Spotlight on CLAL Archive
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
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CLAL Forms International Collaboration With Rabbis:
Joins with Overseas Colleagues to Lead
Session on Religious Practice at Largest Jewish Conference in Britain
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
How do you
build an international rabbinic community based on the tenets of pluralism and diversity? How do you create a more open and inclusive Jewish
community globally, when real borders and boundaries separate religious leaders?
Working in
collaboration with a diverse group of rabbis from New York and Israel, CLAL is undertaking
these issues to explore how to take pluralism to the next step worldwide. Through the use
of videoconferencing, the group is looking at concrete ways to translate pluralism into
practice. The first topic, examining the many
meanings of Shabbat for Jews around the world, will be presented in a seminar at Limmud,
an interdenominational conference held in Britain, from December 23-27, 2001. The conference is expected to attract close to
2,000 people, from all streams of Jewish life.
The New York rabbis, who represent every denomination, are all graduates of CLAL’s highly regarded Rabbinic Leadership Retreat program. The program challenges them to debate the fundamental shifts in Jewish identity, family and community life. Participants are pushed beyond issues of pluralism to engage in vital contemporary debates, making them better able to address the concerns of congregants and other community members. Their Israeli counterparts, participants of Rikma, a pluralist training program for Israeli rabbinic students, also focus on building vital Jewish communities by promoting tolerance and diversity.
“Rabbis are in
a key position to communicate this vision of Jewish life,” said Rabbi Brad
Hirschfield, Vice President of CLAL. “When
rabbis can engage in the wider discussions about identity, culture and practice in an
articulate and understanding way, they begin to attract many who are unsure of their own
Jewish connection. This level of openness leads to a healthy respect for greater
inclusiveness.”
The CLAL/Rikma
session will be held on December 25th, at Nottingham University. Led by the delegation of rabbis from the two
organizations, it will look at how people experience Shabbat, both religiously and
culturally, as well as the multiple meanings for why we should celebrate it. The program will be interactive, and consider how
different societies affect local custom.
“The Limmud
conference draws people from the wide range of Jewish experience,” said Dr. Robert
Rabinowitz, a CLAL Senior Teaching Fellow from Britain and former member of Limmud. “It is one of the most important gatherings
because it honors the many ways to express a Jewish identity – through art, music,
song, texts, and prayer – but doesn’t make any judgements. In addition, by bringing rabbis from Israel, the
U.S. and the U.K. together, we are starting to build a real international network for
pluralism.”
Besides Shabbat,
other issues the group is looking at include local educational practices, community
funding for projects and policy concerns. After
Limmud, CLAL will continue its work with its international colleagues on how to better
link the inherited wisdom to contemporary times, exploring how local culture affects the
creation of ritual, behavior and observance.
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