OBSERVATIONS/55
ill realize how mistaken you are." Left despite the fact that there was amnesty and of participation in At that point, the meeting final an amazingly high turnout at the elections by the FDRJFMLN. But broke up. I was not going to polls. The killings continued in El the high hopes engendered by this ep asking my idiotic questions Salvador. The guerrillas were not first meeting were dashed at a sec >rever, and my interlocutors were defeated, the government was not ond meeting held at the end of No any case invulnerable in their toppled. vember in Ayagualo in which the nvictions and certitudes. I never On Monday, October 8, 1984, at FDRJFMLN reverted to their op w them again. the United Nations, the elected position to elections and demanded President of EI Salvador, Jose Na that the Duarte government give ,VHAT followed is well known. The poleon Duarte, proposed a meeting them a share of power without "final offensive" failed. President with the guerrilla leaders. The elections. Evidently for the sake of .eagan was not confronted with a death squads threatened to kill power they were now willing to lait accompli and the United States him if he kept to this proposal. work with these "agents of Ameri 'increased military and economic (According to the theory of the can imperialism" and even to for id to the Salvadoran government. death squads, the only way to solve get about the "farce and the fraud" he Socialist International stated the Communist problem is to kill by which Duarte himself had come at the FDRJFMLN were "the the Communists, one by one, and to power. After all the killing, the Itrue representatives of the Salva also everybody who looks like a chaos, and the desolation, the guer 'oran people," but elections were Communist, a broad definition by rillas still refuse to understand that ,eld for a Constituent Assembly, Latin American standards which only elections-boring bourgeois d the Salvadoran people did not has encompassed, in different elections-can legitimate the polit :onfirm the Socialist Internation places, democrats, social demo ical power they seek. And so, thanks 's judgment of their political crats, Jews, and even old-fashioned to this refusal, the killing, the references. Still less did they do so liberals.) chaos, and the desolation go on 'n the subsequent presidential elec Nevertheless, one week later, on and will continue for who knows 'Ions, which were boycotted by the October 15, 1984, President Duarte how long, and at the cost of who DRJFMLN and declared "a farce met with the guerrilla leaders in knows how many more thousands d a fraud" by the international La Palma. There was talk of an of corpses.
m with yet~ on. "WhyJ' a serious! )riate guaN democratic to find a' lour prob- ,1 .s the onlY"i Rabbis & Their Discontents try and t~ the deathtl is provide; ley need to, Howard Singer :tions? Old.q . due guar.rabbi. He is now in the general population). What was membership list of the Rabbinical public relations and communications still more, Dr. Freedman revealed Assembly, almost 500 do not offer in New York. in a minor but significant finding, synagogue addresses. To be sure, 56jCOMMENTARY MAY 1985 many in that group are retired, but ness in the "ambivalent" and "dis deserving of respect, as the repOS , n-flavored, their numbers may be balanced by respectful" feelings toward rabbis tory of a precious even if no Ion ystical ferv those who do list synagogue ad on the part of their own communi fully relevant tradition. w young J dresses where they are serving not ties, feelings which have been in By the late 1970's, this gen ceptive as as rabbis but as religious-school of ternalized to a dangerous degree by tion was already getting on, s ppeal of Je ficials. Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, execu the rabbis themselves: "The prob feited with membership driv ·ons. But it tive director of the Rabbinical As lem is that [rabbis] have gone too worn out by fund-raising appe acity to re sembly, puts the proportion of Con damn often to their baaley batim ready to sell the house and rna ewish way. servative rabbis now engaged in [congregants] ... asking for favors to Florida. It was now the turn ong the E non-pulpit work at 20 percent; instead of pounding on the table their children, who had attend ho would others put it as high as 40 percent, and saying: 'This is our right. We Hebrew and Sunday schools' Ives as re or higher. The comparable figure are to be respected... .''' those synagogues, and had had the' Idiers of fe for the 1,200 members of the Re Bar Mitzvah parties there, to ta aditional form movement's Central Confer WHATEVER one may make of Dr. over. But the younger peopl "ke consum: ence of American Rabbis is, again, Klagsbrun's prescription for win proved unwilling. Most had less . 'nd choosil about 40 percent in non-pulpit po ning respect, his diagnosis seems an emotional stake in the ]ewi udaism not sitions. Orthodox rabbis present a accurate. What he and others per community than did the paren theyappr special case, because in Orthodoxy ceive as a loss of respect coincides, generation. During their coll anting to ,. the tradition of religious learning moreover, with a sociological fact: years they had acquired the fa Thus, if c for its own sake is strong, and serv the coming to power and influence miliar obligatory contempt for th daughter, ing as a rabbi is only one of several of a generation affected by the anti institutions in which they had be at the an possible means to that end. In any intellectual and anti-authority nurtured. Above all, they had a edemption event, the overwhelming majority mood of the late 60's. One way to sorbed many of the attitudes popu nly to ma of Orthodox rabbis ordained in any convey what has happened is to lar at the time, attitudes that st ecide to w: year go into secular pursuits; an contrast the older generation of in diametric opposition to the tra' or little gir other 20 percent take positions in synagogue "builders" with the ditional, duty-oriented Jewish ou come and Jewish education, and only 15 or younger generation of synagogue look with its insistence that life rvative an 16 percent seek pulpits. "inheritors." lived with reverence-for God, £ any Ortho It is true that while many leave The 1970's marked the end of one's parents and elders, for teach een chanr the pulpit, comparatively few move two decades of widespread syna ers. et soon enc out of the Jewish orbit entirely. An gogue construction in the United rds were be MOST young Jews emerged as sec ex-rabbi teaching biblical literature States. Most of the "builders," the gogue as Hanukkah candles in neighbor required some of the things reli orary life, in law, real estate, insurance, Wall hood windows-a reassuring sign of gious institutions could provide: edicine, " Street, psychology, marital counsel the success of the builders' inten They may have resented being told trate the v ing, advertising, even medicine. tions. that they actually had to join the ·vely. Whl Many smaller pulpits are simply For their new synagogues these synagogue before their child coul .eligion, tr not covered at all. And among suburban Jewish pioneers of the be admitted to the nursery schoo . ecomes he: those who remain, there seems to 40's and 50's wanted youngish rab but once having joined, they foun e notion be far more querulousness and dis bis who would fit into the local themselves gently pulled into lly privat content than ever before. scene, get along with local minis synagogue's orbit. The you ne has the One possible reason for rabbinic ters-the interfaith movement was lawyer, accountant, radiologis idual belil stress and flight has been put for just getting under way-and en corporate manager, even if he sf ow to pJ ward by Samuel Klagsbrun, who dear themselves to parents by "re avoided the religious services, soo tretched t teaches psychiatry at Columbia lating" well to their children. At became active on one or anot tballenged Medical School and is a visiting the same time, however, traditional of the two dozen committ ition's put professor at the Jewish Theological attitudes had not been completely through which synagogue boards as the rigI Seminary, where Conservative rab cast off. Whatever flaws congregants must function. ieve, why: bis receive their training. In a talk might have discerned in the rabbi Not all those influenced by the 'ght to te at the 1984 convention, Dr. Klags they chose, they considered the 60's were secularists. The decado . e Torah brun located the source of unhappi. office, and the person holding it, had also generated a vague, Eas~. abbath, w OBSERVATIONS/57
n-flavored, often drug-assisted ers are appropriate for a holy day, contract was coming up for re ystical fervor. This predisposed a or what the tradition itself is all newal. The mailing would be a sur w young Jews to become more about? The tradition had been vey, designed to find out whether I:his gener 'eceptive as they matured to the turned into a gigantic menu from and how well the rabbi was "meet Ilg on, s ppeal of Jewish religious institu which each might choose Ii la carte, ing your needs." The member-con hip driv 'ODS. But it also impeded their ca and any dish might be substituted sumers might rate the rabbi for _ng appeal city to respond to them in a for any other. ' pulpit ability, community involve ~ and moY)' ewish way. For these few souls It was natural for rabbis to be ment, hospital visitations, ability to the turn ong the synagogue "inheritors" unhappy with such developments, relate to children, and so forth. Old attend, ho would have described them and many could not help revealing Thus was participatory democracy schools . Ives as religious were neither what they felt. This in turn gener extended to the synagogue. ad had the Idiers of faith nor nostalgic for a ated the resentment of laymen, who Few lay objections were raised to _ere, td ta ditional past; they were more after all were paying the rabbi's the ratings system. There was cer .ger peopli ike consumers, customers picking salary. Rabbis soon found that tainly no widespread, instinctive l had less and choosing. They approached younger members, whether secu revulsion against it. Why should the Jewis. udaism not on its own terms but larist or religious-in-the-new-style, the rabbi not be rated? Everything the pare: they approached everything else, could make implacable antagonists. else was, from the President to tele :leir coIl 'anting to "savor the experience." vision programs. If the rabbi found :red the fa" Thus, if a woman gave birth to THE general political and social it hard to preach sermons when the =mpt for tb~ daughter, and it was discovered ferment in the country added to people in front of him had been .ey had bee' at the ancient ceremony of the the rabbis' vulnerability. No matter transformed from congregants and bey had a 'edemption of the first-born applied what they did or said about the friends into judges, then perhaps itudes pop nly to males, the mother might Vietnam war or a dozen other is (the reasoning went) he should ~s that st ,ecide to write her own ceremony sues, they were sure to alienate sub have chosen another line of work. :l to thetr or little girls and expect her rabbi stantial numbers of their congre If the rabbi were in fact voted Jewish 0 come and participate, Most Con gants. Rabbis who thought of the out, another questionnaire would that life rvative and Reform rabbis, and synagogue as a convoy in perilous soon be distributed to uncover lor God, f, ny Orthodox, might at first have waters whose members had some what the community wanted in its ::-s, for tea 'en charmed, and encouraging. how to stay together, were de new rabbi. One questionnaire I saw et soon enough such private stand nounced for their reticence as un had the box for "pulpit ability" ds were being applied to the syn worthy of communal leadership. subdivided in two: Judaic Emphasis ~rged as se, gogue as a whole. Changes were Rabbinical families came under and Socio-Political Emphasis. Age I: tidal wa' :ntroduced that reflected not any severe strain, and the incidence of was important. Did the respondent I's. That d1 :fforts at creative adaptation but divorce among rabbis rose precipi want a rabbi under thirty-five, be : synagogu ,e choice of convenience over reli tously. tween thirty-five and forty-five (the not prin 'ous practice, as when Bar Mitzvah As a gTOUp, the generation of most popular model), or forty-five ther secula' 'emonies were scheduled for the synagogue builders had at least and older? : and a ki Irief afternoon service instead of been prepared to admit, on any : for "0:_ e formal morning service because specifically religious issue, that they OLDER rabbis were especially vul. Ie time th e family's guests could then ar were the amateurs and the rabbi nerable to mistreatment. They had hirties, ho' 've late and go directly from the was the "pro." Not so the inheri entered the rabbinate at a time 's were read! rvice to the evening reception. tors, who had the self-confidence to when the synagogue builders were ~y, like the:' The spirit of lay assertiveness has do unto their rabbis what they in control and the atmosphere was found th d an effect everywhere in contem proudly proclaimed they would friendly, and often they had no things rel. orary life, even in areas, such as never do (for instance) unto their formal contracts. In those years the .lId provid, edicine, where one can demon adulterous friends: namely, be pattern was to write a simple letter ~d being to: trate the value of expertise obiec "judgmentaL" And once Jewish of agreement the first year or so, L to join 'vely. Where one cannot, as in learning was declared irrelevant to but after that, rabbis who felt se r child cou /igion, the professional rapidly the rabbi's qualifications to serve, cure in their standing rarely both Irsery sch comes helpless. In the synagogue, and his status as a teacher of the ered with legal formalities. They I, they fou e notion that religion is a radi tradition was perceived to confer a were accustomed to relying upon Jed into lly private concern, and that no merely arbitrary authority, he be the good faith of synagogue offi The yo came nothing more than an em radiolog'~ ne has the right to tell the indi cers, and after five or ten years 'dual believer what to believe or ployee-one whose job specifica thought of themselves as members 'en if he s ow to practice his belief, was tions were alarmingly vague and of the community. Now they sud ;ervices, s ,!retched to the point where it were in addition subject to periodic denly found themselves being eased ~ or ano allenged the stability of the tra reevaluation by his employers. out of pulpits they had occupied commiU 'tion's public dimension. If no one A rabbi entering his congrega for twenty or more years, and, what :ogue boa' as the right to tell you what to be tional office one day would find a was almost worse, perceived as out ieve, why should anyone have the secretary sending out a mailing to siders. In a week or two even their :ght to tell you what portion of the entire membership, signed by the supporters would shrug their shoul e Torah should be read on the synagogue president and reminding ders and tell themselves that rabbis iabbath, what ceremonies or pray the congregation that the rabbi's come and rabbis go, but they had 58jCOMMENTARY MAY 1985
to continue moving in their accus neither resisted the spmt of the and dance about with the ~ tomed circles and could not pro age nor were victimized by it but, scrolls. long controversy. (One undeniable quite simply, joined it; I hardly The rabbi explained that sign of the change in atmosphere is mean to deny that possibility either. scrolls may only be removed that today the Rabbinical Assembly What seems to me unarguable, the ark for a religious cerem' provides rabbis with legal counsel however, is that, at least outside the and suggested several other wa ' during formal contract negotia Orthodox community (and some make the same point; the F ' tions.) times inside as well), the accus tion worker rejected them. L Among rabbis who survived the tomed attitudes toward rabbis sim rabbi argued that using T ordeal of periodic reevaluation, and ply no longer obtain. They have scrolls as props, to photograp' were retained in their posts, feel been replaced by a new form of phony celebration, would not r ings of isolation and loneliness anti-clericalism which, in contrast help Soviet Jews, and would grew, and could not even be re to the old, ideological kind, has the wrong message to the s lieved by talking about the prob moved inside the synagogue itself. gogue's young people, reinfor lem with colleagues. To admit that By way of illustration let me con their belief, already too stro, OR the el things were not going well was to clude with a revealing incident. that TV was more powerful -fans c confess professional incompetence. In a New England town some anything else, including the anci rmonic, tI The more conscientious the indi years ago a worker in the local proprieties of the synagogue. " the orche vidual rabbi, the more he would office of the Federation of Jewish The next day an officer of tor, now tend to blame himself for the level Philanthropies phoned a rabbi to congregation came to call on ,jection by of Jewish education in his syna ask for help. It was about the time rabbi. He explained that the p 'nating in gogue, the declining membership, young Soviet Jews had taken to gram would be good exposure ter Davis the flight of the youth, or his own expressing their Jewish identity by the synagogue as well as for the begi: inability to win over some implac dancing in the streets outside the Federation. On his own responsi ft little do able neurotic. Intellectually he Moscow synagogue on Simhat ity he had obtained a list of you , ntract, at might have understood that such Torah, the festival of the Rejoicing people from the school princi til 1990) problems were far beyond his con of the Law. On this holiday, the and given it to the Federation st me ducks. trol, but viscerally he could not scrolls of the Torah, always treated They would do the telephoning; phisticate. help feeling it was somehow his with great reverence, are removed the rabbi had to do was to be th d buyers fault. Failure was built into the job, from the ark and carried about the on the designated evening. ssional m along with humiliation and heart synagogue; the more exuberant synagogue members who were a uestion is break; to these were now being congregants dance with them. In tive in Federation would be u ehta will added the outright opposition or Moscow, the police, claiming that if he failed to show up, or if it lace him a~ coldness of the "consumers." the young people were obstructing came known that he would not roud and Wherefore, yearning to live nor traffic, had dispersed the crowd. operate in community projects. Finding mal lives, many who could leave The Federation worker had con The rabbi showed up, and p ill not be the pulpit did so. Others, with vinced the local TV station to formed on cue for the came onic. The wives, children, mortgages, and no broadcast pictures of American capering about with a Torah sa t that M time to acquire new skills, anesthe Jews celebrating the holiday; a on the wrong night of the wee How; it is tized themselves with alcohol or narrator would then contrast the Several days later, on the real nig ssible reI: drugs; many went in for therapy. freedom of Jews here with condi of the holiday, he looked in va' th real a For still others, by far the majority, tions in the Soviet Union. But there around the synagogue for the you . rge nor" the solution was denial-and ever were problems in scheduling. The people; they were at home, waiti ocked. In higher levels of what Dr. Freedman station could not air the program to catch a glimpse of themselves " nductors, calls "stress." at six o'clock on the night of the five seconds of film on the 10 nted, have holiday unless it were filmed earlier. news. rd Bernstl ONE will always find rabbis to tes This meant it would have to be I offer this incident as a perfe lory and tify that they are contented; I hard staged. The Federation man wanted metaphor for the current relation· uropean 11 ly mean to deny the possibility. the rabbi to get teenagers to come ship between all too many Ameri, ngly willir One can also find rabbis who to the synagogue the week before can rabbis and their congregants, , ngagement dollars, still ~he laudabl ·von Dohm 'making an~ commitmen portant of Because offer, and b
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