Rabbinical Group Gets Mixed Reaction

A move to foster unity among divergent Jewish denominations by creating a new national federation of rabbinical boards is meeting with mixed success.

Meeting this week in Washington, presidents of boards of rabbis in 25 U.S. and Canadian cities agreed to form the North American Boards of Rabbis. It is the first religious organization to embrace all branches of Judaism since the Synagogue Council of America disbanded five years ago.

But the new group and its first elected president, Rabbi Marc Schneier, are getting a cool reception from the two leading rabbinical boards in California. Schneier, who is Orthodox, is also president of the New York Board of Rabbis.

“His goal was obviously to become the chief rabbi of North America, and my colleagues and I are opposed to that concept,” said Rabbi Lawrence Goldmark, a Reform rabbi from La Mirada who is president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

At the same time, the Board of Rabbis of Northern California, based in San Francisco, is undecided whether it wants to be a part of Schneier’s group. Its president, Rabbi David Teitelbaum, a Conservative rabbi, said a final decision will be made in a month.

Schneier denied that he wanted to become the de facto chief rabbi of North America. “I can tell you I’m offended by that ridiculous comment,” Schneier said of Goldmark’s charge.

The group plans a newsletter and an annual conference to promote unity. Schneier said the organization would not engage in debate over theological issues or enter the controversy over whether non-Orthodox rabbis should be allowed to perform conversions to Judaism in Israel.

Meanwhile, the Rabbinical Assn. of Greater Miami has also withdrawn from the new group after joining in September. Rabbi Solomon Schiff, executive vice president of the Miami board, voiced objections similar to Goldmark’s.

“Some of us feared it looked like they were developing a national spokesman for all the rabbis, like the concept of a chief rabbi, which we have never had,” Schiff said. “We were concerned about the direction of the organization.”

Schiff said he had no objection to the original idea, an organization in which rabbinical boards could learn from one another by exchanging ideas and information. Under such circumstances, he said, the Jewish community would benefit. He said the Miami board may reconsider its withdrawal if it is satisfied that the new group will not lead to a single spokesman or be dominated by rabbis from New York.