Becoming the Mainstream
Written by Rabbi Dr. Tony Bayfield Wednesday, 05 December 2007
We Brits enjoy the quip that American Jews think that the world is made up of three Jewish communities — America, Israel, and the Diaspora. It is, of course, a reflection of our jealousy — American Jewry is larger, richer in every sense, and much more self-confident. But British Jewry does exist; it is different from American Jewry and presents an important and interesting challenge to Reform Judaism.
Let me begin with a story. I was regaling an old friend and communal leader over lunch with the recent achievements of the British Reform movement. We are behind Britain’s first-ever communal Jewish secondary school, a £50 million project largely funded by government. It will open its doors in three years and provide more than 20 percent of all of the state-funded Jewish high school places in London. We are also behind a communal initiative called ResponsAbility — a national programme offering dynamic Jewish ethical insights and prompting action on the cutting edge issues of the day from medical ethics to environmental concerns, poverty, and human rights. In the context of British Jewry, these two projects represent a major breakthrough. My friend listened to my enthusiasm, and then said: “I was talking to Charles (another major communal figure) and we both agreed that the real problem for Reform is that nobody knows what it stands for.”
I was stunned by the remark. I’ve spent my whole career defining Reform Judaism in word and deed, yet I know that what I heard from my friend is widely repeated by Reform leaders and British Jewry at large.
Three years ago, Professor Steven M.Cohen and Dr. Keith Kahn-Harris, conducted research for the UJIA into attitudes within the British Jewish Community, and found that the most distinctive characteristic of British Jewry is an obsession with authenticity — defined (their definition, not mine) as Judaism as practised in the synagogue that ‘my father didn’t go to’!
How does one explain this obsession with authenticity? First, British Jewry is illustrative of the rise of religious fundamentalism since the 1960s. Half a century ago, we were pronouncing the collapse of Orthodox Judaism. Today, demographersare predicting that in less than 50 years more than half of British Jewry will be ultra-Orthodox, charedi. One of the characteristics of fundamentalism is an assertion of old ‘truths’and a retreat into past forms that are alone authentic and define ‘proper’ Judaism.
Second, British Jewry — like all of European Jewry — shares what Diana Pinto has called a dominating sense of victimhood that more than 60 years after the Shoah it has not been able to transcend. This means that the community enters into dialogue with others brandishing a security-dominated shopping list of concerns rather than a sense of our role as a partner in tikkun and a blessing to the families of the earth. The recrudescence of antisemitism sparked by the conflict between the west and Islam greatly increases anxiety. Fifty years ago Britain’s Jews were the largest religious minority in Britain and equal to the sum of all the rest. Today, Britain’s 267,000 Jews have fallen to fourth and are outnumbered six-to-one by Muslims.
Finally, Britain was never imbued with the spirit of rugged individualism so conducive to religious dissent and radicalism. Rather, Britain is the home of ‘the establishment’ and for more than a century has had an Orthodox establishment, the equivalent of the Church of England, presided over by a chief rabbi universally viewed as the equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
For a range of reasons, British Reform failed to make significant progress in the 19th century. So the arrival of the familiar wave of Eastern European immigrants, the ones who didn’t make it to the goldene medina, gave significant character to the Orthodox establishment even as it sought to Anglicize them. Reform only really emerged in the decades after World War II and instantly found itself on the margins, regarded with suspicion and hostility.
Over the past 20 years, two things have happened. First, the Orthodox rabbinate has radically changed its complexion. Gone are the Anglicizing Jewish ‘ministers’ who graduated from the now defunct Jews’ College. They have largely been replaced by graduates of West Bank yeshivot and disciples of Lubavitch, significantly changing the tone and positioning of British Orthodox Judaism. Second, the Reform movement has come to see that its place is not on the margins of the community but at the heart. For Reform can far better address the Jewish needs of the community mainstream than those with a fundamentalist theology. For the majority, who do not see charedi Judaism as their best option for Jewish survival, Reform has a deep responsibility. Interestingly, something of the same analysis applies in Israel. British Reform, as the largest grouping within European Jewry, is not only a significant part of the American-Israel-Diaspora triangle but can actually serve as interpreter.
Clearly, over the past 25 years we have not fully allayed the British Jewish obsession with authenticity; the historical and psychological roots are very deep. But our vision of a community in which all streams work together in mutual respect and share the task of stabilizing and maintaining British Jewry is gaining ground. Though the default position within British Jewry is still (nominally) Orthodox, our communal high school is being backed across the communal spectrum. Our small numbers leave us in no doubt that we cannot change society or repair the world on our own, we have to work with others. So ResponsAbility — our contemporary ethics initiative — has an advisory board drawn from every quarter of British Jewry and includes such significant non-Jews as the Professor of Divinity at Cambridge and Cherie Blair.
I have faith in the fact that the bulk of British Jews will come to see that authenticity lies not in the comfort–seeking re-creation of a supposed past, but in rising to the challenges to faith and from fundamentalism that the 21st century poses to all religious traditions,not just Judaism.
This article was first published in the November 2007 edition of Sh'ma
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