In the Oct.15 issue, The CJN published a letter citing Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik z”l as a basis for being critical of Orthodox rabbis participating in the Rabbi 2 Rabbi feature. I find it amusing that sometimes people will utilize isolated quotes from the Rav to ban this or that, while ignoring his permissive rulings on a variety of other areas that were also consistent with his “Weltanschauung.” Furthermore, the Rav was famously chameleonic in his views, often offering different rulings to different disciples because of altered circumstances on the ground. I suggest that the Rav himself would recoil in disdain to hear the way he’s being cited to bolster an individual’s personal zealotry.

Rav Soloveitchik, as great as he was to North American Jewry, was not the solitary voice on all social issues for the Orthodox rabbinate. A number of my roshei yeshiva have encouraged dialogue with non-Orthodox rabbis as a way of furthering unity within our people.

A few other points are in order: Rabbi Soloveitchik was opposed only to theological dialogue, not to issues of communal importance. In fact, he concluded that participation with non-Orthodox Jews for political or communal welfare purposes is not only permissible, but obligatory. 

Rabbi Soloveitchik formulated his opinion more than 50 years ago, when the landscape of the Jewish movements was entirely different. To the best of my knowledge, the Rav never addressed the specific issue of rabbinic dialogue in a Jewish newspaper. Thus, to extrapolate from the Rav’s statement to the current column in The CJN is not only inappropriate, but inconsistent with the wisdom that rabbis are called upon to display.

I am proud to be a regular (Orthodox) columnist in your Rabbi 2 Rabbi column, where I engage in congenial and often spirited dialogue/debate with my new friend, Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, a Reform rabbi in Montreal. It is to our communities benefit to see how rabbis from different streams can sit down and speak as brothers and sisters.

Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin
Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation, Thornhill, Ont. 

Wolves in sheep’s clothing

Yoni Goldstein bravely tackles the arrest of Rabbi Barry Freundel and gives suggestions to prevent future rabbinic misadventures (“It must not happen again,” Oct. 23). Goldstein’s suggestions are valid and a good first step, but sadly, those who choose to abuse will find a way.  

Jewish clergy in Toronto have also been found guilty of abuse and stripped of their ordination by the Rabbinic Assembly. However, the loss of standing in the assembly has not resulted in the members voluntarily evicting themselves from our institutions and more importantly, our community has continued to support them and employ them in positions of trust. 

Rabbis and cantors are human beings, with the same flaws and faults that are found in society. Abuse of power will continue to happen, no matter how many safeguards are in place. The shandeh is that our religious institutions protect  these horrid individuals. The perpetrators simply ask for forgiveness, not from their victims, but from their employers, and they are deemed to be cured, re-employed, and once again, venerated by their congregants. They are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

Sheryl Lipton
Toronto

Kotel compromise is valid

Norma Baumel Joseph criticizes Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of The Wall, for agreeing to have women pray as a group at Robinson’s Arch instead of the main Western Wall plaza (“On compromising,” Oct. 15). Women as individuals have always been allowed and encouraged to pray at the Kotel, but women as a group with a Torah scroll praying there is an idea imported from America that has never really been accepted in Israel.

The ultra-Orthodox men and women are willing to allow alternate services, whether all-female or mixed, as long as these prayer services are not held in their midst. The Robinson Arch location will, therefore, permit alternative groups to pray at the Western Wall without upsetting the status quo at the main Kotel area. If Hoffman, who has led Women of The Wall for more than 20 years and has suffered personal attacks in the process, feels the Robinson Arch location is a reasonable compromise, her supporters abroad should not be so critical of her decision.

Ezra Franken
Montreal