Rabbi Eleanor Steinman

Last week I posted this.  While I wholeheartedly agree that there is a need for talented, qualified Jewish educators in lots of venues throughout the world.  It seems to me that the ordination of women as rabbis solely to serve as instructors in Jewish high schools throughout North America is still limiting the potential for women to serve the Jewish community.  I also think it can become uncontrollable.  Once a woman has this masters degree and smicha, what is to stop her from going to North America and starting her own congregation? The Hartman Institute is a reputable institution in the Jewish world and I would not question those with ordination from them.  There are too many others running around claiming the title, ‘rabbi’ who have no qualifications and it seems this type of program is creating a slippery slope.

I am proud to be a woman rabbi and to be an ordainee of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and I am proud of my colleagues and would welcome the modern orthodox establishment of women as Torah scholars and bearers of the title of rabbi without restriction on the type of service that they might perform.

The Brickner Seminar convened by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and CLAL reminded me why I became a rabbi.  It has taken me several days to process all that I learned and I am still deep in that work and hope that it never ends quite honestly. 

Sometimes when people ask, “Ellie, why did you become a rabbi?” I answer in this way.

“One of the benefits of being a rabbi is that after five years of study I really earned a title that enables me to do lots of different kinds of work.  I’m not a specialist, I’m a generalist in making Judaism relevant.”  Social justice is a big part of my being and thereby naturally is a huge part of my rabbinate, too.  The Brickner seminar in a way brought me back to me.

I spent four days with other rabbis.  Some I knew, some I didn’t.  I was reminded of the profound camaraderie that exists naturally amongst rabbis.  It is something very special.  It is like I spent five days with people who already speak the same language that I do.  This isn’t to say that people I encounter everyday don’t speak the same language as I do, rather it is that the process of becoming a rabbi truly inculcates a language, an experience.  It’s like walking into a room and already being part of the gang.

Throughout the week we studied with Rabbis Tsvi Blanchard, Irwin Kula, David Saperstein, Lynne Landsberg, and Michael Namath.  Additionally presentations were made by Marc Pelavin, Sean Thibault, and Jonathan Lange.  I learned a new method of unpacking rabbinic texts that enables a student to make a seamless transition to modern texts such as bills and position papers.  We studied in chevruta (pairs), as a large group, and I am still assimilating this methodology into my own learning, and I hope in time, teaching.  I heard presentations about community organizing under the auspices of the Just Congregations initiative with the URJ using a model from the IAF, strategies for working with the media and advocacy on city, state and national levels were elucidated.

In the end, all of these are strategies for making change.  Change in an authentic way.  One that will be lasting, rooted in Jewish tradition, and bring meaning to the lives of those involved in each step of the process.

One powerful lesson of which I was reminded last week was the power of the pulpit.  As a rabbi, I am lucky that sometimes people actually listen to what I say.  It is imperative that I advocate for that meaningful change I described in the above paragraph because I can speak from Jewish tradition, that rich well that serves as an unending source of inspiration, questions, and suggestions for ways to live a life of meaning. I also need to be authentic and live the change that I want to see in the world.  As a human being this is what I hope to do everyday, as a rabbi this is what I need to lead my community in doing, too.

Rabbi Tarfon said, “the day is short, the work is heavy, the workers lazy, the wages high, the master of the house, insistent.  He would also say, “It’s not your job to finish the work, but you’re not free to walk away from it,” (Mishnah Avot 2:15-16).

I love my job.  What are we going to do today?

There most certainly won and I have to admit it was quite exciting.  I was privileged to watch the game with genuine Canadians and they were quite excited.  I learned of a Canadian custom.  After a big win (apparently these are quite rare) cars go up and down Yonge Street honking horns, waving flags, and causing a lot of traffic.  It was pretty exciting to see and be a part of.  I’m glad that the Canadians had a successful Olympics and I’m looking forward to getting back to regularly scheduled programming.

I just saw this article on my google reader and I have to confess I’m not convinced this is an entirely positive thing.  I promise to think about this more and post again about it.  For now, what are your initial thoughts?

I am privileged to be in attendance at the Brickner Seminar where there is some phenomenal teaching, learning, and conversation taking place.  Last night there was a great session from Jonathon Lange from the IAF who presented a brief overview of the organizing work that he does with congregations.  The presentation started with the group attempting to define power in as short a definition as possible.  We concluded, power is the ability to act.  This is closely related to the Spanish word, poder, as in si se puede.

Power though, is now a dirty word.  It seems we associate power with dominant power like those totalitarian regimes that ruled Europe in the mid-20th century.  Power does not have to be this.  We all need to claim power back.  We have tremendous potential to make change when we do this.  There is a lot more to be said here and I have a lot more thinking to do.

What do you think about the word power?  What does it connote for you?

I recently saw this.  I don’t even know what to say.  I can’t imagine what I would do if someone sitting next to me pulled out one of these.  I am almost positive that if I was sitting next to someone who didn’t want to sit next to me because I’m a woman I am pretty confident the only place for me to end up is sitting in first class.  I can’t really wait until my father sees this post and I’m sure if anyone hears a scream, it is coming from him.

Yesterday I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to participate in the Rabbi Balfour Brickner rabbinic seminar and fellowship.  I will be here through Thursday learning lots of new things.  I am really excited to have been selected and am hoping that I will return enthused with new ideas, and new resources.

I am not certain how much free time I will have (and I’m pretty sure the answer is zero) so there might be fewer blog posts then I ideally will be posting, though I have a special one that will go up tomorrow that I am scheduling now.

What are your plans for the week?

The game is today, Team USA vs. Team Canada in men’s hockey.  Okay.  I’m being facetious.  This is not something that I would lose sleep over, though I am sure that many people I know will be cheering quite loudly and explicatives will be pouring out of their mouths should their team not be victorious.

Do you like hockey?  I have to say, going to hockey games live is really fun.  The game is fast paced and the fans are hilarious.  My high school hockey team was really good (go Zephyrs!) and they played in the state tournament and it was fantastic.

I am honoured to say that I have even been to a Toronto Maple Leafs game and have experienced the agony of being a Leafs fan.  For you see, the Leafs had twice as many shots on goal and ‘logically’ should have won the game.  Unfortunately, being a Leafs fan has no logic and they were defeated by the Oilers.

I will not reveal with whom my allegiances lie for this game today, I just hope the best team wins!

Because people come to the synagogue and hand me things like this because they know I will think it is funny.  They’re right!

Shabbat Shalom!

This article from Slate explains so very much.

I’m a woman of few words today, forgive me, dear reader.