| |
|
|
Have you heard the one about the Jewish sailor, shipwrecked on a desert island who built one synagogue because it made more sense than building two to satisfy his grudges? Of course you haven’t!
It seems that the Jewish world is currently struggling to identify a new generation of leaders. In the Charedi world, Hasidic Rebbes, Sephardi spiritual leaders and kabbalistic masters are revered leaders. Yet has the time passed for them. The elders are kept physically alive well into their 90s and 100s but are they truly able to provide the insightful leadership that made them living legends.
In Anglo-Jewry, there is no clear favourite for the United Synagogue to define as the next leader of a generation – although perhaps the magical and political backing of Uri Geller and Louise Mensch, MP can rocket propel Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, recently voted the “Intergalactic Chief Rabbi of the Milky Way,’ into contention. The search by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation for its next spiritual leader has also hit problems. Rabbi David Bassous who seemed to have been voted in has now withdrawn his candidacy amid accusations of vote-rigging, with serious questions raised as to who has the right to declare anyone the new spiritual leader.
One might ask, why anyone would want to be the leader of such groups of people, whether there is efficacy or whether it is even possible to find someone with broad enough appeal these days. Anshel Pfeffer in an article for Ha’aretz, raises this particular question regarding the Charedi communities.
“The younger generation of rabbis are today under a level of scrutiny their predecessors never had to undergo. The details of their personal lives and foibles are circulated on websites. Rival factions have multiple channels through which to disseminate damaging gossip and promote their own champions. The mythologisation necessary in constructing the image of a gadol [a great one]- is impossible. The successful resurrection of the yeshivas after the ravages of the Holocaust produced thousands of charismatic and learned rabbis. The market of Torah greatness is wide open and no competitor has a chance of cornering it.”
In previous generations, leading rabbis could rely on the relative ignorance of most of their followers, who could not spend decades of their own in study, but tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of Haredi men, and a small but increasing number of women, are capable today of analyzing rabbinical rulings and picking and choosing their preferred rabbi.
The scrutiny faced by potential candidates to be the spiritual leaders in the UK will also be significant but one hopes that once elected their community’s will fully back them rather than splinter. For, one question I ask myself is whether there can be the kind of leader in future imbued with such a combination of yichus (pedigree), chochma (wisdom), kavannah (integrity in prayer) and mazal (luck – being in the right place at the right time) that previous generations experienced. Perhaps the current composition of our government is a sign of our future.
This is also true in Liberal Judaism. Our legend cites 3 founding leaders. There were of course others significant to establishing the Jewish Religious Union and later the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues, now Liberal Judaism – it is just that there names did not begin with an ‘M.’ Of course I am being flippant but it is Mattuck, Montagu and Montefiore who we most remember. We have had other important leaders especially Rabbi John Raynor. Today, I would argue, we have no such giant of leadership. Are we in a power vacuum, do we have a paucity of talent. Possibly one might argue that but I want to suggest that we are experiencing a different phenomena.
In our Rabbinic Conference of Liberal Judaism, we have yichus, chochma, kavannah, and mazal enough. It is just that no one person has a monopoly upon them all or indeed any one character trait.
One of the current watchwords of academics in all fields is ‘collaboration.’ Might this be the modus operandi not only for our future leadership within Synagogue denominations but even, let us dare to suggest, across denominations and organizations?
Central to this question is whether one can define the goal towards which we might all collaborate. Wonderfully, the aspect of Judaism that non-Jews might suspect would unite us as One, is what actually divides us – God; or at least the nature and exercise of our relationship with the Divine. The glue that bound our ancient ancestors into a People is now considerably less adhesive. Yet at events such as Limmud, we glimpse the potential of collaboration.
In such tight economic times, I receive weekly requests from our UK Jewish (and non-Jewish) charities, desperate for money to continue their important work. In Anglo-Jewry, we do not need leaders or even constituencies that seek to drive or hound competition out of town. Rather, if we believe in the importance of our organizations – religious and secular – leaders will be leaders, by collaborating.
Moses gets all the plaudits of leadership in the Torah – perhaps it is because his name begins with a ‘Mem!’ But it was a combination of the Hebrew midwives, Shiphra and Puah, his mother and sister Yocheved and Miriam, Pharoah’s wife, Jethro and Zipporah, who nurture the life that can appreciate the centrality of God and People. We know about, Moses, Aaron and Miriam, even Joshua. We know little of the leaders of tribes, clans and households that collaborated with them to insure their survival. Moses witnessed and perceived God in the Burning Bush yet all the People saw and perceived God in a blazing fire at Sinai. Moses, Miriam and Aaron may have led the Israelites through the wilderness but the collaboration of the People was essential. Joshua led the People into the Promised Land and the collective conquered it. Then they settled and quarreled. Can a settled People collaborate successfully?
For the Charedim, for the United Synagogue and Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in the UK, let us hope they can find ways to sensibly collaborate. Further division will only lead to disillusionment that serves none of us well. In our own lives, let us always seek the way to collaborate towards a goal. Mind you, if your name begins with an ‘M’ you may end up being remembered as the leader whatever you do!
Have you heard the one about the Jewish sailor, shipwrecked on a desert island who built one synagogue because it made more sense than building two to satisfy his grudges? Maybe one day we will.
|
|
