A Year Of Outreach Advance

by Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky And Levi Gibian Fishman
Special To The Jewish Week

The end of the year is a time for reflection, and 2008 was filled with steps and missteps in the ongoing journey to create a more open and welcoming Jewish community. For the 250 Jewish organizations that joined our Big Tent Judaism Coalition in 2008, its first full year, now is the chance to reflect not only on what went right in outreach, but also why more inclusive policies are essential as we look to the future.
Every year we see more institutions and communities opening their doors to interfaith couples. Often this is due to simple demographics — with interfaith couples making up an increasing percentage of the Jewish community, it’s essential to create a supportive and welcoming atmosphere for this growing segment of

the population. Though it’s great to see more options for families, many times these offerings come off as cosmetic reactions. They should come from a desire to truly welcome more diversity.
Numerous organizations have made great strides in creating atmospheres where interfaith couples feel genuinely welcomed, both at home and abroad. For example, Israel Encounter, run by Mitch Cohen in Atlanta, and Interfaith Connection, run through the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, both offered interfaith couples low-cost trips to Israel (and in the case of Israel Encounter free for the non-Jewish spouse). By being able to experience Israel firsthand, the connection to a shared history grows stronger, and Jewish continuity is a greater possibility.
We also saw the organization Interfaithways hold its second annual Interfaith Family Shabbat Weekend, in which interfaith families in the Delaware Valley (which covers the Philadelphia metropolitan area) were able to visit 52 synagogues that offered special (and free) programming, such as theater performances and discussions about identity.
Programs like these certainly help, but they are once-a-year events. What changes are being made to sustain an inclusive community for interfaith families? What changes are being made on the inside? The Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic arm of the Reform movement, this year launched its Intermarriage Task Force, an initiative that takes a new approach toward addressing the opportunities and challenges of interfaith marriage.
While interfaith marriage remains the key hot-button issue for most of the organized Jewish community due to the sheer size of the trend, it’s not the only area of inclusion that propels dialogue. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Queer Jewish community this year saw a few barriers to participation lowered, including on the college campus. Hillel, the Jewish campus organization, released its first LGBTQ resource guide, which, according to the Hillel International Web site, will be used “to help Hillel professionals reach out to and engage the LGBTQ Jewish student population and provides tools for welcoming and working with this growing population.”
This was also the first full year the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York allowed openly gay and lesbian students to become ordained as rabbis and cantors. This choice has proven that our interpretations of Jewish law can grow with and adapt to the realities of contemporary society — as they have historically — and the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis and cantors is another step on the way to welcoming everyone into our community.
Not every advance in outreach in 2008 was controversial. The Jewish community saw its identity grow thanks to two specific rabbinic ordinations. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu became the first ordained rabbi from Uganda. After five years of study at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, he returned to his hometown of Nabagoye, where he will be the spiritual leader of about 800 Ugandan Jews known as Abayudayas. Also, Alysa Stanton-Ogulnick will be ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion next May, putting her on track to become the first female African-American rabbi.
These and other developments indicate that Jewish communities are waking up to the fact that we need to evolve our notions of what Jews look like and what defines a Jew. That’s what made the decision earlier this year by the High Rabbinical Court in Israel to reverse a woman’s 15-year-old conversion such a devastating blow to outreach. With one stroke of the pen, the court put into question thousands of conversions performed by a single rabbi, who they viewed as being too lax with his standards. Besides violating “numerous Torah laws,” according to the Rabbinical Council of America, an organization representing centrist Orthodox rabbis in North America, the decision will inevitably turn people away from Judaism — a major step backwards. We have a responsibility to love the stranger, and the actions of the High Rabbinical Court threaten to undermine this foundational principle in Judaism.
It’s our job to support each individual’s decisions and encourage him or her to continue to choose a Jewish path in life. Whether “choosing Jewish” means strict observance of Jewish law or an interfaith family deciding to raise Jewish children, it’s imperative that we work harder to make these options more accessible. Why would people want to involve themselves with a community that doesn’t support them?
We anticipate that next year more people will subscribe to our vision of Big Tent Judaism. That means opening more doors for all who approach. Let’s take advantage of every opportunity to welcome people in and strengthen our community. n
Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky is the executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute (www.joi.org), the coordinating partner of the Big Tent Judaism Coalition (www.BigTentJudaism.org). Levi Gibian Fishman is the communications associate at JOI.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization

Jerusalem Hotel

Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem