October 2003 • Cheshvan 5764

in a distinctly Jewish context — express themselves tions agencies to be more innovative, inclusive, and in greater numbers on a given issue than the re- risk-taking in their approach to consensus. sponse registered by “affiliated” . In local com- munities, grassroots Jewish groups have the poten- Marlene Provizer is Executive Director of the Jew- tial to be particularly effective at mobilizing large ish Fund for Justice. She has also served as Deputy Di- numbers of people through phone trees, e-mail net- rector of National Affairs for the American Jewish Com- works, and public actions. mittee, as Assistant Director of the National Jewish Com- It remains to be seen how these developments munity Relations Council (now JCPA), as Social Policy will affect the mainstream communal enterprise. For Director of the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the good of society and the Jewish community, let’s and on the national education staff of the Children’s De- hope it serves as a prod, spurring community rela- fense Fund.

Consensus in David Biale

ews traditionally harbor contradictory views of well be fictitious, its judgment that the catastrophe consensus. On the one hand: “we are ONE!” came out of sinat hinam (gratuitous hatred between JOn the other: two Jews, three opinions. The first Jews) confirms Josephus’ more historical account. serves the organized communal body; the sec- We usually think of rabbinic Judaism as estab- ond never fails as an after-dinner joke. But perhaps lishing consensus after the relative anarchy of the the very existence of these contradictory views proves Second Temple. But here, too, consensus was born that the second is more accurate than the first. In- of conflict. While the early Christian Church defined deed, one of the paradoxes of Jewish history is the orthodoxy by defining heresy, the rabbis took a dif- way centrifugal forces have always accompanied the ferent path: they allowed for intense debate within centripetal without ever fragmenting that ephemeral their ranks while excluding from this magic circle “essence” of Judaism beyond repair. those not part of their caste. Even those declared As Ilana Pardes has brilliantly shown in The Bi- heretics — such as Elisha ben Abuya and Rabbi ography of Ancient , the early nation moans and Eliezer — were reincorporated into the rabbinic fold, complains, even as it receives the law. If collective while the minim (heretics — perhaps Jewish Chris- identity is established by founding myths, the bib- tians) remained shadowy opponents not even dig- lical text makes contention and controversy the core nified by real polemics. Only now are historians of Israel’s birth narrative. The hegemony of ortho- learning to read between the lines of rabbinic litera- dox monotheism only emerged out of a long con- ture to recover these dissenters. tentious process, a process that was probably never In a similar way, medieval Jewish history is now completed. Perhaps it is for that reason that the Bible much the richer as we discover more of its internal has remained so vital, because the history that it re- conflicts. In his recent monumental history of me- lates is of a deeply political nation — that is, a na- dieval Jewish women, Avraham Grossman finds tan- tion whose life is never monolithic or devoid of talizing hints of a “mikvah rebellion” in 12th-cen- struggle between competing parties. tury Egypt. Following the example of their Karaite The Second Temple period was no less frag- sisters, many Jewish women evidently refused to go mented and contentious, even in its most heroic mo- to the mikvah and preferred instead to pour water ments. Thus, the Hasmonean Revolt that led to a brief over themselves after their menstrual periods. episode of full sovereignty was produced by a civil Grossman believes that this was an organized re- war between hellenizers and their opponents. The volt with leaders that was only suppressed after dra- extremists of the Qumran community may have been conian punishments imposed by Maimonides and only the tip of the iceberg in a society whose full di- other rabbinic authorities. The importance of the versity we may never uncover. For, although the Karaites to this story suggests how the dissent of ’s stories of the destruction of the Temple may that community should not be underestimated. In

Sh’ma • www.shma.com 4 To subscribe: (800) 237-0968 October 2003 • Cheshvan 5764 both medieval Byzantium and Egypt, the Karaites Without the political privileges enjoyed by me- were hardly a fringe phenomenon. dieval Jewish communities, their modern successors Medieval Jewish communities struggled no less face greater challenges. As the old adage says, “The than our own to find paths to consensus. A fasci- less that is at stake, the greater the contention.” But nating debate took place among rabbinic authori- the voluntary nature of modern communities also ties on internal democracy. A minority advocated means that dissenters can more easily leave. If Jew- true majority rule. Many others, though, reinter- ish history proves that contention is just as impor- preted “the majority” to be an “economic majority” tant as consensus, then the question is how to retain and, indeed, voting privileges in most medieval Jew- those outside the consensus. A majority has no ish communities were limited to the wealthy elite. meaning without a minority. And the dynamic be- Rabbenu Tam, on the other hand, argued for unani- tween the two — rather than artificial unanimity — mous consent, but his position seems to be aimed at appears to be the key to Jewish identity. establishing the hegemony of rabbis over wealthy householders. The extraordinarily rich sources in David Biale is Emanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jew- The Jewish Political Tradition (edited by Michael ish History at the University of California, Davis. He is Walzer and others) demonstrate that true unanim- the editor, most recently, of Cultures of the Jews: A New ity probably never existed. History.

Consensus As a Symbol of Jewish Citizenship Steven Windmueller

“We make no decree upon the community unless Chanes’s concluding comment accurately re- the majority are able to abide by it.” Avodah Zara 36a flects today’s reality. A number of primary factors are moving the communal enterprise away from the onsensus as a decision-making formula has traditional “consensus” model: served the Jewish communal system 1. Over time, the communal enterprise has Cthroughout much of the 20th century. In un- seen its core agenda redefined around fewer points derstanding the term “consensus” we find the fol- of agreement and shared action. This narrowing of lowing core definition: “the collective opinion by the agenda can be identified, for example, around most of those concerned.” Historically, the commu- the debate over Israeli security policies and practices, nal enterprise involved a highly homogeneous lead- where American Jews today often hold a wide array ership structure, a defined and focused agenda, and of viewpoints. an institutional system with shared norms pertain- 2. The redefining of federation’s public advo- ing to community process and practice. The organi- cacy agendas and communal priorities limit the zational and programmatic outcomes of this last scope of issues discussed and policies adopted. An century were successful in part due to this “inte- example of this redefinition is the sharpening of po- grated” framework of decision-making. sitions over church-state matters within the commu- Rela Mintz Geffen, in 1997, acknowledged that nity, including the question over government sup- consensual decision-making was one of the core port for parochial schools. “constitutional principles” that served to define the 3. The emergence and growth of single-issue Jewish experience in America. She also suggested constituencies further fragment the roles performed that open conflict should be avoided when possible. by multi-issue agencies. Where once the central com- Commenting on the centrality of this notion, Jerome munity relations entities defined Jewish policy per- Chanes continued that 1997 conversation, suggest- taining to Israel, numerous special interest groups ing a number of approaches to viewing consensus today advocate, often on their own and outside of and dissensus. He also suggested that, as American the federated framework, for specific Israeli positions Jewry entered the 21st century, it would meet an related to the peace process and to security concerns. unraveling of consensus. 4. Generational changes within leadership

Sh’ma • www.shma.com 5 To subscribe: (800) 237-0968