Big Tent Judaism

In memoriam: Dr. Paula Hyman

We at the Jewish Outreach Institute often highlight the changes that need to be made in the American Jewish community to prepare for its future growth. As we struggle to broaden the Jewish community, it is equally important acknowledge the progress made through the hard work and advocacy of a few pioneers. The Jewish community has opened many doors in the last few decades as a result of these visionaries.

One such recently departed pioneer, Dr Paula Hyman, deserves her due. A historian and feminist, Dr. Hyman leaves quite a legacy. Beyond her critical historical research on Jewish women’s contributions to the American immigrant experience, Dr. Hyman’s feminism and advocacy catalyzed change within the Conservative movement and thereby the American Jewish community at large. Her 1972 delivery of the speech “Jewish Women Call for Change,” (with fellow Jewish feminists) to the rabbis of the Conservative movement called to end restrictions on women. At the time, Conservative Judaism’s views regarding women’s participation did not look too different from those of Modern Orthodox Judaism. However, with Dr. Hyman’s advocacy and subsequent appointment as the first woman dean of undergraduates at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Conservative Judaism veered in a new direction. Her leadership brought almost full equality to the movement of my own upbringing.

I want to acknowledge Dr. Hyman because I benefited from her fight. Entirely unaware of their struggles, I became a Bat Mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue and felt like an equal in the Houston Jewish community. Today, I regularly work with Reform and Conservative female rabbis and cantors, women who lead minyanim, and female leaders of the Jewish community. There is a pervasive sense of egalitarianism within the American Jewish community in no small party to the late Dr. Hyman. Tablet Magazine deemed her a “Shivah Star.” If only I had known her earlier.

JOI Meets with Australian Union of Jewish Students Members

After spending the day meeting with the likes of AIPAC and J Street, a contingency of 19 Australian Union of Jewish Students leaders visited JOI’s offices for an informal Q&A about JOI’s work. Associate Director Paul Golin and Senior Director of Training Eva Stern led the session, talking about innovative approaches to outreach such as Public Space Judaism, understanding of issues related to intermarriage, and the bigger picture question of why be Jewish. Students from the AUJS have visited the JOI offices for the past four years in a row now; we’re honored to host them and appreciate their interest in our work.

The students put forth extremely thoughtful questions and seemed genuinely appreciative of the responses and new perspectives. One student asked whether JOI’s work was perceived as encouraging of intermarriage. In response, Paul was able to explain that such a perception confused cause and effect, that intermarriage in North America has been a growing trend for decades at this point, that the Jewish community spent the 1960s through the 1990s trying to put its foot down during that period to no effect as the intermarriage rate continued to climb regardless. And that JOI’s work recognizes an opportunity to engage less-engaged Jews, including intermarried households, and try to help them answer the question of why be Jewish. Thoughtful, well-informed responses and explanations like this of JOI’s work seemed to have a deep impact on the students’ understanding of modern Jewish life, challenges and potential solutions.

We hope the students’ JOI experience, along with their other experiences (including last night’s performance of A Very Les Miz Hanukkah) will help them think about new approaches to outreach and inclusiveness in the Australian Jewish community as well.

Don’t Tell Me Not to Have a Christmas Tree

Tablet Magazine featured an article by JOI Associate Executive Director Paul Golin in response to a recent trend of non-intermarried Jews telling intermarried Jews that they shouldn’t put up a Christmas tree in their home. He raises the point that each family has a right to decide for themselves how they are going to tackle the December holidays. Even though he does not choose to have a Christmas tree in his own home, despite his wife’s upbringing with one, he respects others’ decisions to include this symbol of the season:

For many Jews looking in from the outside, a Christmas tree might represent the threatening, monolithic assertion: “Christian Household.” But for vast swaths of the intermarried population who put up Christmas trees but still successfully raise strongly identified Jews, that’s just not factually correct. And it’s why Tablet’s Marc Tracy drew the wrong red line when he wrote on the Scroll that the flexibility of identity requires some limits “and celebrating Christmas is beyond that limit.”

Really? Why does anyone get to decide that limit for someone else?

The overwhelming majority of Jews pick and choose which Jewish laws they find meaningful and which they reject. Keeping kosher all the time? Rejected by 85 percent of American Jewry. Believing homosexuality is an abomination? Thankfully, rejected by a growing majority. When we start telling each other that our own individual red lines are the universally accepted “Jewish” red lines—and if you cross them, you’re a bad Jew—our community descends into recriminations. Those of us working to actually grow the Jewish community understand that the message of “our way or the highway” more often than not results in the highway. Rather than telling people what they shouldn’t do, why not provide more ways for them to express their Jewish identity?

We at JOI support intermarried families raising Jewish children, regardless of their decision to have or not have Christmas trees in their homes. As Jews, we should be thankful for the fact that they have chosen to raise their children in the Jewish faith, and be open to the idea that they have a right to decide if and how to incorporate the non-Jewish partner’s traditions. Let’s focus on sharing what we love about being Jewish rather than chastising people for doing it “wrong.”

Happy Hanukkah from JOI!

We at the Jewish Outreach Institute wish you a Happy Hanukkah! Below is this year’s JOI Hanukkah card, encouraging those who are already a part of the Jewish community to reach out to those who are newcomers by introducing them to the Festival of Lights. We hope you enjoy the card, and will share it with friends.

- The Staff of the Jewish Outreach Institute