Rabbi Knocks “Unity Lecture”

By Rabbi Brad Hirschfield

British Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, will address a global audience this Sunday. The questions raised by the format of the address, its sponsorship and who is giving it however, raise important questions about its stated goal of building Jewish unity.

Given Rabbi Sack’s work in books such as Dignity of Difference, To Heal a Fractured World, and The Home We Build Together, and his engaging speaking style, this public address in advance of Passover, should be quite interesting. For those interested in hearing the talk, more information about how to do so can be found at www.unitylecture.com, but that is beside the point.

The real issue is what is meant by “Jewish unity” and whether the initiative which brings us this talk is actually building it or undermining it. My guess is that it is doing some of both.

Jewish unity is invoked by virtually every Jewish cause, but too often it means nothing more than effectively gathering people under a specific set of beliefs or practices already held by one group. That’s not unity, its uniformity. And it’s more of a marketing ploy that plays on our need to feel whole or unified in our often fractured lives and world. My concern is that this talk is an example of just that use of Jewish unity.

The talk itself is being delivered globally, only in the sense that there will be places around the world where it will be screened. But the screenings are almost always in Chabad centers. In New York State they are only in Chabad centers, with one possible exception. New York is not without a large number of Jewish institutions, and yet there is no way to access this “global address” without entering the world of Chabad. Not that there is anything wrong with that, or with Chabad. But if the purpose of the talk is to build Jewish unity, would it not be appropriate to make this as available as possible to as many Jews as possible in as many places as possible?

The same critique can be made of the presenters who are part of this series, which was kicked off by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who is followed by Rabbi Sacks, who is followed by Former Israeli Chief Rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great men, from all of whom it has been my privilege to learn, and from whom we can all learn more. But an all Orthodox, all male, group is hardly reflective of anyone’s desire unify the Jewish people on the Jewish people’s own terms.

In fact, the very notion of Chief Rabbis is pretty weird for most Jews, even those in England and Israel where the two chief rabbis come from. In England, the United Synagogue is anything but. Despite the enlightened and sophisticated leadership which Rabbi Sacks provides, the official Jewish religion of the UK is a quickly shrinking thing.

And in Israel, one can easily argue that no group has done more to damage the good name of Torah and Judaism than the state sponsored chief rabbinate. Offering Jews a “my way or the highway” approach to Judaism in Israel, it has created generations of Jews who feel forced to choose between their Jewishness and their personal integrity. And given that choice, we know how most people choose.

Chabad is a truly amazing organization. They are among the most/only groups that are truly fearless about the future and about the ability of Judaism and its teaching to contribute to making that future better. Of course, I would be lying if I failed to tell you that CLAL is also high on that short list.

But representatives of Chabad, like the Starship Enterprise, have often gone where no man has gone before, in order to celebrate their brand of Judaism with all who are interested. That demonstrates a love of what they live and a confidence about its value from which all believers in any cause, can learn.

In the end however, that alone does not build the kind of unity for which most of us yearn. To achieve real unity, we must learn to celebrate diversity, be grateful for the unique gifts and insights that come from those who do not look like us, think like us, or practice like us. We must come to fully embrace what Rabbi Sacks calls the dignity of difference, about which I hope he speaks on Sunday. When we do that, the “unity thing” will take care of itself.

– Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is an author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He is listed as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek. This article appeared as a blog on beliefnet.com