Prager Pro & Con

The Jewish Journal received numerous letters regarding Dennis Prager’s “Reform Needs Standards” in our May 26 issue. The following is a selection of those letters with a special response from Dennis Prager.

Reform Judaism Has Principles

Dennis Prager may need “standards” for his religious style, but Reform Judaism does not need that kind of rigidity. Reform Judaism, the largest movement of Jews in North America, adheres to an essential principle of classic Judaism: humans in their infinite variety are all created in the image of God. We have minds, spirit and imagination, and our Judaism addresses the longings of the human soul.We do not have a Bureau of Standards to set all the weights and measures of Judaism. Prager seems to think that Reform Judaism’s validity should be established according to “standards” of his choosing. In fact, however, Prager’s notion of “standards” is not even the Jewish concept found in the Torah, Talmud, Codes or philosophy of Judaism.

The classic literature of our tradition refers to standards as midot (general principles), and they are techniques for rabbinic interpretation. There is a broad band of midot for use in halachic and aggadic discussion, and they were rabbinic keys to expanding and applying kedusha (holiness) to new social, political and economic environments. Reform asserts that the power of Judaism to survive as a religious culture was always based on its ability to rebalance relevantly its spiritual message to the challenges of newly emerging civilizations. Prager’s call for standards tends to enshrine as definitive one particular stage of Jewish development. However, in my opinion, the medieval form of Judaism can not adequately cope with the democracy, feminism and sexual equality of our open society.

True Judaism is progressive and evolutionary. Reform Judaism opens up the wellsprings of spiritual sensitivity in modern Jews, and it gives expression to more than what Prager calls “the most beautiful services in Jewish life.” Reform Judaism interprets the traditional principles of God, Torah and Israel as contemporary foci to interpersonal behavior and ritual practice. A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism, adopted by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, May 1999, sets the current agenda. We do not have standards; we have principles!

Reform Judaism is alive and growing in strength and influence because its principles are open and sensitive to the moral and spiritual issues of our time without a straitjacket.

Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein, Assistant Director UAHC, Pacific Southwest Council

Prager Courageous to Address Standards

Kol HaKavod to Dennis Prager (“Reform Needs Standards,” May 26). Dennis represents no official denomination and thus cannot be accused of taking the party line. He is one who takes his Judaism very seriously and writes not as one seeking to attack or divide, but rather as one with sincere concerns for the future of klal Yisrael.

Judaism has survived for thousands of years, for it was based upon a set of divine standards (mitzvot) that have stood the test of time. It took courage and sacrifice to adhere to these standards throughout the most difficult periods of Jewish history. And it takes courage and sacrifice to speak out on their behalf today.

Rabbi Moshe D. Bryski Chabad of Agoura Hills

Opening Doors With Principles

Prager argues that the Reform movement “has no religious standards” and despite “Reform Judaism’s primary self-image… as a progressive movement,” its progressivism has really been merely following “the spirit of its times.” Prager does not define “standards,” and seems to mean “requirements,” or “rules” that he believes all Reform Jews must follow. If he had meant standards alone, in terms of outlines of what the movement expects or urges its members to do, the Statement of Principles passed overwhelmingly by the Reform rabbinate a year ago in Pittsburgh is filled with such standards.

Since its passage, the Statement of Principles has met with widespread approbation across the movement. The Principles reaffirm the Reform embrace of “the reality and the oneness of God,” they state that “Torah is the foundation of Jewish life,” they commit us “to the ongoing study of the whole array of mitzvot” and to the observance of Shabbat, festivals and other sacred occasions, to regular study and prayer, and to “bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation.”

The 1999 Principles further state that “we are an inclusive community, opening doors to Jewish life to people of all ages, to varied kinds of families, to all regardless of their sexual orientation, to those who have converted to Judaism, and to all… who strive to create a Jewish home.”

It was in fulfillment of this principle that the Reform rabbinate in March of this year voted almost unanimously to support colleagues who officiate at Jewish same-gender unions, and to support those who do not officiate. In doing so Reform rabbis could hardly be accused of following the spirit of a time which has produced a welter of anti-gay legislation in both the religious and the political realms. No other major religious group has yet taken such a stand.

In struggling to be faithful to the call of Torah amidst the exigencies of contemporary life, we are one with Jews of all Jewish movements. The way in which the streams of Judaism resolve these struggles may differ, but the struggle is the same. That it took the Reform rabbinate 10 years to arrive at this stand bears witness to how seriously the Reform movement has dealt with it.

The real concern that all of us should share has to do with the quality and depth of Jewish life. The real meaning of pluralism within the Jewish community is respect for religious differences, even differences with which one doesn’t agree. That’s a better approach than using the rhetoric of “standards” when you don’t like someone else’s values.

The full text of the 1999 Pittsburgh Principles is readily available on the CCAR Web site (http://ccarnet.org/platforms/principles.html).

Dr. Lewis M. Barth DeanHebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles

Rabbi Alan H. HenkinIncoming Regional DirectorUnion of American Hebrew Congregations, Pacific Southwest Region

Rabbi Richard N. LevyDirectorSchool of Rabbinical Studies, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles

Would Be Secular Without Reform

In response to Prager’s last article, you probably will receive long rebuttals by Reform rabbis. I am neither a rabbi nor biblical scholar, but simply a devout Reform Jew. Prager’s description of the history of the Reform movement is exactly what saved my Jewish identity. If my only choices were Conservative or Orthodox, I would surely be secular.

Martin J. WeismanWestlake Village

Judaism Should Change With the Times

Dennis Prager’s charge that “as a movement Reform has no religious standards” is false. This charge is based on a traditionalist orientation which excludes the possibility that there may be other ways of approaching Judaism that exist outside a strictly halachic framework.

From its inception Reform Judaism has consistently held that the ethics of the biblical prophets represent the highest expression of classic Israelite religion. Despite Prager’s assertion that our movement has no religious standards, Reform continues to hold its rabbis and congregants to moral and ethical standards as a key element in our religious commitment.

Reform understands Jewish tradition as dynamic and evolutionary. This is why the CCAR [Central Conference of American Rabbis] passed the resolution supporting those rabbis who choose to officiate at same-gender commitment ceremonies.

The majority of Reform rabbis have come to understand that homosexuality is not a sin, nor a pathological condition needing treatment, nor is it volitional. Rather, the homosexual is simply the way one is. Consequently, the CCAR acknowledges that our religious community must seek ways to embrace those who are gay and lesbian for who they are, not for who we want them to be. Helping them sanctify their relationships is the key to building an ethical (and therefore more religious) world.

Far from demonstrating no religious standards, Reform has sought to do precisely the opposite. Yes, Prager is right, the Torah does not sanction homosexuality. However, the Torah permits human slavery, and tradition wisely legislated that away. It is time to do the same with Torah’s condemnation of homosexuality.

Rabbi John L. Rosove Senior RabbiTemple Israel of Hollywood

Prager Responds

A thank you to Rabbi Bryski and brief responses to some who differ with me: Rabbi Goldstein writes that “Reform Judaism does not need… the rigidity” of standards. He may be right. But he thereby confirms my thesis – that Reform Judaism has no specifically Jewish standards. Indeed he celebrates this fact – “We do not have standards; we have principles!”

Rabbi Rosove writes the opposite, that the “charge that as a movement Reform has no religious standards is false.” Who is right – Rabbi Rosove or Rabbi Goldstein?

Rabbi Rosove avoids the issue of religious standards by arguing that Reform has ethical and moral standards. But these standards are in no way different from the moral and ethical standards of thousands of other organizations – from the Catholic Church to the Disney Corporation. Ethics and morals are universal. Shabbat, kiddushin, brit mila, kashrut are Jewish.

Though I love much about Reform Jewish life, we need to be intellectually honest about its not having standards. One example: Years ago, at a forum in Los Angeles, the eminent Reform leader, Rabbi Balfour Brickner, explained to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and me that Reform is so open-minded that even a Reform rabbi who became a Jew for Jesus would remain a Reform rabbi in good standing.

Reform has just overthrown the standard of man-woman marriage. Next comes circumcision. Within ten years, with similar pressures from the same “progressive” wing of Reform, the movement will likely pass a resolution supporting rabbis who oppose brit milah (ritual circumcision). Overthrowing this standard will be regarded as yet another “response to modern times.” What we need, though, is a Reform movement that responds first to the Torah. If I want to be guided by modern times, what do I need religion for?

Dennis Prager Los Angeles

Editor’s Note:Dennis Prager did not see the letter from Dr. Barth and Rabbis Henkin and Levy In time to respond.