I was startled by a question asked two weeks ago by a friend of mine while sitting over lunch in synagogue. He asked me if Judaism and democracy were compatible.
Before I explore that question I want to provide some background on how the fervently liberal and the fervently Orthodox behave with respect to traditions, especially traditions that don’t make any sense.
Mine is not the only progressive Jewish voice in Canada. My close friend David Mivasair is an activist and rabbi in Vancouver. David is both Reconstructionist and Jewish Renewal.
There are two Reconstructionist rabbis other than David in Canada, one of whom I know quite well, one of whom I have met; there are two other Jewish Renewal rabbis in Canada — both of whom I know.
So there are six progressive Jewish rabbis in Canada. I’m one of them. I know all the others. (I do not want to slight Elyse Goldstein, who leads Kolel in Toronto, but neither do I know her.)
I subscribe to HonestReporting.ca, which gives a very different perspective than that offered by Tikkun‘s Michael Lerner.
Michael Lerner and I disagree on more than a few matters with respect to Israel. I am, after all, fundamentally Orthodox. That aside, and it is a small matter, Michael’s prophetic voice sings to me and influences me.
Honest Reporting is, I suppose, a neoconservative Jewish media monitor. There are quite a few “Honest Reporting” wesbites, so they represent a coordinated effort of some type. Whose? I’ve never really been certain. I love a mystery.
Note: This article has been changed from its original format. Pictures remain the same but have been moved. Some text has been changed.
Second of two parts
The Different Ways A Hijab Is Worn
Hijabs are quite common in Montreal. My wife, the scholar of religion Dr Susan J Landau-Chark, attended Concordia University for her PhD studies. Concordia is in the middle of probably the single largest community of Muslim students in the city.
Many among the Muslim observant have not yet grappled with the issues called “reasonable accommodation” in Quebec. Until perhaps the last generation Muslims have largely lived in Muslim majority societies.
Asma Uddin’s speculations about how Muslims must recondition themselves for western society is an important contribution. Most observant perspectives, however, irrespective of the cultural or confessional tradition, eventually evolve.
But there will always be the remnant who won’t permit evolution or who, like me, permit it but take what we like and leave the rest. We must be permitted to hold on to what we think our faith tells us.
Wearing the talit over the head. Is this not a type of "hijab"?
I wear my talit (a “prayer shawl”) over my head. This is called in the Jewish tradition “Aravit” (according to the custom of the Arabs). I’ll never forget the first time I covered my head with my talit in a Conservative synagogue: the rabbi was very upset — this was an Orthodox custom!
Alana Price’s beautiful essay reminds us: we do not need to agree. There will always be a call in western society to set aside the difference and assimilate, however, and this must be resisted.
The picture on the left is by no means traditional — a woman in talit and tefilin remains controversial, even though it shouldn’t be.
The Talit I wear -- called a "Rainbow Talit"
A Woman in Talit & Tefilin
The daughters of a noted commentator, Rashi, wore tefilin; halakha (Jewish law) clearly states women can wear talit (and then equivocates by adding “but this is not our custom”).
I’ll add to this in some of next week’s posts, which will look at democracy and free speech: Are these compatible with traditional Jewish perspectives on governance?
It is not possible to be fully cultural in a multicultural society. Should that be a reason not to try to be cultural as possible?
Certainly not… but see how easy it is to fall into the trap Alana warns us about! Peter Marmorek takes me to task for being too general in my assertions about Montreal. He’s right. The politics of language, which in Montreal is a constant narrative, makes it impossible not to regularly encounter racist rhetoric — and it works both ways:
My bigotry gets projected right back: this is no less part of the language debate than asserting the superiority of French over English.
Montreal and Quebec do, however, take many cues from France, and there can be little doubt that multiculturalism there is in serious jeopardy.
M Sarkozy, the French president, suggests that traditional clothing does not belong in France. This is echoed by similar sentiments in Quebec. Both France and Quebec — and we must recall this — were terribly damaged by the Catholic Church.
Our tikkunish ears may be attuned to the liberation theology of some Catholics but liberation theology is well after the reforms of Vatican II.
The Quiet Revolution in Quebec all but disempowered the Church, which finally lost the constitutional entitlement to public confessional schools only in 1998.
All Catholic discourse, no matter how liberated, is now blithely ignored by many in Quebec.
The Quiet Revolution occurred because an ascendant Church in Quebec had a sense of entitlement. I would urge the ascendant religious of every faith to heed the lessons of the Quiet Revolution.
It is possible to be just like everyone else — but different. I’ll explore that tomorrow in my post about being a Jewish progressive in Canada.
Note: The headline has been changed, some text has been removed, and a picture has been added since this article was originally published.
First of two parts
St Joseph's Oratory in the Snowdon-Cote-des-Neiges district of Montreal
I left Montreal not quite three years ago. And I was very happy to leave.
Montreal is not a pluralistic city. It is a frankly racist city. People are accustomed to it: they make excuses for egregious and blatantly racist assertions, which most often come from Quebec nationalists who complain about the “ethnic” vote (meaning either Jews or Italians, depending on the context).
The news was consumed in 2006 with the Bouchard-Taylor inquiry, formed by the provinicial government to report on race relations in Quebec. This would be a sensitive topic anywhere. In Quebec it was explosive.
Third in a series
Medicating in Montreal
Some commentators in Canada feel that the health care debate in the USA should open up a debate also in Canada.
Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada 1993-2003
I can’t imagine why. We’ve been debating it by complaining long and loud since 1995, when the Liberal government of Jean Chretien decided it was a Conservative government and began to destroy health care in the name of deficit fighting.
Canada abandoned Keynes and endorsed Hayek overnight.
It is a fortunate person who has a private physician today. For my first four years in Montreal I mostly used clinics, now ubiquitous in most Canadian cities, where one can wait two hours to see a physician.
My last three years in Montreal I was fortunate to find Mark, who has become a friend as well as my doctor, but I’ve lived in Ottawa two years next month and don’t have a GP here.
Second in a series
Halakha (Jewish law) is a normative legal system: It is primarily about good order and governance (what scholars of law call “municipal law”).
I teach the halakha of chaplaincy. The halakha of chaplaincy is also the halakha of health care. The price of medication, for example, must be standardised.
First in a series
I have been given a challenge: define a Canadian prophetic vision to mesh with Tikkun’s prophetic voice. My next series of posts will explore that challenge. In this post I will discuss the politics of sexuality, specifically GLBT pride.
The Natonal Post says: Gay Pride Isn’t Political Anymore.
I want to set a context to help international readers understand the opinion of Canada’s National Post newspaper, one of two nationally circulated newspapers in Canada.
The Canadian head of state, Michaelle Jean, is a black woman who speaks English, French and Creole. She is originally from Haiti. Our previous governor-general, Adrienne Clarkson, is Chinese and born inHong Kong. Three of the last six governors-general were women. Four of the last six were ethnic Canadians — black, Chinese, and Ukranian.
The politics of race in Canada most certainly exists — but there is nothing noteworthy at all in having either a female or an ethnic head of state. This idea, what the Nat Post calls “tolerance”, a word I dislike, has germinated in Canada for the better part of two generations and is applicable now to the politics of sexuality.
Diane Ablonczy, Canada's Minister of Small Business & Tourism
Diane Ablonczy, the Canadian minister responsible for distributing The Marquee Tourism Festival Program, has lost her authority to oversee and distribute the $100-million federal fund. The reason: Ms Ablonczy approved a $400,000 grant to Pride Week in Toronto.
The fund was established to support Canada’s largest festivals and attractions over 2009 and 2010.
The current government of Canada is formed by the Conservative Party. This was previously called the Progressive-Conservative (PC) Party. It was was fiscally conservative but socially progressive (the “Red Tories“); there was always a rump of “Blue Tories” who were strictly fiscal conservatives, though not socially so.
Blue Tories governed Ontario the same way that Richard Daly governed Chicago: for decades. Though Daly was a working class Democrat and the Blue Tories anything but.
The PC Party governed in Canada throughout the 1980s but was defeated in 1993 and left with only two seats in Parliament (of the 151 they had as government). The Reform Party, a social conservative party rooted in Western Canada, elected 52 members and over time managed to merge with the PC Party. When the merger was complete the “Progressive” was dropped.
An acquaintance of mine, who is Syrian-Palestinian, and does not think himself an anti-Semite (but is, in my opinion) sent an email with the following subject:
It has been said that the greatest enemies the Jews have are other Jews. This has long been known historically. The Disputations forced on Jews by Catholics in medieval Europe were oft-arranged by Jewish apostates (sometimes by choice, sometimes under duress). Opponents of Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century would routinely denounce the Hasidim to the authorities, which often resulted in Hasidic leaders being jailed or held for ransom.
And now Shlomo Zand, a professor at the University of Tel-Aviv, has published When And How Was The Jewish People Invented? in which he suggests that most Jews don’t originate from the ancient Land of Israel, never existed as a “nation-race” with a common origin, and are descendants of European, Russian and African groups that at various stages in history adopted the Jewish religion.
The “official” Jewish community in Canada confuses social justice with Jewish advocacy. It is for this reason that the Metivta of Ottawa has formed the Jewish Courts for Social Justice.
The Jewish Courts of Social Justice at The Metivta of Ottawa
Social justice by Jews in Canada is not a well-established activity. Ve’ahavta, run in Toronto by my friend Avrum Rosensweig, has become an important Jewish contribution to social justice. Mazon Canada does a wonderful job. The Recontructionist Synagoge in Montreal undertakes social justice initiatives and has an annual Empty Bowls project. These are all important Jewish contributions.
These are all local Jewish contributions.
Not a true picture of Reb Arie on his computer... but very, very close
WALL*E is an abbreviation for Waste Allocation Load Lifter (Earth-Class), a robot designed only to collect, crush, and bale garbage.
WE meet WALL*E in the animated film named for him. He is the last of his kind and has been operating for 700 years.
Independent Jewish Voices of Canada (IJV) is a Canadian organisation formed to disagree with Canada’s three primary Jewish communal agencies. This is an important development and one that Canada’s organised Jewish community had better learn to contend with, something it has not yet done.
I am a rabbi, I debuted Caryl Churchill‘s play Seven Jewish Children (7JC for short) in Canada , and so let us please not have any nonsense about 7JC being anti-Semitic – unless you want to dare suggest that I am an anti-Semite? Caryl Churchill is a playwright based in the United Kingdom. She appropriates the Jewish voice for her play, and in my correspondence with her I have told her that she didn’t succeed at it that well. I appreciate the risk that went into her artistic conceit, an artistic conceit that is not anti-Semitic. You would have to make a case for the Torah being an anti-Semitic document to suggest so.
My dilemma as a modern rabbi is how to answer the very modern question “What kind of rabbi are you?” I haven’t ever had a ready answer for that question. Last year at a synagogue in New York the rabbi (with whom I spent Shabbat) said to me “I thought you were Jewish Renewal until you told me that you don’t eat before you daven (pray) in the morning. Then I realised you were Orthodox.”
He got it wrong both times.
I let Jews and Judaisms merge deeply in me even as I make room for the “Other” also. I’m authentically Chasidic (spiritual/mystical) to Conservative Jews (who tend to be rational, scientific, and “mainline” about their Judaism), authentically Masorti (traditional Conservative) to Haredi (fervently Orthodox) Jews, and authentically a question mark to Jewish progressives, with whom I deeply identify, irrespective of whether they are spiritual or secular.
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