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Rembaum’s Unity

I was raised Orthodox, I’m a member of several Orthodox communities and I’ve hung out with Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews most of my adult life. Still, I’ve always had this love affair the Conservative movement.
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July 2, 2009

I was raised Orthodox, I’m a member of several Orthodox communities and I’ve hung out with Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews most of my adult life. Still, I’ve always had this love affair with the Conservative movement.

I think a lot of it has to do with their rabbis. It’s as if they all drink a love potion before they graduate from rabbinical school. Sure, they’re highly intellectual and knowledgeable, but what gets me the most is this: Every Conservative leader I’ve ever met — people like David Wolpe, Ed Feinstein, Ron Wolfson, David Golinkin, Jacob Pressman, Daniel Greyber, Sharon Brous, Craig Taubman, Joel Rembaum, Perry Netter, Bradley Artson, Elie Spitz, Sherre Hirsch, Dennis Linson, to name a few — is incredibly kind.

They’re frum without being annoying (Conservative rabbis will always eat in your house if you tell them you have a kosher home). They never refuse to be on a panel with rabbis of other denominations. They’re big lovers of Israel. They put women on equal ritualistic footing with men. They use respectful and halachic reasoning in dealing with sensitive issues.

And because of their unique position at the center of the Jewish balance beam, they can easily embrace the unifying idea of pluralism.

This is why I can’t understand why they’re failing.

It seems like over the past couple of years every article I’ve read about the Conservative movement has talked of gloom and doom — declining memberships, identity crises, lack of spiritual passion, division in the ranks, ideological splits and so on.

Well, if all this is true, maybe the Conservative movement should take a closer look at its brothers and sisters in Los Angeles, because around here, I’ve seen a lot more passion than failure.

That passion was in evidence last Shabbat when my friend and neighbor Rabbi Joel Rembaum gave his “goodbye” sermon after 25 years at the helm of Temple Beth Am, a major Conservative congregation right next door to Pico-Robertson.

For his sermon, Rembaum picked the theme of unity. He used the first verse of Parashat Korach to discuss the divisive instinct of “separating oneself” from one’s people in fulfillment of a selfish agenda.

He brought out a slew of sources — from Moses, Onkelos and Rashi to a Chasidic rebbe, a religious Zionist leader and the Zohar — to analyze Korach’s behavior of “taking” and move us toward a higher and more communal goal of “embracing.”

Rembaum was talking both micro and macro. On a micro level he gave many examples of forums for unity and diversity that have grown over the years at Beth Am — the main sanctuary, the Library Minyan, the Bait Tefillah minyan, the Carlebach-infused Neshama and family minyans, the speakers of all denominations, the “unifying day school that is the envy of schools around the country” (Rabbi Jacob Pressman Academy) and the joint Reform-Conservative-Orthodox teen programs, among others.

Clearly, the rabbi is proud and deeply grateful to all who have helped him build this “unity legacy” at Beth Am, which he is now handing over to the congregation’s new spiritual leader, Rabbi Adam Kligfeld.

But Rembaum took his passion to another level when he went macro — talking about the Jewish people in general:

“I suggest that Korach personifies a centrifugal force that has plagued our tiny people from biblical times until our own age, a force that pulls us apart and creates rifts in our midst, that weakens us and prevents us from fulfilling our raison d’être, which is to fulfill God’s mandate to be messengers of monotheism to the world.

“A disunited nation cannot proclaim the unity of God. And I believe that if we are not united we cannot fully experience God’s oneness.

“When we are united we can then experience what the kabbalah defines as our ideal condition as a people: the blessed Holy One, Torah and Israel are one.”

By pulling from myriad Jewish sources, Rembaum was living his message of Jewish unity.

As he spoke, a thought occurred to me. If the Conservative movement is looking to revitalize itself, maybe it ought to study Rembaum’s sermon.

I can’t think of a better evolution of the Conservative movement than as the “unifiers” of the Jewish people. Forget the fact that unity is “impossible.” Look at unity as a direction, a journey, a “movement” toward a higher goal.

If the Jewish people are to embark on this journey, who better than the Conservative Jews to lead the way? Who’s more tolerant yet halachically respectful? Who’s more curious about secular knowledge yet immersed in ancient texts? Who’s more in tune with changing needs yet animated by tradition?

Look, the Orthodox are my group, and that’s where my heart is. But we have too many strict boundaries to be true unifiers. Conservative Jews seem to have openness and tolerance in their genes. It comes naturally to them. Unity is one thing they don’t have to agonize over. Their thoughtful interpretations of Jewish law are more inclusive than exclusive.

They understand that unity doesn’t have to mean uniformity.

So go for it, Jews of the Conservative world. Start uniting us. Build on what we all have in common. Get your geniuses to write the Book of Unity.

And if you need a consultant, I know a rabbi who might be available.

David Suissa, an advertising executive, is founder of OLAM magazine, Meals4Israel.com and Ads4Israel.com. He can be reached at {encode=”dsuissa@olam.org” title=”dsuissa@olam.org”}.

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