In November 2021, Temple Israel in Springfield, Missouri, started searching for a brand new rabbi. A fast perusal of job listings from different Reform synagogues left the search committee surprised: Scores of congregations, many providing increased salaries in bigger cities, had been unable to fill their positions for months, typically longer. Ultimately, Temple Israel entered right into a fee-for-service settlement with a rabbi two hours away. He would are available for Shabbat, Excessive Vacation providers, and adult-education courses, however he wouldn’t attend neighborhood conferences, collaborate with native religion leaders, or recruit new members to the synagogue. For less than the second time in its 125-year historical past, Temple Israel wouldn’t have a full-time rabbi.
Their expertise is not any outlier. A Conservative congregation simply outdoors New York Metropolis, providing $150,000 a yr plus advantages and a free three-bedroom house, spent three years looking for a substitute for its rabbi after he introduced his retirement in 2019. (Like different rabbis I spoke with, he delayed retirement to tide over the congregation.) There have been merely not sufficient candidates.
Previously 15 years, the variety of American Jews selecting to develop into rabbis has plummeted, and so has the share of rabbis involved in serving congregations, as increasingly more find yourself in nonprofits, hospitals, universities, and elsewhere. This has threatened the vitality of tons of of synagogues in addition to the way forward for the colleges which have ordained rabbis for greater than a century.
And not using a rabbi, synagogue membership tends to dwindle to the very devoted. Enrollment within the Hebrew college goes down. Fundraising turns into more durable. No one will get a hospital go to from the rabbi or a name of consolation throughout a tough time.
Judaism is way from the one religion custom going through this drawback. In lots of Christian denominations, a wave of early retirements throughout the coronavirus pandemic accelerated long-term declines amongst clergymen and pastors. Scores of outstanding Christian seminaries have been compelled to promote their campuses on account of shrinking enrollment, and plenty of have merged sources and properties with different faculties, even these of different denominations. Sometimes, Catholic clergymen as soon as needed to wait a decade after ordination earlier than main their very own parish; immediately, the wait time may be lower than three years.
Whether or not this represents a disaster or a possibility for renewal is the topic of a lot debate amongst Jewish leaders.
“Sure, we have to determine what will occur to congregations who usually are not getting rabbis,” says Emily Hendel, who oversees profession providers for the Rabbinical Meeting, a 1,600-member group of Conservative rabbis. “Nevertheless it doesn’t negate some great benefits of having rabbis serve elsewhere.”
Even because the rabbi scarcity has worsened, new establishments of Jewish studying, social activism, and lay management have flourished, largely due to the rising engagement of youthful Jews. Little or no of this renaissance, nevertheless, is affiliated with giant, established synagogues or the seminaries that provide them with rabbis. Virtually none of it’s tied to the denominations.
A brand new heart of gravity for American Jewish life is rising, far faraway from synagogue life and the establishments which have outlined it. The centralized Judaism of the Twentieth century is giving method to a sequence of unbiased organizations, reflecting a broader development throughout religion communities towards spiritual individualism. This new Judaism raises questions on what a rabbi needs to be within the twenty first century, whom they need to serve, and what to do now that so many congregations can’t discover one.
The Hebrew phrase for ordination is semikha, “the laying of fingers.” Within the Bible, Moses designates Joshua as the brand new chief of the youngsters of Israel by putting his fingers on him. Jewish custom holds that this chain of transmission handed from Joshua to the 70 Elders of Israel, all the way in which down—spiritually if not actually—to immediately’s rabbis. Rabbis of all denominations are nonetheless ordained on the authority of somebody who holds semikha, ushering them into the chain of authority that Jews hint to Moses himself on Mount Sinai.
For many of the Twentieth century, the American rabbinical profession was comparatively standardized. Rabbis have been ordained in a denomination and served synagogues affiliated with that denomination. There have been two main choices for rabbinical coaching outdoors the Orthodox world: Hebrew Union Faculty—whose three American campuses, in Cincinnati, New York, and Los Angeles, ordain rabbis for the Reform motion, America’s largest Jewish denomination—and New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, the principle seminary of the Conservative motion. From the Nineteen Fifties to the early 2000s, HUC often graduated courses of 45 college students; JTS, 35.
Final yr, persevering with a decline that started within the 2010s and was exacerbated by the pandemic, HUC ordained 30 rabbis. JTS ordained solely 12. About 50 Reform rabbis and 20 Conservative rabbis retire every year, that means that the variety of openings outstrips the availability of obtainable rabbis, even if many synagogues have merged or closed. And even that understates the hole between provide and demand. If latest tendencies maintain, barely half of the rabbis who graduated from rabbinical faculties final yr will go to work in synagogues.
My father, Joseph Telushkin, obtained his Orthodox ordination from Yeshiva College. I used to be all the time amazed, as a toddler, on the locations he may enter just by explaining that he was a rabbi. Hospital visiting-hour limits and gated-community protocols would vanish within the presence of his prayer guide and black coat. It was not the profession for me—I by no means fairly absorbed my mother and father’ pious religion, and I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood the place girls stay excluded from the rabbinate—however I noticed the attraction. He sparks reverence in airport lounges and grocery-store strains. Folks on the road ask him to hope for them. He’s at house in moments of tragedy, celebration, and concern; he feels wanted in areas the place others really feel uncomfortable.
Not like different professions rooted in lofty beliefs (see: humanities professors), congregational rabbis have fairly good job prospects, with respectable salaries and secure advantages. Their work is significant. They are often activists, students, writers, lecturers. They oversee pivotal moments in individuals’s lives—bat mitzvahs, weddings, conversions, funerals. As a profession, there appears a lot to advocate it.
So why are so few Jews turning into rabbis?
A part of the reply lies in how modernity and assimilation have modified the function. For hundreds of years, a rabbi was a scholar of Jewish authorized texts whose central job was to assist different Jews navigate questions—ethical, technical, on a regular basis, extraordinary—with the knowledge of Jewish legislation. That is nonetheless true of Orthodox rabbis. For many American Jews, nevertheless, the function of the rabbi immediately is to make Jewish traditions significant in a world during which they aren’t all the time acquainted or clearly related.
As an instance the purpose, David Wolpe, who just lately retired because the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles, recalled to me one thing he heard from Simon Greenberg, a revered rabbi on campus when Wolpe was in seminary within the Nineteen Eighties: “I’ll always remember, he mentioned to us, ‘Your job as a rabbi is to elucidate America to your congregants.’ For that era of Jews, all dedicated and educated about Judaism, they wanted to discover ways to be Jews on this new land. For this era, everyone is an American. That’s not the difficulty. The difficulty is how, as an American, do you develop into Jewish? And that could be a more durable job, as a result of it’s countercultural.”
Outdoors the Orthodox world, most Jews can simply ignore their Jewish id in the event that they so select. This could be one motive many present rabbinical college students come from minority identities, whether or not they’re queer, converts, or Jews of coloration. These teams needed to extra actively ponder their place within the Jewish world, and for a lot of, that contemplation led to the rabbinate.
Jewish girls didn’t have the choice to develop into rabbis till the Seventies. Ultimately, American rabbinical faculties graduated extra girls than males, however doubling the potential pool of rabbinical candidates clearly didn’t result in a rise in rabbis. Why? Students have argued that different professions turned much less prestigious after girls have been allowed to affix them. Whether or not one thing comparable has occurred within the rabbinate is difficult to find out, partly as a result of the beginning of feminine ordinations coincided with one other key development: the emergence of a extra assimilated and secular Jewish neighborhood.
Whereas earlier generations have been prone to be raised in a house with educated mother and father or grandparents—giving them a fundamental grasp of Hebrew, holidays, and practices—immediately, fewer Jews take up this info at house.
“The hole between what individuals be taught of their childhood Jewish training and what you want for rabbinical college has grown,” says Rabbi Amber Powers, a pacesetter throughout the Reconstructionist motion, one of many extra trendy denominations. Within the ’80s, she instructed me, Jewish youngsters doubtless attended Hebrew college three days every week. Now that many Jews develop up with no formal spiritual training, rabbinical college can take longer than it used to, and value extra.
The day-to-day lifetime of a rabbi has additionally modified. In lots of communities, the rabbi has gone from being a non secular authority whose phrase was akin to legislation to one thing of a neighborhood organizer. With larger assimilation, the burden of outreach is now on the rabbi to promote the virtues of Judaism to individuals who can all the time stroll away. This has made the work much less rewarding and extra exhausting, many congregational rabbis instructed me.
“There was by no means work-life stability on this function,” mentioned a Reform rabbi serving a big city congregation, who requested to not be named for concern {of professional} penalties. “However once you have been being interrupted on trip, it was as a result of any person was having a disaster, or there was a tragedy in the neighborhood. The work was nonstop, nevertheless it was fulfilling. Right this moment, individuals may carry these issues to a therapist or different skilled.” Rabbis are nonetheless anticipated to be obtainable previous enterprise hours, she instructed me, however extra usually for occasion planning, fundraising, and logistics than for non secular care or household emergencies.
Many Jewish leaders observe that rabbis now not encourage younger Jews to comply with within the occupation—invites that have been as soon as an vital mode of recruitment. One mid-career rabbi instructed me a couple of profitable colleague with 25 years within the pulpit who has despatched solely two or three college students to rabbinical college in all that point: “I’ve had mates and colleagues say, ‘Why would I want this kind of unimaginable life on a few of these promising, superb individuals?’”
The work has additionally develop into extra contentious. Three-fourths of non-Orthodox Jews now marry a non-Jewish associate. When rabbis decline to carry out interfaith marriages or to permit non-Jewish members of the family ritual roles in synagogue, these choices are sometimes obtained as intensely private snubs; when rabbis embrace these modifications, nevertheless, they will depart extra conventional congregants feeling betrayed. (A number of rabbinical faculties have just lately rescinded their insurance policies in opposition to interfaith relationships, prompting a lot debate.) Help for Israel was as soon as a unifying power inside congregations; immediately, it’s usually a supply of division.
Along with all this, turning into a rabbi is dear. Earlier than the Sixties, rabbinical faculties didn’t cost tuition. This stays the case within the Orthodox world, however in different actions, rabbinical college usually requires 5 to eight years of high-cost, full-time examine after school. Even these with tuition scholarships nonetheless must pay hire and help themselves in cities akin to New York and Los Angeles, and not using a wage. Most colleges additionally require a yr in Jerusalem, forcing costly cross-Atlantic strikes.
Gabi Isaac-Herzog, who works as a advisor at an insurance coverage firm and graduated from Macalester Faculty in 2022, was certainly one of many younger individuals who instructed me they crunched the numbers senior yr and realized with deep disappointment that they wanted to decide on a well-paying job after school as an alternative of a lower-paying one that might put together them for rabbinical college. Though Isaac-Herzog cherished studying Hebrew and was concerned with Jewish life on campus, she merely couldn’t transfer to a metropolis with out an revenue when she had scholar loans to repay.
“The monetary facet was the largest hurdle,” she mentioned. “If I hadn’t been fascinated by that final yr, I’d in all probability not have the job that I’ve now, and can be contemplating going to rabbinical college within the subsequent two to a few years.” She’s now pondering of going at age 30, as soon as she’s constructed up her financial savings and explored her choices, however the plan turns into extra unsure yearly.
Regardless that the variety of college students attending rabbinical college has not grown previously twenty years, the variety of rabbinical faculties has elevated. Some established establishments have tried to develop into extra accessible by lowering tuition or providing extra remote-friendly choices, caught between their historic construction and the fact of contemporary life. They’re nonetheless failing to draw extra college students. In 2015, the Jewish Theological Seminary offered off its fundamental library constructing, lengthy thought of the jewel of its campus. In 2022, Hebrew Union Faculty voted to sundown its rabbinical program in Cincinnati, which was established in 1875.
When Louis Finkelstein, a Twentieth-century chief of the Conservative motion, utilized to JTS in 1915, he was interviewed by Solomon Schechter, the famed scholar and the chancellor on the time, who requested why he wished to attend. Finkelstein mentioned, moderately, that he wished to be taught. “No!” Schechter replied. “You come right here to be within the presence of nice males.”
Right this moment, younger Jews can discover nice minds throughout—in nondenominational Jewish organizations, progressive non secular communities, and the Jewish-studies Ph.D. applications that solely just lately got here into existence. Younger Jews instructed me many times that they’re prepared to sacrifice money and time to obtain management expertise and non secular coaching, however they don’t know if rabbinical faculties are nonetheless the perfect locations to do this.
Nice Jewish minds may also be present in a set of colleges which have emerged in latest a long time to supply new fashions of studying and Jewish id. The normal however egalitarian Yeshivat Hadar just lately ordained eight college students in a four-year program centered on mastery of Jewish legislation. The Shalom Hartman Institute, a hub of Jewish thought and management, is launching a program for Jews pursuing the rabbinate as a second profession. The nondenominational Hebrew Faculty outdoors Boston and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Faculty close to Philadelphia are the uncommon examples of established faculties that aren’t shrinking, partly as a result of each have lengthy centered on rabbinical work past the pulpit, and since they welcome college students who don’t match into typical denominational classes. One regarding development is the rising variety of nonaccredited faculties, which supply rabbinical levels in lower than two years and supply far much less coaching.
Regardless of the declines that conventional seminaries and congregations are going through, many throughout the Conservative and Reform actions insist that the disaster is overblown. Final yr, for instance, solely eight Reform synagogues have been left with out adequate management to satisfy their spiritual wants, in line with representatives from the motion. To fulfill these wants, nevertheless, many synagogues depend on part-time assist, retired rabbis in interim positions, or rabbinical college students. An growing variety of synagogues are wanting outdoors their denominations, or selecting rabbis from unaccredited faculties. Smaller Conservative congregations particularly are beginning to look outdoors their denomination after solely a month of looking, as an alternative of the 2 or three years as soon as anticipated.
“Way back, Jews stopped pondering denominationally,” Rabbi Gary Glickstein, a co-leader of the Nationwide Affiliation of Retired Reform Rabbis, instructed me. “Rabbis and establishments nonetheless do. However I don’t know any one that has joined my congregation within the final 30 or 40 years as a result of they have been ideologically a Reform Jew.”
Merging present establishments or hiring candidates throughout denominational strains can solely achieve this a lot, although. Really revitalizing the rabbinate would require a shift in institutional priorities. Because the Nineteen Nineties, grants given by American Jewish establishments have disproportionately centered on unaffiliated Jews, neglecting these already totally dedicated to the religion, particularly younger Jews contemplating the rabbinate.
If the neighborhood got here collectively and determined to make seminaries reasonably priced, not solely by lowering the price of tuition but additionally by providing beneficiant dwelling stipends to college students, the affect may very well be important. Cash alone gained’t resolve the issue, however monetary help would enhance the status of the rabbinate and permit extra college students and Jewish leaders to think about it in earnest. Stipends is also used to encourage college students to spend time serving in synagogues, maybe as a two-year dedication following ordination, or throughout the technique of being ordained.
“We have now college students who come into rabbinical college pondering, I don’t suppose I need to work in a congregation. After which they do it for a number of years, they usually get completely hooked,” Miriam Heller Stern, who directs the college of training at Hebrew Union Faculty, instructed me. “Whenever you’ve gone via that technique of guiding individuals via their most vital holy, intimate moments—of delivery, dying, partnership, even divorce and separation and grief—there’s a magic in making that complete and significant for individuals.”
With none modifications, seminaries will proceed to wither and disperse, dismantling in a number of years the communal infrastructure that took greater than a century to construct. Synagogues—particularly these serving smaller and extra distant communities—will proceed to shrink, leaving extra Jews with out entry to a rabbi or a non secular neighborhood.
A lot good will come from the brand new establishments that exist outdoors the seminary, synagogue, and denominations; their success is an indication that the way forward for Jewish life within the U.S. is powerful. However for hundreds of years, the synagogue and the congregational rabbi stood on the heart of Jewish life. They allowed Jews of all types to come back collectively to hope, worship, have a good time, argue, and mourn. In the event that they disappear, they are going to be arduous to switch.
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