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Disciples, Rebbes & Jewish Renewal

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Disciples, Rebbes & Jewish Renewal Tevet_shma.qxd:Layout 1 11/30/06 1:35 PM Page 4 cissistically at times, what distinguishes some - result of their charisma, become carried away one with a character disorder is the pervasive by the newfound power and success. In these pattern, the inability to experience guilt or re - cases, charismatic leaders can overestimate morse, and the tendency to externalize re - their capabilities; they develop an overpower - sponsibility for the inappropriate behavior. ing sense of self-importance and a distorted These distinctions usually become clear over sense of their own limits. At one end of the time and in some situations can be kept in continuum is someone who cannot be helped, check when structures are in place to limit the and this must be acknowledged. But at the leader’s power preventatively. other end are people who can rather easily be Another way of understanding the rela - helped; a whole spectrum lays in between. tionship between charisma and narcissism is For many, charisma offers a release from explained in Marie Fortune’s Clergy Misconduct: being tethered to the attachments of conven - Sexual Abuse in the Ministerial Relationship Work - tionality. As such, the attraction to leaders with Naomi Mark is a shop Manual . She suggests that we consider “prophetic charisma” may be part of the psychotherapist on the viewing clergy sexual abusers on a continuum human condition as we naturally seek to tran - Upper West Side of between two extreme types: “The Wanderer” scend the mundane aspects of our daily lives. Manhattan and the who wanders across boundaries due to self- Echo had reason to love Narcissus. His Deputy Director of the control difficulties, and the “Predator” who charisma, his alluring offer of escape from the Office of Staff Development at the seeks out victims deliberately and is lacking in ordinary was real and, indeed, alluring. While Human Resources conscience. Along the continuum are those insightful therapy tries to heal, mythology can Administration of with “acquired situational narcissism” who, as a only warn. New York City. Disciples, Rebbes & Jewish Renewal Chava Weissler merican society views charismatic leaders gins with the search for a teacher, a guide and Awith suspicion: we picture the fictional mentor along the path. For many, finding a corrupt preacher Elmer Gantry or the all-too spiritual master is essential to the quest for historical populist demagogue, Huey Long. deepened understanding and enhanced spiri - Such leaders go against the democratic grain, tual practice, whether it is daily meditation or the deeply held principle that all humans are daily davvenen . Nonetheless, putting oneself in created equal. We fear their power to mislead the hands of a spiritual teacher is always a risk their followers, to play on their needs or their — as is a commitment to any intimate relation - ideals for their own psychological, sexual, ma - ship. The master- disciple relationship, like the terial, or political ends. therapist-client relationship, has particular po - American Judaism has, for the most part, tential for abuse in that it almost always begins adopted the American democratic model, giv - with the disciple giving up personal power to ing unprecedented power to the laity in Jewish the spiritual master. Will the teacher have the communal institutions. Certain groups within maturity, discipline, and healthy boundaries to the American Jewish community do, however, put the student’s needs first? hark back to earlier, more hierarchical models The hasidic model of the rebbe-disciple re - of leadership. For example, most Orthodox lationship plays an important role in ALEPH Jews defer to recognized halakhic authorities, — Alliance for Jewish Renewal, founded by although for the most part these leaders have Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 1968 as been respected more for their scholarly B’nai Or. Coming out of Lubavitch Hasidism, achievements than their personal charisma. Reb Zalman (as he is known to his followers) Only in Hasidism has the charismatic figure has shaped ALEPH as a “neo-hasidic” move - of the rebbe maintained its power. ment and done much to rethink the role of Until recently. With the turn toward spiritu - rebbe. Arthur Waskow tells the story of a gath - December 2006 Tevet 5767 ality in American Judaism has come recogni - ering at which Reb Zalman sat at the head of To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA tion of the value and power of charismatic the table and “said Torah.” After about fifteen www.shma.com leadership. A spiritual journey most often be - minutes, he said, “Okay, now everyone move 4 Tevet_shma.qxd:Layout 1 11/30/06 1:35 PM Page 5 over one seat.” Someone new was in the need to encourage those injured to be able to “rebbe chair,” and that person now “said come forth with concrete accusations; the Torah,” and so it went, around the table. That need to make the procedures for lodging is, Reb Zalman was helping each person find complaints more widely known in the move - the “rebbe within,” the spark of the charis - ment. Solutions, including the founding of a matic leader deep in one’s own soul. supportive beit hesed to receive the complaints The goal of all spiritual teachers should in confidence, were proposed. be to enable the disciple to “do it for herself.” But the most difficult issues raised were But sometimes, the power that the disciple less amenable to administrative solutions: gives to the teacher is abused and used to ag - “how to walk that thin line between spiritual grandize the teacher. This happens more ecstasy and … domineering frenzy” were the often when the teacher is seen as the only ve - words of one list-serve contributor. Another hicle through whom the student can reach pointed out the dangers of the hierarchical spiritual ecstasy. rebbe-student relationship, especially one Recently, a situation arose in which the that disempowers the student: “Student- pitfalls of ALEPH’S commitment to charis - matic leadership were made very clear. In May of 2006, several women lodged a formal How does one walk the thin line between complaint of sexual misconduct with the Is - spiritual ecstasy and domineering frenzy? raeli police against a popular and charis - matic teacher who often appeared at the group’s events. For many years, there had teacher relationships not grounded in active been suspicions about his domineering be - learning are ripe for abuse… [T]he spiritual havior in classes and services and ambitions challenge [is] to deconstruct the system of to use the network as a power base, as well as values which continues to make this behavior rumors of sexual misbehavior. ALEPH’s lead - possible.” Directly articulating the problem, ership had placed certain conditions, restric - another correspondent wrote: “I realize that tions, and even surveillance on his activities. there is inherently something amiss with the Nonetheless, he was much in demand — as whole guru idea… We give the guru all the a popular teacher, he increased attendance more energy, power, and position. We feed at Renewal events — and there was a reluc - the guru while we starve ourselves — of our tance to exclude him altogether. But in the own light, our own insight, and our own wake of the explicit revelation of his behav - knowing…” In the same vein, someone called ior, the leadership severed all ties with him. for “the help of the community in creating a Further, both the leadership and the mem - culture that encourages each of us, all of us, Chava Weissler is bership, including some of his close disci - to see ourselves as rebbes, able to be in touch Professor of Religion ples, took stock of their own complicity, with God.” Studies at Lehigh asking how they could have been taken in Such introspection is all to the good. Yet, University, where she and how they could better have protected despite the presence of many responsible, holds the Philip and themselves and others. The incident was es - conscientious teachers in ALEPH — and the Muriel Berman Chair pecially troubling because ALEPH already awareness of the pitfalls of charismatic leaders of Jewish Civilization. Since 1999, she has had in place a clear official statement about — this problem is unlikely to disappear. As been engaged in an the ethics of the teacher-disciple relation - one contributor to the list-serve remarked, ethnographic study of ship and tools for enforcing it. Why, then, “The energy around [this teacher] was guru- ALEPH - Alliance for had this “dangerous, toxic person” been al - and cult-like, but it is that energy that attracts Jewish Renewal. She is lowed to continue his association with people. It is seductive and dangerous.” Those the author of Voices of ALEPH for so long? who seek powerful spiritual experiences are the Matriarchs (Beacon A vigorous discussion of the issue took vulnerable to a teacher who offers frenzied ec - 1998), a study of the place on the organization’s list-serve over the stasy instead. Thus, if Jewish Renewal values spiritual lives of Jewish next several weeks. Many of the contributors the cultivation of a deep and intense aware - women in the early to the discussion were prominent (and charis - ness of the Divine presence, the danger of the modern period. matic) teachers in the Jewish Renewal com - abuse of the rebbe-disciple relationship is al - munity. Among the issues raised were the ways present. A turn toward spirituality brings December 2006 Tevet 5767 difficulty in proceeding against someone if both the promise and the perils of charismatic To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA the only evidence is persistent rumors; the leadership in its wake. www.shma.com 5.
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