about time for a post in my much negated blog; so here goes. As my last post was on the second of October a lot has happened in the meantime. Firstly I had an amazing birthday, many thanks to Emily who is great at getting me to leave the flat and go do something fun rather than just work work work. Then it has almost all been about work but in various forms so I guess thats okay as a change is as good as a rest. Aside from class: Aramaic (very hard and lots to do), Meggilot (Whats to say), Chumash, Modern Hebrew (this is more having a chat than anything), Early commentators,(Hebrew Grammar, education Seminar, Rabbinic Theology (this is more philosophy than it is theology), Modern Jewish History and Talmud. Then we have classes on Practical Rabbinics and something called community and councling skills. So that makes for a very busy Adam.
I am also Bar-Mitzvah Tutoring I have started working in a Cheder (possibly two we shall have to see if that works out) and more often than not I am involved with the Friday night or Saturday morning Services somewhere.

This means that all in all i hardly get to enjoy being in London. Although I have had a chance to see a few movies and i already have my coffee shop great cakes. At the moment I am a little under the weather so I took a day off school (well a day and a half actually) those of you who know me will know that this almost never happens. I am feeling much better after a nice rest but have no voice at all. This happened last year and i have learnt from that experience and so am keeping silent i really want it to come back faster than it did that time. Anyhow that about fills everything in, I'm busy but am having some fun.

New school and Rosh Hashanah

I am now more or less settled into life at LBC although academically speaking this year is much tougher than year one. I am learning Aramaic which is proving really very hard and we have lots of other classes as well because things are much smaller here there is really no where to hide which adds to the stress and strains.

The flat is great I really like it. Although not as much as I liked the one in Jerusalem. I have a placement for the High Holy Days Coventry its really small but a really friendly congregation. So far I have been up there for a Friday night and then for first day RH. I am currently busy working away on Yom kippur: Sermons, service, and Torah readings while trying at the same time to thing about the rest of my school work. Ah well had better go.

Moving forward

Things have been moving along nicely, I guess. I am well towards sorting out a flat to live in in London. My thesis is moving along albeit very slowly. And I am getting sorted out for next year at LBC. I only have last years hand books to go by. So I am not 100% sure that it will be the same this year as last but the courses themselves look okay.
I am also starting to work on High Holy Day stuff. As I now know where my placement is and a basic idea of what will be involved. So am very busy but things are settling into place. Am still missing HUC and Israel like mad.

A short brake

At the end of the Ulpan and before we start our Fall Semester (which looks like it is going to be both interesting and very hard work) we have a short, and I mean very short brake. Friday is Friday here, although it is filled with the stuff of life: Cleaning and wahing and generally getting ready for shobbos, this Friday was quite stressful because we had to going down town to try and sort something out, which cut into what little time we actually had. The Vice Prinicle of our College was in Israel so he came to Friday Night dinner to see how we (all the LBC Students were doing and to general say hi and make sure that we are getting everything we need.), that was really nice and we had a plesant meal together earlier we went to Kol HaNeshamah, and I went there the next day also for Shabbat Mornng. In the evening Laura came over and we had the traditional Saturday night meal (leftovers) and we had a fun evening I have persuaded Laura to learn chess. (I love chess) and we had our first game. We also went for an evening walk, not far but we got some beautiful views of the oldcity, from two directions. And then today some more cleaning of the apartment (Which is looking really raher nice at the moment.) And later I will do some work before heading out to meet up with Laura again.
I am starting to really really love it here and to appericate quite how lucky I am to be here. Although I will almost certainly need reminding of that at a later date when I am struggling to keep my head above water workwise. But at the moment all is good and things are going well. :)

Into the present

One thing that I find odd is how peoples’ attitude towards me changed as soon as I had been accepted on the rabbinic course at LBC. Not only do I find it strange that some people started asking me for relationship advice; bearing in mind that I am a single grad-student who isn't going to start on the program in 2010, and they wouldn’t have asked beforehand. I sort of expected this from members of Movement but not really from people at synagogue, as I thought it would be hard for people who remember me as a naughty little boy to think of me as a potential rabbi.

But what I really did not expect was that this would apply to Orthodox friends as well because at least in theory don’t think of Reform Rabbis as rabbis at all.

I have also noticed that some people have started to defer to my opinions because ‘you’re going to be a rabbi’.

This speaks to a view of the rabbinate that I do not like. (While it is true that this is a near universal problem within Judaism) I think that it is especially true of progressive-Judaism and it is something that I think that we have to work against, as it is invidious to the health of our movement.

Also I don’t think that when I am a rabbi it will be my job to do peoples’ Judaism for them, the term I have been using and I know it has unpleasant connotations, is I want to ‘infect’ people with Judaism (well Jews really, I want to infect Jews with Judaism).

I am glad that I have this pause before going to LBC so I can think deeply about what I what the nature of what I want my Jewish leadership to be. I know that I could do that while actually on the course but this way when I start I can focus in on it and I can be, at least to some extent, rooted in my particular approach.

I think that I will just need to make two or three more post and then I will be up to date and then my postings will become less, I was going to say frequent, but I think that manic would be a better adjective. That is until I move to Israel for the start of my course then I will actually have something to write about.

What I said

This is more or less what I said as my presentation in the interview process for admission to the college. I say more or less because my pedagogic style is whenever it is possible to have a transcript of what I will say if I suffer an attack of nerves, but then I ad-lib. So I cannot swear that this is exactly what I said:

The Role of the Rabbi

I have chosen to speak about the first of the suggested options, ‘the role of the rabbi’. But I also want to extent the topic to include the role of the leader in Judaism because whatever else a rabbi might be, she or he is a leader.

In our tradition, both in the Biblical and in Classical Rabbinic texts we have lots of models for leadership the example I want to use as my jumping off point is a somewhat surprising one the dispute between Moses and Korach (Numbers 16):

‘And Korach took…’ The Biblical text fails to mention what Korach took, however the Midrash (Barmidbar Rabbah 18:1) explains that Korach and his group brought an entirely blue tallit before Moses and asked him if it still required an additional blue tassel to be attached to it.

In effect Korach and his company were asking why do the people of Israel need leaders anyway? And despite God’s reaction to their actions it remains a good question. And one I will return to.

We in this room face an additional problem, we are not just interested in the role of the rabbi in general but we are, or at least we should be interested in ‘the role of rabbi in Non-Orthodox Judaism’ in particular.

Whereas the role of the orthodox rabbi is clear, at least when viewed from the outside. The situation for Reform and Liberal Rabbis is more opaque. But I believe that the rabbi has three main roles. He or she should be an educator, a facilitator, and spiritual role model.

The role of educator is relatively straight forward our rabbis (we) need to present as wide range of subjects (although within Jewish studies) to as many different types of people as possible utilising as many methodologies as he or she can muster.

As a facilitator a rabbi must help people to want to, and to be able to do their own Judaism. I cannot get someone to do my Judaism for me and nor can anyone else.
I feel that there is a real danger in progressive Judaism of regarding Jewish life and especially synagogue as some kind of advent-grade theatre.

As spiritual role model (or if you prefer as a moral role model) the rabbi should strive to live a life as full of Judaism (guided by insights form our own Reform traditions) as possible and to increase the seriousness with which Judaism is taken by everyone and to do so by example.

He or she should also foster an environment where people’s relationship with God can develop.

There is also the pastoral role of the rabbinate, which although more often than not is conducted out of sight is nevertheless of mayor importance for members of the community.

At the risk of upsetting people even more than I have already. I think that what we really need is little short of rebbes but a new bread of Progressive Rebbes for the twenty first century.

Returning to the Story of Korach and his claim that the People of Israel did not need leaders. In an ideal world I think this would be true and that the role of the rabbi as I have outlined above is to work towards the time and place when they would not be needed. But to do so in the recognition that such a situation is never going to occur.

What is the role of the rabbi?

It is to increase people’s commitment to and connection with their Judaism, G-D, and Beni-Yisrael.