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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, December 22, 1983 - Page 3
World-Nadonal
Claims it may be the "last straw
ft
Female rabbi issue stirs Conservative movement
By
SHERYLHALPERN
MONTREAL —
The issue of female rabbis^ay be the ''last straw'* for Conservative Judaism, the question that could spUt the movement, according to Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat of Congregation Shaar Hasho-mayim.
The rabbi spoke at a recent Men's Association breakfast at the synagogue on the topic, "The Halachic Controversies Now Raging Among the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — An Insider's Report and Evaluation.'' His speech was the first in a series of talks on the theme of "Major Trends in Contemporary Judaism."
Shuchat said that, with Orthodox Judaism moving further to the right and Reform Judaism moving further to theleft, "the situation of world Jewry is made to order for a central tradition."
The Orthodox, under Agudath Yisroel, have become yeshiva - oriented, he said; the Reform movement, with its recent resolution on patrilineal descent (the teaching of Jewishness through the father) has tacitly accepted intermarriage — a radical move.
But the tradition of conservative Judaism is no longer as "central" as it used to be, he said, and the Conservative movement, faced with the controversial issue of women in the rabbinate, may break apart.
Urging members of the Conservative movement not to "waste a decade'' arguing over women's ordination, Shuchat warned that the movement was already beginning to splinter. He himself is now a member of a tentative "splinter group."
^'At the recent United Synagogue convention, I attended clandestine meetings where we debated there was a place for traditional Jews in the new Conservative movement — we wondered, should we secede? We decided to wait six months to a year to see if things settle down. We're holding a spring conference, putting out a journal , setting up a Beth Din [legal court] . .-.1 don't know what will happen, but it indicates some kind of cleavage."
He felt that the Jewish Theological Seminary^ the educational and legislative organ of the movement, is to blame: ''Once the Jewish Theological Seminary takes a position, everyone is involved, everything becomes public."
Shuchat, who sat On the Jewish Theological Seminary's commission on the ordination of women for 20 years, said that when he started, "in my heart, I supported
the ordination of women . . . that may surprise you." He added that he eventually had to oppose ordination on halachic grounds because the goal of the commission was!-sexual egalitarianism'' at the expense of halachic tradition.
He also felt that wo-men's ordination could not be endorsed without considering the implications of ordination — "what a rabbi has to do" involving minyans and Torah readings, something the commission was not allowed to consider.
The rabbi criticized the actions of seminary chancellor Gerson Cohen, who at a recent United Synagogue convention not only insisted on the ordination of women, but suggested that all women rabbinical candidates take it upon themselves to perform all 613 commandments, including the seven '' men's commandments" they are ritually exempted from.
He also disagreed with the contents of a letter circulated by the chancellor, in which Cohen had said that there was nothing in halacha against the ordination of women, and that therefore it was in the spirit of halacha.
'' A lot of things are not in halacha," said Shuchat, adding that some customs had grown up as part of tradition. "It's a question of authority — who is entitled to legislate changes in Jewish law? Nobody in the Conservative movement is qualified to legislate in this spWt."
Shuchat argued that with a tradition of 2,000 years of differentiating sexual roles, "you don't cavalierly change the outer face of Judaism. Tradition is not always/ rational," he admitted, citing the dietary laws.
But he defended the ritual separation of the sexes: "The rabbis (of old) were not ihterested in equality, though they affirmed it, but in holiness." Since women were considered "sexual objects, more so than men — it's true even today, look at modern advertising" — the rabbis kept the sexes apart during public worship to "remove sexuality" and preserve holiness.
Remarking that he was "not so sure" that sexuaL equality represented "the highest form of moral excellence in our day," the rabbi said that he did not see any injustice, sexual or otherwise, in. current synagogue roles.
"Where are human rights jeopardized in Judaism?" he asked. "I can think of one area ... in divorce ... but there have been attempts to solve this problem, case by case, but in the areas
of ritual — is anyone going „to tell me that human rights are at stake? Is hurt involved here?" The issue, he felt, wasn't "justice" for women, but traditional
"role-playing."
Shuchat observed that there are new roles and leadership possibilities for modern Jewish women — within halacha. "In the Jewish com-
munity, women are everywhere; in scholarship, the world's open — there are many great Jewish women scholars, teaching at Yeshiva University, Bar-Ilan . . ."
The area of public worship, he acknowledged, is a "problem area," but women are entitled to give "divrai Torah" (Torah interpretations) at services, and
can hold special "women's services."
He emphasized that women's religious roles should not simply be "female, imitations of male roles:"
museum
ceremony
osions in twin cities
By
GAYE APPLEBAUM
OTTAWA —
Explosions were triggered simultaneously on both sides of the Ottawa River recently as Communications Minister Francis Fox declared construction of the National Gallery of Canada and the National Museum of Man under way.
The twin-city excavation ceremony took place on the cliffs of Parliament Hill overlooking both the art gallery and museum sites along the Ottawa and Hull shores of the river..
Architects Moshe Saf-die and Douglas Cardinal joined Canadian Museums Construction Corporation chairman Jean Sutherland Boggs on the podium as Fox triggered the simultaneous explosions for the ground-breaking ceremony which was followed by fireworks displays at both locations.
The new National Gallery will be built along the cliffs of the Ottawa River, in the "historic mile of history" along Sussex Drive. It will be linked to the museum across the river by the Alexandra Bridge. Both low-profile, 3-storey buildings carry a joint budget of $186 million.
A model of the design for the National Gallery of Canada.
They are expected to be open to the public early in 1988..
Fox said, "We can be proud of the enthusiasm and innovative spirit of the Canadian architects chosen to design these new facilities. Undoubtedly their efforts will contribute to making the National Capital a central symbol of our pride in Canada's culture and heritage."
Following the ceremony. Fox unveiled the architectural models of the new buildings at a recieption that attracted more than 300 people from the cultural and business field across
Canada.
Sara Vered, advisor to the Friends of the National Gallery, who recently led a gallery tour to Israel, said, "It is such a new and fascinating concept, it will put Ottawa and Canada on the map."
Safdie, the Israeli-born architect responsible for the new gallery, which will see a doubling of exhibit space from the gallery's current, cramped quarters, gained international prominence with his once-controversial Habitat design at Montreal's Expo 67, at the age of 29.
Since then, Safdie has won major international design awards for projects in Mexico, Jerusalem (he has recently completed the. restoration of the Yeshiva Porat Yosef in the reconstructed Jewish quarter of the Old City), Puerto Rico,
Singapore and Los Angeles.
Cardhial, an Alberta architect whose projects have kept him closer to home, has.gained a reputation in recent years for designing dramatic and often controversial undulating shells.
ers
The daily chapters in the international 3-year Bible reading cycle of the World Jewish Bible Society and the Jewish Agency are, for this week:
For Thursday, Dec.
22, Ezekiel 11; Friday, Exodus 1:1-6:1 (She-mot); Shabbat, Isaiah 27:6-28:13 (haftorah); Sunday, Ezekiel 12; Monday, Ezekiel 13; Tuesday, Ezekiel 14; Wednesday, Ezekiel 15.
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