A Personal View

At one time Jewish communities were not as highly organized as they are today. The chief reason that Jews organized and formed community structures was out of a need for self-defense. How did Jewish communities react in the past to perceived threats from outside? How did Jews relate to outsiders? Who is an outsider, and why? And within Jewish communities themselves, what groups are inside / outside the community mainstream, how did they get there, and do they want to be there?

This was the essence of the theme of our twelfth annual Week of Study at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, June 9th through 14th, 2002. Thirty Executive Directors participated.

Our program began on Sunday evening, as we were welcomed back to the Seminary by our friend and mentor, Rabbi William Lebeau, Vice Chancellor of the Seminary and Dean of the Rabbinical School, and Rabbi Jerry Epstein, Executive Vice President of USCJ. Rabbi Epstein spoke about "reaching out to the unaffiliated".

Each day we met with one or both of our scholars-in-residence, Dr. Benjamin Gampel, Professor of History, and Dr. Mayer Rabinowitz, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics. Being specialists in different disciplines, our scholars took very different approaches to the theme of the week. Dr. Gampel had us study medieval texts in translation to get insight as to how Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities of the medieval period (pre-Crusades) dealt with threats and forces from outside the community. With Dr. Rabinowitz, we studied and discussed Talmudic sources and Rabbinic responsa in areas of Jewish law affecting the status of disenfranchised groups such the agunah and gays/lesbians.

Other sessions included:
§ - Rabbi Adina Lewittes, on the seven Noahide Laws
§ - Dr. Ismar Schorch, on the arrival of Solomon Schechter at the JTS
§ - Dr. Alan Cooper, on inclusion and exclusion in the Bible
§ - Dr. Neil Gillman, on how we live inside and outside the Jewish myth
§ - Rabbi Lebeau, on being Conservative Jews and relating to the greater Jewish experience
§ - Hazzan Henry Rosenblum, Dean of the Miller Cantorial School, on the Midrash of the Masoretic Torah trope
§ - Dr. Carol Krepon Ingall, on whether Jewish education today helps build community, and
§ - Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen, of Baltimore Hebrew University and Ms. Sarrae Crane, of USCJ on how synagogues welcome (or do not welcome) singles, inter-marrieds, gay/lesbians, and other groups who seem to be outside the mainstream in Conservative Synagogue communities.

We were also treated to a drop-in visit as an old friend, Dr. Joel Roth, who was visiting the Seminary from Israel, gave us an impromptu D'var Torah.

Part of the experience of Week of Study is to become, for a few days, part of the Seminary Community. We davened each morning with students and faculty in the Women's League Synagogue, ate Meals in the Seminary cafeteria, toured the newly dedicated Kripke Tower, and met with Rabbi Marc Wolfe about Development Programs at the Seminary.

Of course, no Week of Study experience is complete without the late night camaraderie, the forays out to the ballpark, theatre, or just dinner, with each other, as we explored and enjoyed New York together.

We concluded our week of study, rest, relaxation, and recreation together, with group photos and a special celebratory dinner. We then gathered in our annual friendship circle to share personal thoughts as colleagues and friends, and to hear the poems written by Henry Silberman and Allan Ross. After "graduating" and receiving certificates of accomplishment from Dr. Gampel and Rabbi Lebeau, we congratulate each other and look forward to being together in New Orleans in March 2003.