Jew Is Right?

Engaging with guest speakers representing different approaches to Jewish life.

by Talia Raider-Roth,       11^th grade,       Cincinnati

front row seats for our speakers representing three streams of Jewish life.

            With the promise of breakfast in the Zula, due to Israel's municipal election day, and Jewish History class in the Belmont lecture hall, we all got up excited and interested to see how class that day would go. As we all got seated in the Belmont, we discussed our expectations for the day. Was the Haredi speaker going to be nice or stony and serious? What would be the difference between him and the Conservative movement speaker? Soon, David came up to the front and started to explain the outline for the day: Rav Yehoshua Weinberger would be our Haredi speaker, Rabbi Noa Satat would be our Reform movement speaker, and Rabbi Ari Chasid would be our Conservative movement speaker. We were reminded that we would hear viewpoints that are different from our own and that we should keep an open mind as well as ask questions. Our school principal Rabbi Loren reminded us how important it was to hear different views to gain a better understanding of the Jewish political climate in Israel as well as an understanding of the differences between the modern streams of Judaism. With that, Rabbi Loren welcomed up Yehoshua Weinberger.

 

We had an interesting Q & A session with Yehoshua Weinberger who spoke about his life.

The Haredi Community

            Rav Yehoshua Weinberger had a very long beard, and wore a long black coat and a kippah. He tucked his payot behind his ears. He looked like a very serious man, but from the minute he opened his mouth he had our groups attention. He cracked many jokes and created a comfortable atmosphere in the room. He began to talk about his childhood and parents. Born to two orthodox, Holocaust survivors, religion has always been an integral part of Rav Weinberger’s life. When he grew up he went to work in what was then the Soviet Union, and then made aliyah to Israel in 1991. Moving to Israel allowed him to be a part of an even more vibrant Hasidic community.

            “I do not like the term ultra-orthodox,” he explained “It has negative associations.”

            “What about ‘super-duper’ orthodox?” asked my classmate Dani Pattiz, smiling.

            “Sure, I like that term.”

            He continued on by explaining what a regular day is like for him. He gets up at 5:15 in order to study Talmud at 5:45. During the day he teaches and lectures at a yeshiva in Jerusalem with his wife, who he talked lovingly about throughout his entire speech. He gets home around 4 or 5 pm in order to go to synagogue at night to pray and study. He goes to sleep at 11 in order to get sleep for his early morning the next day. On Shabbat, however, the day is tranquil and he spends the day with his community, eating and singing.

            He then opened the floor to questions. We asked many difficult but important questions, the first being “Who is God to you?”

            He responded that, to him, God is “whoever you want him to be. God introduced himself at Sinai” and the books that he gave the Jewish people tells us how to communicate with him. The Torah contains our instructions and we are obligated to follow them. This was the response that I had expected, given what I know about the Hasidic community. They believe that the Tanakh is “torah m’sinai”, it is all to be taken literally, every word.

            The next question asked was about his view on the Palestinian conflict. The room got noticeably tenser, as this is a touchy subject in which at least one person will end up offended.

“It would be great to live side by side in peace,” he responded. However, he continued, they [the Palestinians] have proven to be untrustworthy. We tried to create a peace treaty and they did not wish to comply. He remembers being scared on buses when the terror attacks of the second Intifada were occurring, “it was living hell”. He thinks all the different plans for resolving the conflict are total chaos because not everyone recognizes every treaty and the Palestinians themselves are not ready to make any compromises.

            The next question was a lighter, easier one. The question was how he met his wife. He smiled and began to tell us the Hasidic customs for boys and girls. From the beginning they go to separate schools and are not permitted to touch. They only meet each other to see if marriage seems like an amicable arrangement between the boy and the girl. Parents ask their children about their preferences for a partner, and once two families have been connected, both sides ask questions about the other. Rav Weinberger met his wife only four times before he knew, that was who he wanted to marry. He believes that the system works, he is extremely happy and loves his wife.

two of my classmates stayed during the break to continue the conversation

            The next question was about what he considered the most important aspect of Judaism. He smiled and responded that this was a very difficult and layered questions. To him, of course, being Jewish is the most important to him. He continued that a connection to God and the Jewish people is extremely important along with the Torah and all of the Mitzvot.

            Then came the question that was a troublesome and upsetting question that was also asked when we visited a mosque: what were his views on the LGBTQ+ community? He responded that his personal opinion is irrelevant, Nobody knows if their opinions are right or wrong so they are inconsequential. God has given an answer to these questions and that is all that matters. Personally, he continued, he believes that anyone should be able to do anything they want, a man and a man, a mother and son, a human and an animal, they are all the same to him. However God is the only one who can decide and God deemed all of these acts unacceptable.

my classmate Annie is listening intently with one of our teachers Evan in the background

            With an awkward break our group continued onto the next question: What happens if there are problems in a marriage? He responded that, as in most communities, divorce is regarded as a tragedy, especially if children are involved. The couple should do everything in their power to save the marriage as both sides are required to go to counseling before marriage. God says that divorce is allowed, if all other measures have been taken to try to save the marriage.

            The next and last question was more personal to our group: What were his views on Reform Judaism? He believed that Reform Judaism and Reform Jews are two separate groups. Anyone born to a Jewish mother or converted by an orthodox rabbi is Jewish. His issue is not with Reform Jews but with Reform Judaism, which he sees as a completely separate religion. The Reform movement, he continued, is not working, it is shrinking.

            And with that his portion of the morning was over. He was an interesting man who gave us all many different glances into the Hasidic world and their views of the rest of the world

 

our teacher David Alon brought his cute two year old daughter with him that day

The Reform Community

            Next we met Rabbi Noa Satat, a Reform rabbi who works at the Israel Religious Action Center, much like the RAC in Washington. She was born to a secular family who raised her with strong values based in social action. This led her to work her way to become the head of the Jerusalem Open House-LGBTQ+ Center. She also works to connect Jewish and Palestinian students in order to better relations. The Jewish students, she explained, seemed scared to answer questions from Palestinian students. She wants to change the Jewish-Palestinian narrative and make the students more comfortable around each other because it is our job to bring about equality for everyone. She continued to explain that her work is not counterproductive to the Torah and its mitzvot because the Torah is not historically accurate, it is made of of fictitious stories written by four different editors. The stories in the Torah are meant to teach the Jewish people lessons about how to act and how to create your own moral compass; they contain deep truths. She believes that personal choice is very important, as how we act determines our closeness to God. This is why the Haskalah is also important, it reverses some of the mitzvot that are troublesome (i.e. “man shall not sleep with man”). She expressed that opening our arms to those in need and/or persecuted makes us more Jewish, not less.

Rabbi Noa Satat talked about her work with at the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC)

            On the question of Israel, she responded that she believes there are fundamental problems with the government and that Israel should not be a religious state. This is because the government uses it for its own personal agenda. Those who disagree with the government are deemed as anti-zionists and anti-semites.

            The other question asked was about being a female rabbi: how has it affected her? She responded that many people did not want her to perform any ceremonies because she was a woman and Reform, two things which the orthodox community looks down on. Although it is a struggle, it is important for her to represent the community and to work towards creating an equal and free state.

 

Heller High principal Rabbi Loren Sykes introduces the speakers

The Conservative Community

            Our last speaker was Rabbi Ari Chasid. He was born to a single mother who switched from an Orthodox to a Conservative community. She found community in a Conservative synagogue where she later married a Turkish man whom she raised her child with. Judaism had always been an important aspect of his life and he remained involved in the Jewish community as he grew up.

            When asked about the importance of Orthodox vs. Conservative vs. Reform, he responded that “denominations are important to how we think but not how we define ourselves”. As important as denominations are, that should not stop the Jewish community from coexisting and thriving.

Rabbi Ari Chasid was informative discussing Conservative Judaism

            Another question was raised about the Torah: was it given by God and were the stories historically accurate? Yes, he responded, the Torah was given to us, whether that be metaphorically or by another means, by God. However, the stories are not all historically accurate. They are lessons that reveal truths to us. The world changes all the time and so should the way we interpret the Torah.

            Class Discussion

            At the end of the talks, we divided up into classes to discuss what we had heard. After going outside, our class sat down in a circle. David asked us what we thought. Some people found problems with Rav Weinberger’s explanation that what he thought was irrelevant, while others found problems with what both Rabbi Satat and Rabbi Chasid said. All in all, there was a consensus that the talks were both important and educational. They taught us about the other Jewish communities and the way that they live. We learned about how these communities viewed the others and the separations between all of the communities.

we had a wrap-up discussion outside after hearing the 3 speakers

            I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity. It troubles me that the communities have little interaction and conversations between themselves. It was important to me to hear from all of these speakers so that I could form my own, educated opinions about the different connections I have to each denomination. It also gave me an opportunity to learn more about my connection to Judaism and how to deal with the modern topics that the torah addresses anachronistically.

teachers David Alon and Talia Jacobson enthusiastically leading the wrap-up discussion