Rabbi Levi Shemtov

Rabbi Levi Shemtov is Washington office Director of American Friends of Lubavitch. Shemtov is a well known figure in political and Jewish circles in Washington, and his activism symbolizes the change Chabad's culture has gone through in recent decades from a limited Chasidic faction to a powerhouse working across the Jewish and non-Jewish world. Shemtov's highest profile event is the Hanukah Menorah lighting on the White House lawn. We will discuss with him the state of American Jewry, Chabad and other topics. Readers, as usual, can send their questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.

Dear Rabbi Shemtov,

In the face of such great obstacles there is a need for Jewish unity and co-operation, yet the major representative bodies of Torah in America, Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union tend to view Chabad as the next best thing to Judaism. Why do other Orthodox groups keep their distance from Chabad and visa versa?

Joe Feld

I am troubled that you feel that way. To be sure, there have long been and there remain different approaches between movements, organizations, etc., even those that seem so similar in many ways. While I don't mean to minimize those differences, I must refute your statement. The "closest thing " quip or, more accurately, slur, is highly inappropriate. I certainly hope it doesn't reflect actual real thinking of the organizations. The leaders of Agudah and the OU not only work with our offices when possible, and more often than you and many others may appreciate, but know full well that my colleagues around the world welcome any opportunity to assist them, and vice versa. And, believe me, they avail themselves of the assistance. They wouldn't do so if you were accurate. Caution between organizations...what else is new?

Jewish unity isn't what is should be, but the example you bring of its decline is in reality one of its brighter spots.

RLS


Dear rabbi Shemtov,

How do we make Jews who are unaffiliated with any Jewish institution join us?

Barry Levin

I don't know who you mean by us, but if it is to reengage them in Jewish life, then the answer is very simple, though certainly not always easy to implement. The usual reasons Jewish people might be or remain far from Jewish tradition is that they have come to feel it is far from them, either because of a lack of proper Jewish education / upbringing, or a negative experience (I know of one woman who refused to attend any synagogue or religious experience for decades because, as a child, her family was removed in middle of services for failure to pay dues). Or, maybe they simply never had the chance to properly explore it.

But the Torah tells us otherwise. In Deuteronomy it is written that the Torah is not distant, high in the heavens or across the ocean. Indeed, it is "very close to you, in your mouth and heart to do so" (adhere to it).

When I was a child, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of sacred memory, issued a call to emphasize twelve phrases, or Jewish passages, for children to memorize and know. I learned and memorized them, but didn't fully understand the meaning of them all at the time. The above passage, emphasizing the accessibility to every Jew to the lofty principles and precepts of the Torah, was one of them, and now rings so true to me as one of the most significant passages in the Torah. If one feels something is too far, they just move on. If they feel it is close, awesome and meaningful, they do what they can to draw themselves nearer. Decades later, I might understand why of all the Torah, the Rebbe chose this phrase.

Because, the determining factor of a Jew's spiritual life is how closely connected they feel they can be, and become, to G-d and his Torah. I have seen incredible experiences in people's lives, which began when they were taught and shown, after searching in religious and spiritual places inappropriate for any Jewish person, that what they lacked in life was really the recognition that the energy they were desperately seeking was already flowing through their soul, waiting to be tapped. Helping Jewish people come to realize this is how it can be (and has been) done.


Dear rabbi,

One of the most pressing issues of the day is intermarriage, but I don't know how Chabad can help with that. What we need is people who can speak the truth to the younger generation and make them want to stay Jewish. But how can an Orthodox rabbi do such thing when most of these young people have barely any connection to their Judaism, and they are not at all practicing Torah?

Sara Green
New Jersey

Well, the enormous results of Jewish outreach by my colleagues around the world are for the most part not with people who are engaged initially as Torah-practicing (to use your term) Jews. Every Jewish man and woman already posesses an incredibly powerful relationship with G-d, and though it may seem latent at times, it is always there. And it is ultimatly up to the individual to nurture it. Encouraging that point is really, in my opinion, what will help reengage Jewish people. That's the best truth you can speak to the younger generation as well. In my experience, it is the only way that works. Talking to and with, not just down to or about them is much more appropriate, and everyone has the responsibilty to do as much as they can in this regard.

Rabbi Shemtov,

Can you explain what is the Jewish education you refer to? is it educating people in the mode of Chabad or in the mode of Reform Judaism? These are two very different things.

Thank you for your reply,

Tzvi Noah
NY


I think the focus must be the education of many more Jewish people - particularly children - in the ways of Torah and yiddishkeit. The differences you mention, while indeed real, have sadly served all too often as a reason to end these types of discussions before they begin.

The need to reinforce and expand Jewish education is a vital one, regardless of a Jewish person's particular station in life, communally or otherwise. We need progress, not just process.

Obviously, I am most familiar with the Chabad-Lubavitch method, which seems to work to a large measure with open-minded Jewish people of a variety of affiliations. Too often I hear from participants - as do many of my colleagues - that specifically because they felt welcome, as they were, the possibility for their Jewish growth and that of their family became possible in a meaningful way for the first time. While this indeed is gratifying, it also pains the heart to know that others who seemed a "better fit" lost so much opportunity with these people for so long.

So, if someone is indeed serious about the issue, they need to address it for all the Jewish people. Distinctions instead of solutions is what we have way too much of already. They will only distract from the intended focus. We can and must do better than that.

RLS


Dear Rabbi,

I'll start with the topic of last week's dialogue, and with a general question of the state of American Jewry. Is it declining or thriving - is it in crisis or going through a period of renaissance? Give us, for starters, your list of "must do" for American Jewish leaders.

Rosner

The Jewish people today live in a time of great triumph, but also great challenge. We are taught that G-d tests us either with the pain of poverty or the power of prosperity. We seem to be enduring both right now - the prosperity is material, the poverty is spiritual. But there is a bright spot as well, and reason for hope, if people are willing to act.

There is no way you can ignore the fact that there is presently a serious decline in the American Jewish community, with over half believed to be totally unaffiliated. And the organized community decries the apathy and ignorance of those who do consider themselves affiliated, and are anxious about how to reengage them in Jewish identity.

On the other hand, there is not only a simultaneous resurgence - or resuscitation - of Jewish life, with so many finding their way back or more deeply into their Jewish heritage, but those who for a very long time advocated a lesser degree of tradition in their life as Jews, perhaps thinking that the age-old Torah teachings and directives were no longer "as relevant" now realize and publicly state, emphatically, that ONLY through a return to Torah and mitzvos is there any real hope of Jewish survival. It seems as if all the alternatives ultimately give way to a return to Torah - sooner or later. It's been that way since Sinai

And this leads to the key point I believe the Jewish community must focus on as a most urgent priority: Jewish Education.

From our beginning and up until the latest National Jewish Population Survey, Jewish education appears and reappears as the core factor in Jewish continuity. I am loath to judge the previous generation or two for their failure to provide adequate Jewish education. Perhaps they thought their own Jewish identity would automatically transfer without the requisite strenuous effort to educate children properly. Or they didn't think they had the financial ability to do so. But that can't help us today, as we live with the painful results of the last few decades. Not enough energy was dedicated to afternoon Hebrew school and other similar programs once thought a panacea. They became an afterthought, even a joke, and then a disaster; barely better than nothing. And almost any Jewish adult I speak to indeed remembers that part of their lives with dissatisfaction, if not disdain.

If there is one thing above all others which Jewish communal leaders need to address urgently, this would be it. Reinforce and expand opportunities for affordable, quality Jewish education. After way too long, many Jewish philanthropists, who have collectively donated billions to causes that others beyond our community could easily fund, have now finally begun to realize the emergency and have started to (re)direct serious sums to Jewish causes. Those directing these initiatives need to further redirect these new funding sources toward ensuring Jewish education for all those in our community who can then avail themselves of it.

King Solomon taught us that a properly educated Jewish child will much more likely become a strongly Jewishly identified adult and then a committed member of the Jewish community, even into their later years.

And, for those who are already passed their childhood, innovative and quality programs and initiatives can help rectify a gap in this regard and refocus parents on the Jewish educational needs of themselves and their children. And the educational effortss and mitzvah campaigns for Jews of all or no (perceived) affiliation, which the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, initiated and which thousands of my colleagues throughout the world have developed (to the curiosity, sometimes disdain, then appreciation or even replication by so many others), have had a serious impact in this area. And much more remains to be done.

There are no doubt enough resources in our vast community membership to address this issue. That is what we have. What we don't have is a choice. The answer to this question when it is asked the next time lies absolutely in our hands today.