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Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
Reverends
Needed
By Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
In
the hierarchy of the shtetl there was the Av Bet
Din who served as the Rav, the Rabbi of the city or the
province. He presided over the dayyanim (the magistrate
judges) and the rabbis below them who served as morei hora’ah
(the esteemed rabbinic teachers). There were differences in
the ordinations between those who were empowered as teachers
in one part of law (yoreh yoreh) and those of another
part of law (yadin yadin).
There were itinerant as well as resident public lecturers,
some with ordination, who served as maggidim (preachers) while
the Rav was only obliged to preach twice a year: Shabbat Shuvah
and Shabbat Haggadol.
Below the recipients of ordination in the religious hierarchy
were appointees who received kabbalah (an affirmation
of competence; not to be confused with Jewish mysticism) serving
as slaughterers of kosher meat. Here too there were distinctions
between those competent to inspect the innards of cattle;
sheep and goats; and fowl. The sofer (scribe) had to receive
kabbalah as well as lower officials such as mohalim,
mashgihim (kashrut inspectors), and even melamdim
(teachers of children).
The
Jewish Reverend Ritualist
In
England, the rabbi was the Chief Rabbi and the others were
ministers and had the title reverend. Jewish reverends wore
the clerical collar. There were many reverend doctors and
many of them had even higher levels of ordination like dayan
(magistrate). To this date, one can see this usage in advertisements
in the London Jewish Chronicle.
Early in the USA, the model that originated in the British
Isle was transferred to these shores. Jewishly well-versed
Jews who were not rabbis, but could help small communities
with their religious needs, were imported from Europe and
appointed as ministers and as such received their visas to
immigrate.
One publisher offered a manual, The Reverend's Handbook, for
these functionaries who handled all ritual requirements for
small communities, teaching children, slaughtering animals,
serving as mashgihim, leading the synagogue services
and helping people with calendar and life-cycle events. I
still have an old copy of The Reverend's Handbook in my possession.
Cantors and shammashim, ritual resource persons, were
also called reverend.
Rabbis
Homogenized
Rabbi
has nowadays come to mean the entire gamut of Jewish clerics,
from those with basic ordination to some gaonic scholars and
rebbes. America has flattened out all distinctions.
The
flattening of the hierarchy of competence and empowerment
has been to our detriment. We need difference titles for different
functions: heads of rabbinic courts, congregational rabbis,
preachers-maggidim, Torah teachers for every level,
pastoral helpers, chaplains, spiritual guides, meditation
teachers, ritual directors, hospice-hevrah kadisha (burial
societies) and bereavement counselors, arbitrators and mediators.
To call all these by the title rabbi does them and others
a disservice.
I
therefore propose that we now begin to consider another form
of commission for practitioners of sacred ritual.
There
are many who have a true calling and willingness to learn,
well-trained and successful in other fields who aspire to
serve the Jewish community as spiritual leaders. They cannot
manage to cross the text barrier with competence and yet they
seek to serve in some form as acknowledged and empowered functionaries.
In
some congregations, rabbis have trained para-rabbinic personnel
to function under their guidance. Seminaries have by and large
not yet created training for such vocations.
In
the hierarchy of the Christian clergy, the average preacher
holds a bachelor of theology. Some have also earned an STM
(Sacred Theology Master) or even a doctorate. This gives the
congregation some way to measure their cleric's academic training.
JTS and HUC consider their rabbinic ordination on the level
of a Master of Jewish Letters and offer an advanced degree
of the Doctor of Hebrew Letters on par with a Ph.D. It is
the latter that I earned at Hebrew Union College.
The
person who has earned the equivalent of the bachelor of theology
as Jewish ritualist can be of great help as a resource haver
(peer) to members of a havurah. Imagine the possibilities
of a curriculum which compromises part of the training for
the full rabbinate.
I
believe that it is time to resurrect the title "reverend"
so that people called to serve may be able to become empowered
and certified. Let us introduce terms like gabbai, haver,
ba'al such and such, as we do with ba'al tefillah (one
who leads the prayers), ba'al keriah (Torah reader), ba'al
tokea (shofar blower).
Those
Who Care For The Faith Needs
In
Jewish Renewal, we have moved from the place where we want
to be served by a professional clergy to other ways of empowerment.
We have ordained rabbis who have studied on their own and
in fellowship instead of in seminaries.
We
have, in the ordaining of women rabbis, not asked them to
emulate males in the pulpit. We have furthered their expression
of Shekhinnah revelation by respecting and responding
to it. In our requirements we have been rigorous, demanding
that one needs to break the text barrier prior to becoming
a candidate for semikhah (ordination).
There
have been people in our community who have demonstrated their
skills, often immense, in leading services and I have named
them ba'alei tefillah. Others have become discerning
and inspiring mashpi'im, spiritual directors. Still
others have honed their God-given gifts of teaching massar
(ethics) by parable, midrash-making and storytelling
and earned the title ba'al berakhot, Master of Blessings.
There are some folks now preparing to serve as eco-kosher
mashgihim (supervisors). They are not rabbis but m'shamshim
b'kodesh (those who serve the sacred), oskim betzorkhei
tzibbur shel emunah (those who care for the faith needs
of the community). The nomenclature, what to call such a person,
will emerge in due time. In the meantime, for the Bureaus
of Vital Statistics, "The Rev. Mr./Ms. Ploni Almoni,
Bachelor of Engaged Torah" will do.
(c)
2000 Sh'ma. All rights reserved. The information contained
in this article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Sh'ma.
Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
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