Seeking to bridge rifts among Jews

Christian Century, March 10, 1999

In 1994 the Synagogue Council of America, for 70 years North American Judaism's only interdenominational rabbinic voice, collapsed under the weight of internal bickering between the group's Orthodox and non-Orthodox members. Since then, the gulf between Judaism's traditional and more liberal elements has grown wider.

With rabbis on both sides routinely denouncing each other's actions, it's easy to conclude that the common ground that once bound together the Jewish community's diverse elements has all but disappeared. "The perception in the Jewish community is that the rabbinate has become a dysfunctional family," said Marc Schneier. "We're here to show that's not the case."

Schneier is the driving force behind the newly organized North American Boards of Rabbis, which hopes to revive the spirit of cooperation that characterized the SCA'S earlier years. The idea behind NABOR is to bring together on a continental scale those Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis who have already displayed a commitment to interdenominational cooperation by being members of local boards of rabbis. By way of contrast, SCA membership was restricted to selected representatives of six Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbinic and congregational organizations--not all of them equally committed to interdenominational cooperation.

The local rabbinic boards, of which there are about 30 to 40 across the U.S. and Canada, work together on such issues as local interfaith dialogue and regional Jewish chaplaincy programs, even as they attempt to stay away from the knotty theological questions that divide traditional and liberal Jews worldwide.

While members of North American Judaism's four streams--Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox--are involved in local board activities, Orthodox participation is generally restricted to the movement's most liberal wing, the so-called modern Orthodox. "We hope to be a model of how rabbis from Judaism's different branches can put aside their differences to focus on common concerns," said Schneier, president of the 800-member New York Board of Rabbis, the largest of the local boards.

About 25 U.S. and Canadian local boards sent representatives to NABOR's second organizing session, held February 22 in Washington, D.C. At the meeting the group voted to open an office in New York and held its first election of officers.