Jewish Outreach, or "kiruv" in Hebrew, often targets college students and young professionals in an effort to make them orthodox. This blog exists to educate students and their parents about kiruv, outreach professionals, their supporters, their practices, and their motives.
The talk around town has been about the scandal surrounding Rabbi Barry Freundel's alleged videotaping of women at the mikvah during the process of orthodox conversion to Judaism. Forward writer Uriel Heilman covered this story from an interesting perspective--from that of those who have been waiting for conversion and how this affects them. The reason I bring this up is because of something very interesting I found within the body of Heilman's article. After a discussion about how long the conversion process generally takes (approximately two years, but seems to be unclear, with rabbis judging each case individually,) Heilman mentions that:
Converts are expected to pay about $400 in fees, but the beit din
sometimes will waive costs based on financial need and on occasion has
played a proactive role in helping converts get tuition discounts at
Jewish day schools.
That can be a dangerous proposition, however, [Rabbi Zvi Romm, the administrator of the RCA’s New York beit din for conversion] says, because the beit din wants to be confident that the convert will
be able to afford the higher costs associated with an Orthodox
lifestyle: kosher food, Jewish education, housing in an Orthodox
neighborhood.
“One of the considerations we make is, can the person
hack it financially?” Romm said. “If a person says I have no money
whatsoever, I can’t afford the $400 fee paid out over time, the question
you have to ask is, how are you going to make it as an Orthodox Jew?”1
I was surprised to find that a person's ability or inability to afford an orthodox lifestyle weighs heavily enough to be mentioned prominently in an article about the conversion process. This raises several questions in my mind.
Why are potential baal teshuvahs/BTs not made aware of the huge expenses of an orthodox lifestyle? Where is the concern from kiruv (outreach) rabbis that young college students being urged to take time off from university to attend yeshiva programs might not be able to "hack it financially" down the line? What is honest about the deliberate withholding of information regarding what to expect after the honeymoon phase of orthodoxy wears off? Do campus kiruv rabbis assess prospective recruits by their current and potential financial worth?
Both kiruv rabbis and conversion rabbis are in a position of trust and power. Abusing that power by withholding information, abusing that trust, and violating what really should be a professional relationship as that of a teacher and student, is an abuse of their power. All potential recruits to orthodox Judaism--whether converts or BTs--deserve basic respect, as well as freedom from deceptive practices.
On October
24-25, 2014, the creators of the brand new, worldwide “Shabbos Project” and the
tens of thousands of its supporters on Facebook and other social media are encouraging
all the world’s 14 million or so Jews to celebrate the Sabbath together. Those
reading this for the first time are likely struck by the same question that
struck us when we first learned of this project: “Hasn’t Shabbat Across America (and other countries) been around for
many years already? What’s new about
this project?” Further adding to our
puzzlement was seeing that the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP), the
creators of Shabbat Across America, apparently helped facilitate the creation of the Shabbos Project. Why would anyone want to mess with the
already-successful Shabbat Across America initiative, which appeals to all Jews
who are interested in enjoying Shabbat in whatever way they choose?
When we looked at
the Shabbos Project’s website, however, the difference became clear:
While Shabbat Across America has succeeded in encouraging Jews to celebrate
Shabbat together in their synagogues or temples or in whatever environment, in
whatever way suits their derech (way), the mission of the Shabbos Project
is to get all Jews to celebrate in a very specific way – the Orthodox way, the
way of the project’s founders. The
detailed instructions on “How to Keep It” involve heating food in crockpots and
on hot plates, putting electric lights on timers, substituting tissues for
toilet paper, buying liquid toothpaste and liquid lip gloss, and even picture
Artscroll books in the section suggesting what to do during the 25 hour period
of Shabbos.
What we find
troubling is not that Orthodox rabbis would encourage other Jews to explore
what observing Shabbat according to Orthodox Jewish law is really like. No doubt many people would find keeping a
Shabbat the Orthodox way a very rewarding experience. What is truly disturbing is that this
sectarian form of Sabbath observance is being presented as if this is the way
the Sabbath always has and continues to be celebrated. As the homepage declares:
“We will keep
it in its entirety, in all of its halachic detail and splendour as it has been
kept throughout the ages.”
“Its rhythm
will unite us with each other, with Jews around the world and throughout the
ages.”
One can easily notice, however, that most of
the examples of how to keep Shabbat that the Shabbos Project lists on its site
have not been kept “throughout the ages.” Our sages in the Talmud did not use slow
cookers to make their cholent or a hot plate to keep their food warm, nor did
they use timers for their electric lights.
They did not cut toilet paper or buy tissues, nor did they brush their
teeth with liquid toothpaste or apply liquid lip gloss. They did not serve tea at Shabbat lunch with
their percolators, nor did they program their thermostats to maintain heat in
their homes. The “Shabbos
lamp” did not even exist 15 or 20 years ago. The site states, “It’s a nice custom to bring
home flowers or chocolates,” but, while it may be nice, calling this practice a
“custom,” as if there is some history behind it, seems unfounded.
From the food to the home
environment to the prayers, examples abound of practices that did not exist in
earlier times. The site discusses the
Shabbat prayers and highlights Kabbalat Shabbat; however, Kabbalat Shabbat as a
separate prayer service with the Lecha Dodi poem as its centerpiece did not
even exist before the 16th century.
Indeed a typical Orthodox Shabbat in 2014 is so different from a typical
Shabbat in centuries past that a Talmudic sage would probably find today’s
Orthodox Shabbat unrecognizable.
Ironically the Shabbos Project website cites the following Talmudic
passage, which only further demonstrates how different their Shabbat experience
was from ours:
Rabbi Abahu would sit on a stool of
ivory and fan the fire [used to cook for the Sabbath]. Rav Anan would put on a black smock [on
Fridays to demonstrate that this was not a day for keeping clean and neat but
rather for cooking food for the Sabbath]. Rav Safra would singe the head [of the animal
being prepared for the Sabbath meal]. Rava
would salt the shibbuta [fish for the Sabbath meal]. Rav Huna would light [oil] lamps [for the
Sabbath]. Rav Pappa would twine the
wicks [for the lamps]. Rav Chisda would
mince the beets. Rabbah and Rav Yosef
would split wood. Rabbi Zeira would
kindle [the fire] (Talmud Shabbos 119a).”
Our sages never called the Sabbath “Shabbos,”
because the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet was not originally pronounced
like an “s.” (It was most likely pronounced
like the “th” in the word Sabbath.) But
since the purpose of the Shabbos Project is apparently to get people to observe
Shabbat in the style the project’s creators observe it, calling it Shabbos,
which is how most Orthodox Jews call it today, rather than Shabbat, as most
non-Orthodox Jews call it today, as Shabbat Across America chose to do, is
consistent with the project’s apparent mission.
Unlike Shabbat Across America, this
project epitomizes the mindset that there is only one derech in Judaism. Therefore, there’s only one way to observe
the Sabbath. According to this
worldview, Shabbat Across America isn’t good enough, because it gives Jews the
impression that they could celebrate the Sabbath in the way that suits each
person’s own derech. Why else would
there be any reason for such a “new” initiative?
We believe that those seeking to
unite Jews around the Sabbath should create Shabbat programs that really do
unite Jews, rather than tell them “Do it my way, because it’s the only way.”
Suzanne
Oshinsky and Shloimie Ehrenfeld are involved in offthederech.org a website to
be launched later this fall that will provide resources and support for Jews
who are exploring a lifestyle that is different from that of their
upbringing. Shloimie can be reached at
freethinkingjew at gmail.
An open letter to Paula Abdul:
I used to listen to your music when I was a kid (my friends and I used to belt out "Straight Up" when we were in Junior High School in Brooklyn.) I never knew you were Jewish until I received an email from Aish HaTorah's Project Inspire about the importance of The Shabbos Project. With all due respect, I was quite taken aback to see you promoting this project that was introduced to you by Rabbi Warren Goldstein, the chief rabbi of South Africa. Let me explain why.
On July 22, 2007, Failed Messiah printed this:
It should be noted that South Africa's chief rabbi ... is Warren Goldstein, a 34 year old kiruv (outreach; missionary) rabbi who formerly worked for Ohr Somayach.
Rabbi Goldstein's doctoral thesis is an apologia
of Jewish law attempting to make it seem advanced and modern compared
to western law. To this end Rabbi Goldstein extols Jewish law's
treatment of women, apparently never mentioning the very real problems
of agunot, for example.
This type of dishonesty is central to kiruv theology.1
Click image to enlarge.
The fact that Rabbi Warren Goldstein is a kiruv (outreach) rabbi is very troubling. He contacted you, Ms. Abdul, and gave you a script to read, thus using you--a celebrity--in order to do kiruv for Project Inspire--a well-known kiruv organization. I'm sure he was very nice and persuasive, even when he had you discuss how much you enjoy keeping Shabbos. What you may not know is that The Shabbos Project is being sponsored by a Jewish missionary group.
Project Inspire is an Aish HaTorah affiliate whose stated goal is to make people orthodox. On January 3, 2014, I wrote about this practice here,
citing sources from Aish HaTorah (Project Inspire's parent organization) that clearly explain the goal of
kiruv (outreach.) Now, of course, by having you advocate for the Shabbos Project,
you're not actively making people orthodox, but you're misleading people. Kind of like
how Rabbi Goldstein is misleading people, including you, when he uses you to represent
this initiative.
If you look at the flier I've posted, you'll see that Project Inspire wants attendees to "invite [their] less-affiliated friend, relative, neighbor [sic] or business associate for Shabbos." Ms. Abdul, unless you are ultra-orthodox, your observance and practice of Judaism has just been insulted by the very organization you are representing. This is not the first time that language insulting non-orthodox Jews has been used by Project Inspire. I've written about it here, here and here. By agreeing to give Project Inspire publicity through the use of your words and likeness, you are inadvertently supporting a group that is looking to make people orthodox, a group whose own adherents would frown on your career, your cheerleading, your dancing and singing in public, and who would never want their children to grow up to emulate you. In fact, non-orthodox Jews who get involved with Aish HaTorah and Project Inspire, are ultimately taught to reject this non-orthodox lifestyle, as well, and are re-educated to believe that these very activities are somehow wrong, if not done according to their interpretation of Jewish law. You probably didn't know this at the time, but you've unwittingly represented people
who not only share this belief, but who are looking to push that belief
and others on who have little or no experience with ultra-orthodox
teachings.
As a bit of background, ultra-orthodox kiruv is something that is done mostly by a few key groups who are generally Ashkenazi Jews, hailing from Ashkenazi-style yeshivas, sects, groups, and/or organizations. Aish HaTorah is an example of one of these yeshivas. Their goal is specifically to influence secular Jews to become orthodox, and to create rabbis who will help them to further that goal. These kiruv organizations often use deceptive tactics (such as love bombing, peer pressure, and bait-and-switch styled programming) in order to bring young people into the realm of orthodoxy. By using you, Ms. Abdul, it makes young people think "wow, if a celebrity is endorsing this, it must be legitimate!" But the problem is that this endorsement is deceptive.
While it may be too late to back out of your endorsement of The Shabbos Project due to possible contractual agreements, I hope that you'll consider this information and research these organizations before agreeing to represent them in the future.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this issue.
