Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman of Brandeis University, will speak May 17 at the East Brunswick Jewish Center, launching a six-month series to explore whether to remain traditional or go egalitarian.
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May 12, 2009
The East Brunswick Jewish Center, one of the last Conservative synagogues in the state that does not permit women to be called to the Torah, is about to launch a six-month series of programs to revaluate its traditional stance on gender.
“I suggest the journey itself will suggest its own outcome,” said Rabbi Aaron Benson, who took over as religious leader in November. “I hope the decision-making process is one that reflects input and thought from the congregation. At the end of the day, the decision will be mine, but adults deserve to be educated and informed about their options.”
Lisa Glass, executive director of the New Jersey region of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said of the 59 synagogues in the region — from Toms River through Bergen County — she knew of only one other, in Fair Lawn, that is also non-egalitarian.
“It’s a very exciting time for their community as they begin to explore what direction they want to go in,” she said. “I cannot wait to see where this leads them.”
The first installment in the series to address gender issues and options within contemporary traditional Judaism, will be held Sunday, May 17, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. It will be led by Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman, chair of Near Eastern and Judaic studies and professor of contemporary Jewish life at Brandeis University.
“She is really one of the most renowned figures in Jewish academia today,” said Benson. He called her recent study, Matrilineal Ascent/Patrilineal Descent: Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life — which explores the disparity between the way today’s Jewish men and women relate to Jews and Judaism — “a fresh and unique way of viewing this controversial issue.”
Synagogue copresident Amy Rothman Schonfeld said EBJC began its exploration last year with a congregational survey, which received a large response, in which members were asked what they were looking for both in a rabbi and in a congregation.
“It showed the congregation to be quite heterogeneous,” said Schonfeld, “and I believe this is a source of our strength.” She also said that the survey revealed an almost 50-50 split on the egalitarian question.
Since 1985, when it ordained its first woman rabbi, the Conservative movement has largely shifted to extending to men and women equal roles as prayer leaders and Torah readers.
“Many people who favored change were mindful of the views of the traditionalists,” said Schonfeld. “With Rabbi Benson now firmly in place, we believe it’s time to start a fairly well-balanced conversation about gender roles in Judaism and EBJC in particular.”
She acknowledged that launching the process had produced “a lot of nervousness, anxiety, and excitement,” but said the synagogue’s goal is “to find a solution tailor-made to our unique community.”
Benson shepherded his former Los Angeles-area shul through a similar process, which resulted in what he previously told NJJN was an egalitarian synagogue in a “traditional mode.”
The next program in the series, on June 4, will feature Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, a professor of Talmud and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who will discuss the history and legal thinking of Conservative Judaism.
Future programs are: Aug. 12, Rabbi Esther Reed, associate director for Jewish campus life at Rutgers Hillel, the role of women in Conservative Judaism; and Oct. 19, Sally Mendelsohn, founder and leader of Minyan Shachar, an Orthodox egalitarian minyan in Riverdale, NY.
Rabbi Eliot Malomet of the Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth will speak in November about his synagogue’s decision several years ago to resolve the same issue by holding two services, one egalitarian and the other traditional.
Benson said a talk by a representative from the Union of Traditional Judaism will also be scheduled and a series of meetings will be held to discuss the various points of view.
“While religious practices are the arena of the rabbi, it is my feeling that no good rabbi makes decisions in a vacuum,” he added. “Aside from the needs and desires of this congregation, my hope is that at the end of the day this process is one in which the entire congregation feels its voice has been heard.”
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