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March 22, 1998

The Who, What, and Where of the Rabbinate (1998)

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Ten Commandments – some of which apply to all laymen, and some specifically to non-functioning Rabbis: 1. Respect your Rabbi’s authority. There is a decided difference between your היתר הוראה and his status as מורה הוראה; it is akin to the difference between taking out a marriage license and being married. He, not you, has the obligation and the authority to pasken. He is your רב, and neither your סברא nor your לימוד nor your appeal to higher authority (such as your Rosh Yeshiva) will outweigh his authority. Respect it – and him! The fact that you have המי כהן is no excuse to be מבטל מצות צדקה. That is especially so if you become an officer or otherwise attain prominence in the shul. You may be the shul president – yes, but how shall you behave? From מי שטר ארץ עד מי שטר גארג'י שטר אמערץ – מצוות מא תעשה. Don’t act disrespectfully towards your Rabbi. For instance, don’t walk out – especially not demonstratively – when he begins his דרשה. And don’t, please don’t, look into a מפרש while he’s speaking. It’s not only discourteous – it’s also arrogant. Always try to improve his financial status and security. Rabbis – unlike businessmen or other professionals – are always shy about discussing money with their congregants. So, do it for him. And if he’s making more than you are – so what? Who’s to say that his labors are worth less than yours? Remember what חז"ל said
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The Spirit of the Rabbinate (2010)

The Rabbinate today has fallen upon hard times. In the last year or two, there have appeared a number of articles announcing the imminent demise of the Rabbinate, one of the greatest of Jewish religious institutions. Its functions have been taken over, one by one, by others – the Roshei Yeshivah and the professors, the fundraisers and the social workers – and the Rabbi has become a vestigial functionary, a charming anachronism. Sooner or later, the community will manage very well without him, perhaps devising some other functionary to preside over synagogue services. Now, I do not wish to address myself specifically to this question of the future of the Rabbinate. "I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet." Besides, the Talmud makes some un-flattering remarks about those who pretend to the mantle of the seer. Furthermore, our loyalty to Torah unquestionably tran-scends our loyalty to the Rabbinate, and if Judaism can get along without professional Rabbis in the future —as it has in the past — so be it. I may be sad at such morbid prospects, but not crushed.’ This particular address was not delivered at a Chag HaSemikhah, as are the others in this volume. What follows is adapted from an address at the Anglo-Jewish Preachers Conference held in Manchester in 1968, and was published by the Conference.However, I honestly do not believe the grim prognosis. As Mark Twain once said, upon reading an announcement of his death in the morning newspapers, "I have read my obituary and believe it is much exaggerated."It is, of course, true that the Rabbinate is in trouble —and it is in greater trouble in Israel than in the English-speaking countries (although I shall confine my remarks to our communities in the Diaspora). 1 believe we have slipped into a rut, but we are not lost. We are in many ways stricken, but not irreversibly. 1 submit that we still can recapture our commanding role as spiritual leaders and effective guides if we bestir ourselves —before it is too lat…
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The Three Fundamentals of Contemporary Orthodox Judaism (1989)

It is accepted as a given today that the three fundamental institutions of Orthodox Judaism are Shabbat, Kashrut, and Taharat Ha-Mishpaha. These are the three items we generally set before ourselves as our goals in convincing people to return to Judaism, the criteria by which we measure a person's Orthodoxy, and even the three major items to which we introduce potential converts. What is the source for specifically this collection of three items? The answer is – I do not know. I do not believe there is a text which can support specifically these three as being of over-arching importance. After all, there are a host of mitzvot – from Talmud Torah to Yom Kippur, etc. – which can claim priority. Wherefrom, then, this three-fold emphasis?I suggest that the source is not a text, but that it corresponds to and is based upon a human-psychological reality.It is well-known that the three major instinctual drives in man are: sex, food, and power.Hence, sex is circumscribed and sublimated by Taharat Ha-Mishpaha; food is limited and orientated by Kashrut; and the lust for power is curbed and directed by the laws of Shabbat which force us to relinquish our supremacy and control over mute nature and over our fellow humans (thus, le'maan yanuah avdekha...)
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