One of the leaders in the forefront of fighting the "we've always done it this way" Judaism, is Rabbi Avi Weiss. A product of Yeshiva University, he has taken many unusual stances, that have alienated him from many in the "establishment". His synagogue, in the Riverdale section of New York City, has for over forty years been a center not just for performing rituals, but for spirituality, and providing the layman with solid knowledge of Jewish texts and sources. Although now emeritus, his staff of rabbis continues his work. In the last two decades, he has angered his former yeshiva with setting up an alternative institution, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Whereas a YU trained rabbi will know how to decide whether an inadvertent mixture of meat and dairy is kosher or not, his students are trained not only in this, but in the background of how we got to where we are, and where we need to go.In addition, they are trained not only in "dos and don'ts", but in a deep spiritual understanding of Judaism. Kabbalistc and Hasidic insights are not taboo.The RCA voted to exclude his ordainees from membership, despite their being a superior "product" to the standard fare. He also founded a women's seminary, training women in Torah sources, making them rabbis in everything but name (being careful to distinguish halachically prohibited functions which women cannot do, from "this has never been done, so don't do it". The RCA was livid about this, and put forward an idea that above halachah, there is "Mesorah" (tradition). In this context, tradition means the way Orthodox Jews have conducted themselves in recent generations, as well as the practices of rabbinic "Greats". Rabbi Weiss, among others, felt that the system is broken, and needs to be fixed (unlike most rabbis who endeavor to show why an apparently baseless tradition has great meaning). This movement has become known as "Open Orthodoxy". It is not more liberal than Modern Orthodoxy, as has been assumed. Rather, it is completely source-based, which often means being strict where custom has been allowed to override halachah. An attempt to destroy him has backfired so badly, that it has greatly strengthened him. One of the top rabbis at YU, a head of the RCA, and the front runner for the position of Chief Rabbi of the UK, (probably the most prestigious position in the Jewish world), took it upon himself to take Rabbi Weiss, and his organization, apart. He joined Rabbi Weiss' blog under an assumed name. He began attacking Rabbi Weiss as being intellectually inferior to the "great,brilliant" rabbi who is about to become the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain (himself). The plot was discovered (along with the fact that a paper he had written turned out to be plagiarized). The British Chief Rabbi offer was rescinded, he was forced out of Yeshiva University, and, essentially out of the rabbinate. He is now simply teaching at a New England college. Many, including yours truly, saw in this a fulfillment of the verse in Proverbs "G-d looks after the persecuted". Rabbi Weiss maintains a liberal, albeit halalchic, conversion policy. In this, he has been joined by Rabbi Marc Angel, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation She'arith Israel, America's oldest congregation. Rabbi Angel is a past president of the RCA., and not easily dismissed. He has, for the last forty years, been publishing in Orthodox periodicals, the true sources in the conversion issue. Both Rabbis Weiss and Angel have been swimming against the current. I see them and their students as the best hope for a revitalized Orthodoxy, free of the dominance of Charismatic, albeit often source-less, figures. In my next post in this series, I will discuss similar events in Israel. These give me cause for hope.
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