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[The following was submitted by Lawrence Epstein by Email]
The Reform Movement should adopt a binding system of moral mitzvot.
Currently, individual members of the Reform Movement decide for themselves
which mitzvot to follow. An obligatory moral system separates rituals, which
are seen as customs or folkways of particular times rather than divine
obligations, from the moral teachings derived from Jewish tradition that
cohere with contemporary values. Of course, ritual and moral mitzvot cannot
always be rigidly separated. They overlap in some cases such as in the
obligations of prayer, study, and family holiday gatherings.
A system of moral mitzvot is different from traditional halakhah, the codified
rules drawn from the Bible and Talmud, from progressive halakhah, the idea
that the halakhah is evolving so that it can still be the basis for rules
governing contemporary life, and from the absence of any mandated moral
behavior.
Adopting such a system strengthens bonds to Jewish tradition without accepting
traditional halakhah. Seeing the moral mitzvot as obligatory gives the
spiritual and ethical a more tangible and prominent place in the lives of the
Movement's members.
One disadvantage is that adopting a system of mandatory mitzvot means the
voluntary surrender of some personal autonomy or freedom for Reform Jews. But
by choosing to join a faith community, Reform Jews already surrender some
individual autonomy. They can't, for example, accept Jesus as the messiah
and authentically be termed Reform Jews.
Will a required system cause current members to leave? Most Reform Jews
already believe in Jewish moral ideas or they wouldn't identify as Reform
Jews. Having a required system may also make it easier for traditional but
unaffiliated Jews who are currently reluctant to join the Reform Movement to
do so because a system of mitzvot is analogous to the halakhah they are used
to following, thus increasing membership.
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I just created a group for mail.liberal-judaism on Facebook. Click here to see it.
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[I posted this on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cahwyguy yesterday, but it should also be posted here. Do let me know if you are interested in the Facebook group -- if there's interest, I'll create it this evening when I get home.]
Back on July 9, 1991, I started the Liberal-judaism Mailing List. That list was intended as a place “where liberal jews (Reform, Reconstructionist, Secular Humanist) can discuss issues without fear of attacks about the legitimacy of their movements with respect to the Orthopractic point of view.” The list was moderated, and (quoting again from v1n1) the “only filtering of submissions that I plan to do is (a) removal of Orthodox attacks, (b) removal of prostletyzing (Messianic)s, and requests for possible rewording for clearly inflamatory or offensive material.”
It is now almost 18 years later. There really hasn’t been any discussion on the list since April 2008 (v17n9). I didn’t even bother to start Volume 18 because submissions were so low; I haven’t had any, except for the occasionally mass-cross-posted notice, since then. I must reluctantly conclude that MLJ is dormant, if not dead. I did try to start a parallel community on Livejournal (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) mlj_on_lj), but it never took off.
I’m writing this not to mourn MLJ. Seventeen years is a long time in Internet years. What I’m wondering if whether the general mailing list model is dying. I know mail.jewish is still going on; I have no idea if SF-LOVERS still exists. My guess is that mailing lists of this form, especially digested moderated lists, have been overtaken by PHP bulletin boards, groups on Facebook, communities on LJ, and all sorts of social networking sites.
I know I’ve moved away from mailing lists. My writing now is here on Livejournal, or short status posts on Facebook. I have a few readers on both from MLJ days. Today I received a subscription request for MLJ (which is what prompted this post), and in that discussion I suggested possibly creating a Facebook group for mail.liberal-judaism, to at least preserve the community. Opinions? Certainly, it wouldn’t be moderated, although I guess membership could require approval.
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On the emailed version of MLJ, Julian Y asked: I have recently become aware of CUFI (Christians United for Israel) and have been astounded by the polarization of the response. I would like to better understand how members of MLJ feel about these supporters of Israel and why they feel that way. I am aware of supporters and opponents to Christian Zionists from both ends of the religious and political spectrum and would like to see it discussed on this forum. Jerry B responded: CUFI was founded and is headed by the Rev. James Hagee, a known bigot who realized that getting the Jews to Israel are essential for setting up the conditions for Armeggedon, the Tribulations, and the so-called "second coming." In other words, he views Jews and Zionism as instruments in his bigoted views of Salvation, which will be available only to those who take the Christ, Jesus as their path to Salvation. In other words, he views the Jews as cannon fodder for a war, the "ultimate war" in his world.
(He also is a bigot, believing his view of Salvation is the only valid one, and condemns Catholics, Muslims, though he is judiciously silent about his true feelings about Jewish salvation. I won't get into that now, though.)
No thanks, I don't think this Jew and Zionist needs to hitch a ride with him. Michael L responded: My perspective: These people support Israel only insofar as it has a part to play in their eschatology. Since that involves a global war that starts in Israel and the violent death of every Jew who will not convert to Christianity, I am less than enthusiastic about their organization.
One might feel that their bizarre and bigoted religious beliefs don't matter so long as they support Israel, but they do. Their beliefs lead their "support" to be directed at specific parties and specific political goals which I believe are in fact antithetical to increasing Israel's security.
In short: with friends like these, who needs enemas? So what have the readers on the LJ side heard?
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Those following the obituaries know well that this weekend brought the death of Tammy Faye Messner, previously Tammy Faye Baker, of PTL fame. But there was another religious death in the news...
The Washington Post is reporting the death of Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, in an auto accident at the age of 79. SHJ is a very controversial movement in Judaism (almost as controversial as Chabad :-)), for SHJ is a Jewish movement that doesn’t believe in God. At all. Wine saw the religion as a culture instead of a faith -- in this aspect, it was similar to Reconstructionist Judaism, but the latter does hold with God. Wine established SHJ in 1969, and it now numbers over 40,000 members. In 1998, SHJ leaders were invited to participate in the United Jewish Community, a move that SHJ believes validated their movement as Judaism's fifth sect, joining Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox.
So here’s to Sherwin Wine, founder of SHJ. May God... (oh right).
[Crossposted to cahwyguy and mlj_on_lj]
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As it is lunch time, I figure that (as moderator) I should post a discussion topic to help get mlj_on_lj moving, and to give people an idea of how the anticipated topic differ in tone from other communities. So here goes.
Recently, I received the dues statement from our congregation (around $2,700, when you add in dues, brotherhood, sisterhood, ARZA, URJ, security fees, and facilities fees). These dues, of course, will be on top of school fees (around $900 for 8th grade for my daughter) and Bat Mitzvah fees (totalling around $3000 when you add in the mandatory donation (20% of food), security, facility, sisterhood flowers, etc). Of course, on top of this, are all the appeals for donations during the year, from the High Holy Days to ad books. Looking at this, I wonder if the way we fund our congregations today is broken.
I was discussing this with a Christian friend, who is amazed at how congregations do it. After all, their congregations run (so she claims) on the 10% tithing, perhaps with some support from the central organization. They don't seem to have the intense budgeting process. I remember this from my days on a congregation board: budgeting was a pain, and dues calculation and fee setting was even more of a pain. Unless you had large endowments to live off of, the process of paying the daily bills and cash flow issues was hard.
So what is the right way to do this? How do we fund our congregations so that they remain alive and vibrant, something useful to the community... but also something that doesn't price out the lower and middle class (and potentially even the upper-middle class) members?
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To those just coming by to visit, welcome to Volume 17 of the Liberal Judaism Mailing List, the start of our 17th year of publication, and the year we are attempting to move over to a LiveJournal community.
To those unfamiliar with MLJ, I encourage you to visit our profile or the list’s homepage. Here is some relevant information:
( What Is MLJ? )
I welcome you to mlj_on_lj
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nsshere’s Bat Mitzvah is this coming December (last parasha in Genesis). As such, we’re starting to think about the specifics (we had the date and the social hall reserved last June). We’re also starting to look to other B’nei Mitzvot for inspiration... and horror stories. Most of these are being reported to me by nsshere herself, as her friends are also at that age, and she’s getting a lot of invitations.
First, a comment on this. It seems the trend now is to invite just the kids (just like birthday parties), with a note to the parents to pick them up at a particular time. Economically, I can see why this is being done. Meals are typically the most expensive part of the reception. You don’t want to add the whole family. But looking at it, it also seem telling. When I grew up, not only did kids know kids, but parents knew the parents. The kids socialized; the parents socialized. This seems much less so now, and I think it reflects how society has changed. But I digress.
nsshere has gone to a number of services and receptions; after each one I talk to her about what she liked and didn’t like. I’m pleased that this is reflecting the quality of the head on her shoulders; she has already written in her blog “I want a normal person party. My daddy isn't a fountain of cash, is he?” Smart girl, that one!
One thing that she always comments on first is the service, not the reception. She’s realized it is poor form when the celebrant is not well prepared, doesn’t know the trop, cannot lead the service. She also doesn’t like it when the celebrant has minimal involvement in the service. These observations are good things, for when her training begins in earnest (5/22, according to the letter we just received), they will push her into doing a good job. I think we’re also at a good congregation for involvement, for the clergy believes in (a) having the kid almost all of the service, and (b) making sure the kid does a good job and has a positive experience. I still wish Rabbi Sheryl was down here, for I loved her approach, but you can’t have everything (those of you in Sacramento: appreciate your gift).
One decision she’s growing to appreciate is our decision to hold the reception in the social hall. She’s been to receptions in hotels, at the LA Equestrian Center, at the LA Zoo. She’s been to some very ritzy ones, and I think she’s beginning to realize that the glitz isn’t everything. You also don’t need a crazy bus driver to take you from the sanctuary to the social hall!
So what does she want for the reception? A theatre theme. A lot of her friends (right now, our guest list is at around 115). She wants everyone to be served the same dinner (no kids meals), ideally from a temple member who has a catering business. She’s thinking middle-eastern: chicken, israeli salads, hummous, veggies, etc. She doesn’t want a loud DJ with stupid games and even louder suggestive music. She’s into showtunes and the Spice Girls, and is thinking of some form of karaoke or “American Idol” type of competition, with kids singing showtunes or Spice Girls. She also wants lots of Israeli dancing, and has talking about a zmirot session in the past (although I’m not sure this is current thinking). We’re already talking about designing our own “Playbill” style invitation--I don’t think she wants the fancy extra engraved ones. We’re still figuring out the other stuff.
So, why am I telling you this? I’d love to hear your experiences with this type of planning. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? How do you keep things centered in this era of excess?
[This is crossposted to cahwyguy and mlj_on_lj. Please note: Any LJ user can post on mlj_on_lj, subject to moderation. Only members of mlj_on_lj can respond to posts, so join today!]
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Yitzhak Buxbaum asked, on the Mailing List side:
Anybody have a good story or stories for kids of different ages 5 - 12 let's say for Israel Independence Day?
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As I wrote almost 17 years ago when I started this mailing list...
Welcome to the Beta-Test version of the mail.liberal-judaism mailing list. I view the list as a place where liberal jews (Reform, Reconstructionist, Secular Humanist) can discuss issues without fear of attacks about the legitimacy of their movements with respect to the Orthopractic point of view. The only filtering of submissions that I plan to do is (a) removal of Orthodox attacks, (b) removal of prostletyzing (Messianic)s, and requests for possible rewording for clearly imflamatory or offensize material. I plan to model the list after the excellent mail.jewish mailing list run by Avi Feldblum. I quote from his welcoming message:
Try to be gentle and tactful. If you want to post an article mail it to me and state that it is for submission to the mailing list. Anonymity will be preserved on request.
Cross posting between soc.culture.jewish and mail.jewish is discouraged. [For those not on Usenet, soc.culture.jewish is a newsgroup on Usenet, and this mailing list was started by members of that newsgroup.] Publishing any of the mail.jewish digests or portions thereof on any other medium including s.c.j without asking me or the originator of the article represents a breach of trust as many of the people who write in wish their privacy preserved. I feel the same rules apply here. With that, let's get started...  Of course, with this being Livejournal, there are a few differences: - This is a moderated community. Posts will be sent to the moderator (me) for review and approval before posting. Unlike the mailing list version, I do not have the ability to edit your posts or add commentary.
- Comments may also be moderated; I haven’t decided that yet.
- If you do not have access to Livejournal, then how are you reading this? Seriously, if you want something posted anonymously, mail it to moderator -at mljewish.org, and I’ll post it for you
- Please place larger images behind <lj-cut>s. For information see this FAQ entry.
- During the "beta" (testing) period, membership in this community is limited to those individuals that are already members of mail.liberal-judaism.
So, with that, let’s get started....
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