Sacred Wrestling

December 12, 2008
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

Congregation Jewish Community North is a member congregation of the Union for Reform Judaism. We belong to the Reform movement. But I have never liked the name "Reform" Judaism. On the one hand, it reminds me of reform schools; and, on the other extreme, it smacks of the Protestant Reformation. There is no doubt that the German-Jewish pioneers of our movement thought of themselves as "reformers" and put positive value on creating a Judaism that was fresh and different, even as it was recognizable and true to the spirit of Reform.

Like Jacob wrestling with his stranger, the early Reformers were concerned about practical matters. Their Boards of Trustees met until the wee hours of the night, exploring new ways of doing old things. They set tasks for their historians and scholars to determine what was "real" about the Judaism they inherited and what was "frozen" and "constricting."

For example, they debated the necessity of wearing the kippah (the yarmulke) and scholars found little ancient validity in this kind of head-covering. The stories of Samson and Absalom show that biblical men did not cover their heads and the archaeological evidence portrays ancient Jews going bare-headed. In the Talmud, one rabbi put on a head covering during the day to remind himself that the Shechinah, God's Presence, was always above him. But this was considered an extraordinary way to act. More customary was for the person leading prayer to raise the tallit from his shoulders to cover his head as a sign that he was the leader.

The first enactment or law concerning the kipah dates to 1570, when wearing a kippah in prayer was ordained specifically because Christians worshiped without a head covering. The point was, then, that Jews should not behave according to non-Jewish law. If Christians went bareheaded, Jews should wear a head covering. Now, in the mid-1800s, the leaders of the Reform synagogue in Berlin debated the kippah and decided that it was improper to formulate Jewish law based on what other religions do or do not do. So they made it a matter of choice. After that, some preachers in Berlin would speak with bare heads, while others continued to cover their heads.

In the United States, the first congregation to ordain against the kippah was in Baltimore, but it was soon followed by congregations in New York and elsewhere. In some Reform synagogues, going bareheaded was considered obligatory, while in others it was a custom and people could choose to do as they pleased.

This is just one example of how the study of the past became a keystone for the new reformers of Judaism. In the same way, they looked to the past for objections against musical instruments and found that this was a way of keeping the hopes for a Third Temple alive. But, since they did not wish to see a Third Temple in Jerusalem, and they did not wish to return to the primitive forms represented by animal sacrifice, there was no real reason for them not to use musical instruments in the synagogue.

The leaders of the Conservative movement proceeded more slowly, but in the same general direction. By the 1950s, the American Conservative movement declared that it was permissible to drive on the Sabbath, if the car was being used to go to the synagogue. Yet the ordinary members of the Conservative movement did not fail to grasp the truth. If it is permissible to drive to synagogue on the Sabbath, it must be permissible to drive on the Sabbath -- anywhere, in fact. There cannot be one law for going to the synagogue and another for going in some other direction. The choice was either drive or do not drive. And the leaders of the Conservative movement found it difficult to argue against this position.

I could go through a dozen more examples of how the ritual laws of the synagogue were examined and changed, with each change having as logical a basis as the old laws once had. But the overarching point is what is important. Through wrestling with everyday rituals, they created a Judaism that they could admire and a religious practice that felt comfortable to them.

And that is why I am reminded of Jacob wrestling with the stranger. To this very day, the hallmark of being a Reform synagogue is wrestling with the laws and rituals. The customs belong to us. We do not belong to the customs. If there is a Bar Mitzvah, why should there not be an equal ceremony for women, a Bat Mitzvah? If there is a Brit Milah, a circumcision ceremony to introduce male babies to the Jewish congregation, then why should we not create a Bat Milah, a ceremony which omits the circumcision by necessity, but otherwise introduces female babies to the Jewish congregation? If men can create a Torah commentary which expresses male concerns, why should not the women of Reform create a Torah commentary which speaks to the concerns of women?

In our time, we have returned to the wearing of the kippah, even though we do not insist on it. Many of us also wear a tallit on Saturday mornings, even though we do not insist on it. We have thrown away a lot of the changes made by the early reformers, but not the spirit they passed on to us -- the spirit of wrestling with the tradition to make it something we admire and something we respect and something that feels comfortable to us.

Reform is no longer the best word for this process. The Judaism that we create day by day is not a reforming of our Judaism. It has its own authenticity because we are creating it and we are living by it. Perhaps we should call it "Present-Day" Judaism because any other kind of Judaism lives virtually in the past. But I think it is best to just call it Quintessential Judaism, meaning, "the best form of Judaism that we have evolved up to this moment." Tomorrow we may change it some more; and the day after that, we may still be changing it. Change is our way of wrestling with choices. As long as we can wrestle with our Jewish way of life, there is ample proof that our Jewish way of life matters to us. It is only if we stop wrestling that we stop being the most forward-looking Jews on the planet.

So welcome to CJCN, where sacred wrestling is always happening. And let us say, Amen.