Rabbi Richard Jacobs, the spiritual leader of a large Reform congregation in Scarsdale, NY, was just tapped to lead the Union for Reform Judaism next year–effectively making him the top rabbi of America’s largest denomination. According to the JTA, Rabbi Jacobs wants to make the movement a “big tent with its flaps wide open and its Jewish stakes planted deeply in the ground.” The article notes Rabbi Jacob’s commitment to larger social justice and environmental causes on the one hand, and his dedication to Jewish tradition on the other.
New Voices interviewed Jacobs almost three years ago as part of our Lubavitch Issue, asking him about the Reform view of Chabad. In the interview by former New Voices Editor Josh Nathan-Kazis, Rabbi Jacobs notes that Reform Judaism is just as authentic as Chabad, that Chabad adheres to a problematic philosophy and that Reform students who are involved in Chabad should have more faith in their own upbringings:
I believe that all meaningful Jewish experiences are important, and I would put Chabad in that mix. What I’m nervous about is the less versed Jewish college student who walks in and immediately feels like they have [previously] been part of something not authentic. Sometimes that comes from the Chabad rabbi or the rabbi’s wife or the rabbi’s staff, and sometimes it’s just, ‘My God, this is so different from what I know.’
[…]
[Chabad] does not line up with all of the liberal Jewish values that we’ve learned from our tradition. I would argue that egalitarian values are, in my Jewish life, from the tradition, not opposed to the tradition. There’s the question of to what extent tikkun olam and social justice are a primary part of one’s Jewish practice. Chabad would certainly say that to help another Jew in distress is very important, but if you’re talking about organizing the Darfur rally at the college Hillel, they would say, ‘Why would you be spending all that effort? We need to take care of our own.’
One of the most problematic things is that Chabad subscribes to a view that a Jewish soul is inherently more sacred than a non-Jewish soul. Yes, there are sources: Hasidic, Kabalistic, and probably even rabbinic where you could construct such a notion. But I find that to be the most problematic aspect of Chabad.
Read the full interview here.
