YCT leadership rejects musmach's participation on "non-halakhic beit din"

On Hirhurim today, Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Dov Linzer of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah responded to the fact that YCT musmach Rabbi Darren Kleinberg participated on an interdenominational conversion bais din, as discussed in my previous blog post. This is the first time I have seen YCT's leadership break with their unspoken policy of “don’t publicly address critics or problems”. I commend both Rabbi Weiss and Rabbi Linzer for their swift public response repudiating participation on an interdenominational conversion bais din. I’m sure it was not easy for them to do, but it was the right thing to do. Aside from the religious issues involved, from a humane perspective, there should be zero doubt whether a conversion is valid or not, especially for a child who has little or no say in the matter.

One statement of YCT’s response I do not agree with is the following: “Rabbi Kleinberg's statements and actions should not be assumed to be representative of YCT's positions and principles.” While Rabbi Weiss and Rabbi Linzer believe and wish for that to be true, it is somewhat an unfair expectation. To a certain degree, a musmach is an extension of his smicha granter, whether both like it or not. Fundamental religious hashkafic and halachic issues expounded by a musmach are innately considered as reflective of his smicha granting institution or individual. For example, if YCT would have known in advance that Rabbi Kleinberg was going to participate on an interdenominational geirus bais din, would they still have accepted him as a smicha candidate? If the answer is yes, then Rabbi Kleinberg most definitely represents their positions and principles. If the answer is no, then are his actions grounds for revocation of smicha, especially if Rabbi Kleinberg is resolute to participate on interdenominational batei din in the future?

Here is the complete YCT response:

Rabbi Darren Kleinberg was ordained as a rabbi by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, an Orthodox rabbinical school, in June 2004. Since then, he has been engaged in many positive endeavors as a rabbi on behalf of the Jewish people. However, recently, Rabbi Kleinberg has participated on a non-halakhic beit din for conversion. This violates the standards and principles of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and YCT categorically rejects this action. Rabbi Kleinberg's statements and actions should not be assumed to be representative of YCT's positions and principles.

Rabbi Avi Weiss
Founder and President

Rabbi Dov Linzer
Rosh HaYeshiva and Dean

YCT-ordained rabbi joins "Conservative conversion bais din"

Updated 10/19/2008

The fall 2008 edition of Chosen magazine describes how Yeshivat Chovevei Torah graduate Rabbi Darren Kleinberg participated on a conversion bais din with a Conservative woman rabbi and Conservative male rabbi. Chosen magazine states,

[The girl] was immersed in the mikvah at [Reform] Congregation Beth Israel in a traditional conversion ceremony. A beit din of three rabbis, Robin Damsky of Congregation Or Chadash of the Northeast Valley, where the [adoptive family] are members; Mark Bisman, of Har Zion Congregation and Darren Kleinberg of KiDMa-The Southwest Community, officiated.

Wow. Will YCT publicly repudiate their musmach's participation in this? Is this grounds for revoking smicha? Does YCT or Rabbi Avi Weiss (founder and President of YCT) even care?

In various articles over the past two years Rabbi Darren Kleinberg, has supported interdenomination batei din. YCT has not once publicly condemned those positions or any others of Rabbi Kleinberg's. However, this is the first time I have seen evidence that Kleinberg (or any YCT musmach) has actually participated on an interdenominational bais din. Here are links to some of Rabbi Kleinberg's pluralistic writings about conversion:

- Getting pluralism back on track

(Much longer version of previous article by Kleinberg, promoting broad-based pluralism and an inter-denomination beis din)
- Getting Pluralism Back on Track: Conversion and the Challenge of Jewish Peoplehood

- Not-so-universal conversion

If anyone has any doubts why Yeshivat Chovevei Torah has not been and should not be admitted to the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), this should lay those doubts to rest...especially if YCT does not swiftly publicly condemn participation of it's musmachim on interdenominational geirus batei din. If YCT does not vocally condemn such participation, then it may be time for them to remove "Orthodoxy" from "Open Orthodoxy".

Open Orthodoxy blog mentioned in Forward newspaper

I noticed on the FailedMessiah blog that the Open Orthodoxy blog was mentioned in Forward newspaper:

Though Uri L’Tzedek earned praise from prominent Orthodox leaders for leading the boycott, they have also stirred up anger. Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council for Young Israel, an umbrella group for Orthodox synagogues, publicly slammed one of his member congregations for inviting Uri L’Tzedek’s executive director to speak on “Ethical Issues and Kashrut in Jewish Law.”

“I feel embarrassed for the membership of the Young Israel of Stamford,” Lerner wrote, in a statement published by the blog Open Orthodoxy on July 28. “If they want to be lectured to by a young man with limited knowledge of ethics, of kashrut, of the totality of Judaism, by a young man who has limited experience in life in general, in Judaism more specifically, I guess that is their prerogative.”

Lerner’s tone was so scathing that the blog’s editor, wrote that he had originally been reluctant to publish the statement and had only done so at Lerner’s urging.

I want to be very clear that the reason I was hesitant to post Rabbi Lerner’s comments (see Rabbi Pesach Lerner's unedited response) is not that I don’t agree with the feelings behind them, but the comments about Rabbi Ari Weiss appear to be primarily an ad hominem attack, which is the “scathing tone” that I was uncomfortable with. When I provide criticism or sarcasm, I hope that I do my best to associate it with readily presented facts/sources. I certainly agree with Rabbi Lerner’s implication that a Young Israel (or in my opinion any Orthodox congregation) should not host the Executive Director of Uri L’Tzedek (or IMO anyone from Uri L’Tzedek) as a lecturer. I also agree with Rabbi Lerner’s sentiments of embarrassment for the Young Israel of Stamford. Although, if I was in his position I’m not sure I would have publicly voiced those sentiments.

From my interview with Ari Hart in Uri L'Tzedek, an Exposé, and review of other Uri L’Tzedek material it appears to me that their values and actions (e.g. the way they handled their Agriprocessors boycott) are divisive, self-serving, and represent a radical sliver of the Orthodox community. Uri L'Tzedek has also been inconsistent in their positions, shown poor fact checking, and displayed a high degree of ineptness concerning basic issues like obtaining their domain name (see Agriprocessors still not "kosher" enough for Ari Hart). Is Uri L'Tzedek an organization that deserves respect?

It appears to me that Uri L’Tzedek and its leadership (young men who are either Yeshivat Chovevei Torah rabbinical students or graduates) has very little clout and are publicity hounds concerning Agriprocessors. Uri L’Tzedek has received an excessive amount of news coverage for doing very little. When one reads Uri L’Tzedek’s statements, they give the impression that they’re “on the inside” in regular contact with Jim Martin (Agriprocessors compliance officer) and have directly affected changes in Agriprocessors policies. Anyone following the Agriprocessors saga can see that’s far from the case. For example, Uri L'Tzedek was not invited to partake in the recent and only Orthodox delegation to visit Agriprocessors. (Note: The delegation was led by the National Council of Young Israel and somewhat represented Orthodox diversity. If NCYI or Agriprocessors thought Uri L'Tzedek had any clout, credibility, or value then either would have insisted on Uri L'Tzedek's presence.)

Forward stated Uri L’Tzedek has "earned praise from prominent Orthodox leaders for leading the boycott". None of those leaders are mentioned in the article. Also, those "prominent Orthodox leaders", which I assume are the likes of Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin may be prominent, but only within their left-wing constituencies. No credible mainstream broad-spectrum Orthodox organization has shown any support for Uri L'Tzedek.

As I stated in previous blog posts, I am disturbed by the allegations against Agriprocessors. I believe that Agriprocessors issues are being dealt with by the company and the government. If they don't get a handle on their problems, it appears that ultimately Agriprocessors will lose it kosher certification and go out of business.

Shmarya Rosenberg of the FailedMessiah blog has been an on-going critic of Agriprocessors. I find FailedMessiah interesting to read even though there are many aspects of the FailedMessiah approach to dealing with the Agriprocessors affair (and in general) that I do not agree with -- but it appears that one thing that crosses ideological boundaries is criticism of Uri L'Tzedek, albeit from a different perspective. Here are some FailedMessiah links about Uri L'Tzedek:

- Uri L'Tzedek Spins Victory

- BREAKING! Agriprocessors' Compliance Officer Refuses To Comply With Deal Made With Uri L'Tzedek

- Breaking! Uri L'Tzedek Cancels Rubashkin Boycott

Other left-wing criticism of the Uri L'Tzedek boycott:
- A Half-Hearted Defense of AgriProcessors

Rabbi Pesach Lerner's unedited response

update (7/28/08): It's interesting that Rabbi Pesach Lerner's criticism of Uri L'Tzedek Executive Director Rabbi Ari Weiss lecturing at a Young Israel, converges with a news release that states,

The National Council of Young Israel is coordinating and leading a mission of several dozen Jewish community and rabbinic leaders representing major Orthodox Jewish organizations and large Jewish cities to the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa on Thursday, July 31.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner is quoted,

This mission is meant to provide Jewish leaders from across the United States with a factual perspective of the true situation at the Agriprocessors plant, untainted by the rumors and innuendos that have been circulating in many circles. As one of the major producers of kosher meat in the U.S., the success or failure of Agriprocessors is an issue that will directly impact Jewish communities that purchase kosher meat and poultry across the country. The situation warrants that we approach this with an open mind and obtain a first-hand account of the situation so that we can draw our own conclusion for the betterment of the American Jewish community.

This may be one reason why Rabbi Lerner is "embarrassed" -- A Young Israel congregration announces that they're hosting a leading critic of Agriprocessors while NCYI announces that they're leading a delegation, that one might infer, is biased towards supporting Agriprocessors. I give NCYI a lot of credit for leading a delegation with "several dozen Jewish community and rabbinic leaders representing major Orthodox Jewish organizations and large Jewish cities". That seems to be one visit more to Postville than any of Uri L'Tzedek's leaders.

From my back/forth email dialogue with Rabbi Pesach Lerner it is apparent that Rabbi Pesach Lerner's original intention was for me to publish his unedited response to Uri L'Tzedek leader to lecture at Young Israel.

After I posted Rabbi Pesach Lerner Responds, Rabbi Lerner emailed me, "You have added words, phrases to indicate things I did not say or possibly mean. You could have put up my response w/o your commentary—" I then edited my original article with clarifications based on his criticism.

I wrote Rabbi Lerner that "I am more than happy to still post your complete response to me. Please just let me know. The reason I did not do so was because your tone appears scathing and incendiary in a way that I couldn't imagine you would want to be published 100% verbatim."

Rabbi Lerner responded, "I have no problem for you to post my original. I made some honest statements and asked some basic questions."

Rabbi Lerner is the executive director of a national Jewish organization and the Jewish community deserves to hear his thoughts on this matter. Since I solicited a response from Rabbi Lerner, it is only fair that I post his unedited response to ensure that his comments were not taken out of context, especially if that is his desire. As one can see from my comments above, I was hesitant to publish Rabbi Lerner's response, as-is. Hence, I wanted to doubly confirm that it was acceptable to publish his complete response. Some of Rabbi Lerner's "strong" comments were included in my blog post, Rabbi Pesach Lerner Responds. However, I (hesitantly) included certain comments of Rabbi Lerner's only after accepting his criticism of my original article.

If Rabbi Ari Weiss would like to respond to Rabbi Lerner's questions and comments, I would be happy to post his unedited response at my blog. Although, I think that is a generous offer considering that Ari Hart, Director of Uri L'Tzedek has not answered follow-up interview questions that I emailed to him and questions I published in my posts Uri L'Tzedek, an Exposé and Agriprocessors still not "kosher" enough for Ari Hart .

Here is Rabbi Lerner's unedited response:

I feel embarrassed for the membership of the young Israel of Stamford.

If they want to be lectured to by a young man with limited knowledge of ethics, of kashrut, of the totality of Judaism, by a young man who has limited experience in life in general, in Judaism more specifically, I guess that is their prerogative.

Ethics is not just a buzzword, it is real. One must earn the right to discuss the ethics of something. Let the members of YI of Stamford decide if this young man has earned that right.

Does he have direct first hand knowledge of what he speaks? Ethics or kashrut?

Does his ethics dictate to him to harm other Jews?

Does his ethics dictate that one not give another person the benefit of a doubt?

Is his ethics applied to everything he does?

I am just wondering—

There are so many experienced, educated individuals ---starting with the Young Israel of Stamford’s new rabbi, who impressed us with his breadth of knowledge and presentation ---within the synagogue, the Jewish community of Stamford and greater Jewish community, who can speak on a myriad of Jewish and general topics. It is a shame that they are not asked to share their knowledge.

Sept 13 is two weeks before Rosh Hashana, there are so many people to invite and so many relevant topics to discuss. Sept 13 is two days after Sept 11, an event that carries with it so much memory, discussion, introspection.

I am sure that many members of the Young Israel are embarrassed by this topic and speaker; I feel for them.

The National Council of Young Israel has access to so many wonderful speakers on so many topics.

We share this information to our branches, all over the country. We are happy to assist the Young Israel of Stamford as well.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner Responds

Updated: 7/27 Based on Rabbi Pesach Lerner's feedback, I have updated this article.

In my previous blog post I discussed that Rabbi Ari Weiss, Executive Director of Uri L’Tzedek (a social justice organization) and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah musmach (ordainee) is scheduled to lecture at the Young Israel of Stamford, CT about “Ethical Issues and Kashrut”. I wondered what the Executive Director of the National Council of Young Israel, Rabbi Pesach Lerner thought about this speaking engagement since from several newspaper statements Rabbi Lerner appears to be an Uri L’Tzedek detractor. I contacted Rabbi Lerner via email and received a timely response from him on 7/25, which I appreciate. He stated to me via email that he "feels embarassed for the membership of the Young Israel of Stamford" and that he is "sure that many members of the Young Israel are embarrassed by this topic and speaker; I feel for them". However, Rabbi Lerner also stated "that it is their prerogative" to have Rabbi Ari Weiss lecture.

Rabbi Lerner’s criticism can be distilled to one key statement he wrote to me, “Ethics is not just a buzzword, it is real. One must earn the right to discuss the ethics of something." Rabbi Lerner continued, "Let the members of YI of Stamford decide if this young man has earned that right.” It was apparent that Rabbi Lerner does not believe that Rabbi Ari Weiss has "earned that right", stating that Weiss is a "young man with limited knowledge" of the lecture subject matter and the "totality of Judaism", as well as has "limited [Judaic life] experience". Based on that criteria it seems that Rabbi Lerner would not approve of other individuals from Uri L'Tzedek lecturing at a Young Israel, since their backgrounds appear to be similar to Rabbi Weiss' (see YCT Alumni and The Uri L'tzedek Leadership Team).

Rabbi Lerner provided examples of "experienced" and "educated" lecturers one might expect at a Young Israel:

There are so many experienced, educated individuals ---starting with the Young Israel of Stamford’s new rabbi [Rabbi Naftali Wolfe], who impressed us with his breadth of knowledge and presentation ---within the synagogue, the Jewish community of Stamford and greater Jewish community, who can speak on a myriad of Jewish and general topics.
…
Sept 13 is two weeks before Rosh Hashana, there are so many people to invite and so many relevant topics to discuss. Sept 13 is two days after Sept 11, an event that carries with it so much memory, discussion, introspection…The National Council of Young Israel has access to so many wonderful speakers on so many topics. We share this information to our branches, all over the country. We are happy to assist the Young Israel of Stamford as well.

I noticed that the Stamford YI presents themselves as being affiliated with with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. I wonder what Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union thinks about this, especially since Uri L'Tzedek was attacking Agriprocessors, a kashrus customer of the OU. I emailed him this blog post, requesting a statement. We'll see if he responds.

Uri L'Tzedek leader to lecture at Young Israel

The Young Israel of Stamford, CT appears to be thumbing their noses at Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Director of the National Council of Young Israel. On Sept. 13th, Rabbi Ari Weiss, Executive Director of Uri L'Tzedek is scheduled to lecture there about "Ethical Issues and Kashrut". That's very interesting, since Rabbi Lerner blasted Uri L'Tzedek for their "ethical kashrut" activism against Agriprocessors. In Forward, Rabbi Lerner chastized Uri L'Tzedek's boycotting efforts against Agriprocessors by stating "'we’re a bunch of idiots' to be Jews boycotting other Jews". Rabbi Pesach Lerner "described Uri L’Tzedek’s organizers as being 'young kids who need something to put them on the map' who are taking advantage of Agriprocessor’s current problems".

Another concern might be that Rabbi Ari Weiss (class of '07) is a graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah since it appears that the National Council of Young Israel is not very fond of YCT students. It has been speculated that the NCYI targeted Yeshivat Chovevei Torah graduates in its tightening of rabbinical candidate requirements to weed out YCT candidates. I wonder if that covers speaking engagements as well - especially ones that are potentially controversial.

I have contacted Rabbi Lerner for a statement. We'll see if he responds.

Native American Judaism

Rabbi Gershon Winkler is a controversial figure who is the founder of the Walking Stick Foundation which is “dedicated to the restoration and preservation of aboriginal Jewish spirituality, occasionally sharing events with teachers indigenous to Native American and other earth-honoring traditions.” In an article titled Times of transition, written a little over a year ago by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah graduate Rabbi Darren Kleinberg, there are parallel themes. Rabbi Kleinberg has presented many controversial views in his writings, however this has to be one of the strangest things to originate from Kleinberg: He discusses his experiences at a Native American "bar mitzvah".

When Kleinberg refers to the “bar mitzvah boy” I am not completely sure whether Kleinberg is referring to a Native American lad or an actual Jewish bar mitzvah boy partaking in a Native American ritual. It appears that Kleinberg is referring to a Native American boy as the “bar mitzvah boy”. My cognitive dissonance may be due to the fact that I am hesitant to believe the more idiotic of the two asinine options - that Kleinberg would repeatedly refer to a coming-of-age Native American male as a "bar mitzvah boy" and bizarrely integrate Jewish motifs such as the "young warrior" was prepared for the "day he would be called to the Torah and join his tribe alongside his elders." Regardless, it’s stuff like this that delegitimizes Open Orthodoxy, and makes others wonder what YCT's criteria for smicha (rabbinical ordination) is. Here’s the article:

Anyone that has ever been to a shvitz will know how cleansing it can be to sit in a room at extreme temperatures. One of my fondest memories from living in New York City was making my too-infrequent visits to the Russian/Turkish Bath House on 10th Street in Manhattan. And so, I recently jumped at the opportunity to experience a Southwestern-style shvitz.

The difference here was that I was not only cleansed from the inside out, but I was also replenished with a spirit of connectedness from the outside in.

It was my great honor to attend a "warrior initiation" ceremony for a young man about to join his elders as a bar mitzvah.

The ritual we shared began with a Native American prayer-chant accompanied by the rhythmic beating of a drum. The song, although in a foreign language, directed my senses to what was to follow.

Following the chant, 12 men and two not-yet-men (the bar mitzvah boy was accompanied by his younger cousin) got onto their hands and knees and crawled, one after the other, into the cramped hut. The diameter of the hut was no more than 15 feet and was no greater than five feet at its highest point. Just as the Mishna describes how the courtyard of the Temple expanded, as it were, on Yom Kippur to allow for the people to bow down during the service, so too, as the ritual continued and the intensity grew, it seemed as if the hut was expanding around us.

The ceremony consisted of four separate rounds inside the small willow-ribbed hut commonly known as a sweat lodge. In the first round, there were seven "stones," or coals, brought in to heat the enclosure. In each subsequent round, another seven were introduced in the ritual manner, totaling 28 stones by the fourth round. As each round got hotter, so too the intensity of the experience increased.

For the next two or more hours, I participated in one of the most moving and meaningful rite-of-passage ceremonies I have ever experienced. Once inside, the doorway closed, enveloping us in darkness, the smell of herbs rose from the pit in the center and the temperature increased. Each of us shared with the bar mitzvah some insight from our own journeys in life and offered with it a blessing for his.

I listened to a grandfather's sense of connection to a grandson named after his own deceased father; a stranger's blessing of wisdom and meaning in life; and a father's tears of joy and hope for his son's future.

As well as prayers and blessings for our "warrior," we also offered prayers for loved ones in need of healing and for a world in need of fixing. And with the passing of each of the four rounds, we concluded with a traditional Hebrew song, or a Native American chant or a good, old bluegrass sing-a-long.

By day's end, after the sun had dropped below the horizon - appropriately drawing our attention to times of transition and transformation - we crawled back out of that hut not only cleansed, but also spiritually replenished by our experiences with each other and by the knowledge that we had appropriately prepared our young "warrior" for the day he would be called to the Torah and join his tribe alongside his elders.