Torah Study Blog

Last week we looked at a passage in the Torah that identifies cult prostitutes. Prostitution was an acknowledged and accepted fact of biblical life, but we also saw that money earned by a prostitute while plying their trade cannot be used to fulfill a vow to God, because God would find that to be abhorrent.

Rabbi Jaech led us in a discussion of modern-day questions about money coming to a synagogue from, what some might call, questionable sources. These questions were submitted to the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), which is the Reform Rabbinic leadership organization here in America.

Reform rabbis who are grappling with how to answer modern questions about Judaism and Jewish living can request guidance from the CCAR leadership. A question is submitted and the CCAR committee will, much like the US Supreme Court, give a ruling on what they believe to be the correct response. However, unlike the Supreme Court, the CCAR rulings provide the educated opinions of those rabbis on the committee but they are not binding.

Reaching out to rabbis to guide us in this way is not new; in fact it is the entire basis of the Judaism we practice today. Religious practice in the Torah is ritual sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. Because the Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE, no Jews practice the ritual of the Torah anymore. Instead, in the 2000 years since the destruction of the Temple, people have turned to rabbis for guidance on questions about Judaism and Jewish living.

There are two questions about accepting donations to a synagogue that came before the CCAR committee: The first question asked if donations from known criminals are allowed. And, if so, can you put up a plaque in their name?

Using teachings from as long ago as the Talmud, the first part of which was recorded in the second century CE, and up to and including any teachings that have “stood the test of time” the CCAR came to the conclusion that it is allowed to accept donations from a known criminal. Monies that are directly from illegal acts should not be accepted. But if the money has been filtered through other business dealings (i.e. laundered) donations are acceptable. The CCAR points out that it is a mitzvah to support the synagogue and we should not prevent a sinner from performing a righteous act.

However, a plaque cannot be put up in the name of a known criminal. Putting up such a plaque gives honor to the criminal and the synagogue should not do that. One way around that is that a criminal can put up a plaque in the name of someone else, perhaps his parents, and then include his own name as the donor.

The second question submitted to the CCAR committee asked whether donations by a group of Messianic Jews (one well-known subset of this movement is Jews for Jesus) should be accepted. Messianic Jews are considered apostates to Judaism because they have renounced the principle beliefs of Judaism; they believe the messiah already came in the form of Jesus Christ. We should keep in mind that the earliest Christians were actually Jews who were unhappy with the leaders of their religious life and they sought to break away.

Messianic Jews today practice a religion that is “draped in the Hebrew language and Jewish religious symbolism.” The CCAR believes it is duplicitous that Messianic Jews blur the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity, perhaps to try to attract converts from Judaism to Christianity. By couching their religion in known facets of Jewish religion perhaps it feels more comfortable for some Jews to come over to accepting Jesus as the Messiah. The CCAR believes these people are Christians, not Jews.

The CCAR would say that these people are transgressors because their practices violate the religious norms of Judaism. The standard approach to anyone that is a transgressor is to have the rabbinic court of the community impose a cherem – a type of boundary that excludes the transgressor from the religious community. It is a way to “shun” people who do not behave as the community prescribes.

Interestingly, one of the highlights of the Yom Kippur service is Kol Nidre. At the opening of the Kol Nidre service we pray as a community for repentance. We say in English, “let none be excluded from our community of prayer … let all find a place in this sacred assembly.” But a better translation from the Aramaic would be, “we sanction prayer with the transgressors.” Because the entire community is coming together to pray for the well-being of the community, to leave anyone out would give bad juju. The Talmud portion Keritot states that, “Any fast that does not include the presence of the Jewish sinners in not a fast.” The sinners might wreak havoc on a community, but they are still part of the community and should pray to God for forgiveness for the well-being of the entire community.

But, as Torah Study attendee Jeffrey Schrier pointed out, Orthodox Jews don’t think Reform Jews are “real” Jews. Rabbi Jaech is not sure she would follow this second ruling from the CCAR. She finds it perplexing that we could accept a donation from a confessed murderer, but not from a Jews for Jesus follower. Rabbi Jaech reminded us that she teaches that Reform Judaism is a practice based on action, not just belief. What we do, how we treat others, how we contribute to the greater society around us, is what really matters, which is why Social Action is such a large part of Reform Judaism today.

misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter