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Can the Orthodox and Reform work together?



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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 9:38 am
A Whatsapp is circulating among the shluchim of Chabad of a letter sent home to Reform Hebrew school students that Hebrew school is closed so that the students can attend the Chabad community wide menorrah lighting. The reform congregation is urging all to attend. I think that is wonderful because if they made some sort of community event, we would not be urging our constituents to attend, unless it was something non-denominational such as a JCC book fair with both Orthodox and non-Orthodox speakers there. We obviously can't grant their way of observing Judaism, legitimacy when it is opposite what the Torah says.

There is a Reform congregation pre-school whose attendance was declining due to an aging congregation, so they made the school 'Orthodox friendly' so that the Orthodox could send children there and there were Orthodox families who sent their children to the school. This had to entail serving only kosher snacks and hiring some frum staff.

A growing number of Reform and Conservative congregations are renting out space to Orthodox day schools. There is a Chabad school here renting from a Conservative synagogue.

Friendship Circle, a Chabad organization, involves lots of volunteers from Reform and Conservative congregations.

So, are there areas in which we can all together fight common "enemies" such as opioid abuse, illnesses and disabilities, that can chas v' sholem, strike anyone? While some prisoners have been helped by Alef Institute, I think that others have been helped by B'nei Brith. Could Reform Jews ever become EMTs and work for Hatzolah?
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amother
Amber


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 9:48 am
southernbubby wrote:

Could Reform Jews ever become EMTs and work for Hatzolah?


this is an odd question. Are you asking would Hatzloah accept volunteers who aren't orthdodox men? My guess is not - as they look for people can relate to frum Jews on a cultural level.
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lavenderchimes




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 9:49 am
YES! I love this post. Of course, there are a lot of ways that people who disagree can work together! It just requires people to focus on their common goals instead if their differences.

On a micro level, I collaberate with my Christian family to accomplish good things all the time (like helping my little cousin to escape an abusive situation,) and they collaberated to make my wedding awesome:)

You don't have to agree on religion, you only have to love one another.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 10:26 am
amother wrote:
this is an odd question. Are you asking would Hatzloah accept volunteers who aren't orthdodox men? My guess is not - as they look for people can relate to frum Jews on a cultural level.


Hasn't some of what Hatzolah now treats changed from what was once culturally acceptable? For example Hatzolah was always treating alcohol related emergencies on Purim but now there are opioid overdoses and suicide attempts. Hatzolah is of course for those who primarily speak Yiddish and needs Yiddish speaking care workers, but are there emergencies that are foreign to the frum culture?

Of course, you wouldn't want an EMT who looks down at large families or makes someone feel uncomfortable about family size.
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 10:26 am
There is no reason for Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist not to work together on many things.

We all light the menorah the same way. There's no reason why we can't all celebrate and enjoy together.

We also all leyn from the same Torah, and dance with joy on Simchat Torah. We can do it together.

Our local Reform nursery school is "Orthodox friendly," and we sent our kids there. It was only a couple of hours a day. There was only food on special occasions, and it was always kosher. (The Reform Temple maintained a separate kosher oven for use by the nursery school or others who wanted kosher food.) The teachers were better qualified, the hours better for us, and the price lower. What could be wrong?

There's a lot more that we have in common than we disagree on. Its nice if we can do it together.
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amother
Amber


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 10:43 am
southernbubby wrote:
Hasn't some of what Hatzolah now treats changed from what was once culturally acceptable? For example Hatzolah was always treating alcohol related emergencies on Purim but now there are opioid overdoses and suicide attempts. Hatzolah is of course for those who primarily speak Yiddish and needs Yiddish speaking care workers, but are there emergencies that are foreign to the frum culture?

Of course, you wouldn't want an EMT who looks down at large families or makes someone feel uncomfortable about family size.


I'm not referring to the nature of the emergencies.

Nor was I thinking about Yiddish language specifically. Some people call Hatzolah because they are cut from the same cloth - so to speak. Nothing needs to be explained. There is an instant comfort because you are being treated by someone from your community.
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amother
Amber


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 10:56 am
amother wrote:
There is no reason for Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist not to work together on many things.

We all light the menorah the same way. There's no reason why we can't all celebrate and enjoy together.

We also all leyn from the same Torah, and dance with joy on Simchat Torah. We can do it together.

Our local Reform nursery school is "Orthodox friendly," and we sent our kids there. It was only a couple of hours a day. There was only food on special occasions, and it was always kosher. (The Reform Temple maintained a separate kosher oven for use by the nursery school or others who wanted kosher food.) The teachers were better qualified, the hours better for us, and the price lower. What could be wrong?

There's a lot more that we have in common than we disagree on. Its nice if we can do it together.


this made me think about a song that my daughter learned (it was new to me) at a shabbat morning program at my shul. 'little torah, little torah let me hold you tight... teach me teach me all the mitzvos ....

I wanted to teach it to a friend - so I looked for a youtube video and found a few, including a 'less frum' version which changed 'mitzvos' to 'stories'.

subtle differences.
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amother
Violet


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 12:16 pm
I totally agree! One thing I really love about my OOT community is that there's a lot of cooperation and goodwill between the shuls of all different denominations. We're all Jews, so let's work together and pool resources for everyone's benefit.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 12:25 pm
In answer to your thread title, yes, to a point.
There are some things they cannot work together on, specifically if it will involve giving credence to their educational and halachic systems. So it gets complicated.
But when we are together - challah bakes, Partners in Torah, Federation family programs, Jewish book fair, what have you - it's beautiful. It's bracing.

I know of one community (no 20 questions, I have friends across the world) that desperately wanted the Shabbos Project to be "owned" by their entire community but there was utter crickets from the non-Orthodox. So they had a challah bake that was attended by a broad cross-section of the community but NO mention in ANY non-O synagogue or temple.

But all Jews need to know how loved and appreciated they are by other Jews.

ETA about the Friendship Circle: It is AMAZING! (And I think our FC founder has copyrighted the word Wink ) I used to read the local Jewish paper, and felt so sad about some of the bar/bat mitzvah mitzvah projects, like setting up at the Temple picnic. Kids who do FC don't stop at 13. I'm sure it's a gateway to bigger and better things - mitzvah goreres mitzvah.
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Fri, Dec 01 2017, 2:19 pm
I’m all for working together on Jewish experience type of things, but when it comes to Halacha, it starts to get complicated.

Just going by your example, because you gave it. You may not be aware of just how many halachic issues come up for Hatzolah members. Our local hatzaloh gives weekly shiurim in Halacha where they review and also bring up new questions that are constantly coming up. So I can see where something like that might create more problems that can end up creating animosity instead of unity.

In cultural issues, I’m all for it!
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 02 2017, 11:08 am
southernbubby wrote:
Hasn't some of what Hatzolah now treats changed from what was once culturally acceptable? For example Hatzolah was always treating alcohol related emergencies on Purim but now there are opioid overdoses and suicide attempts. Hatzolah is of course for those who primarily speak Yiddish and needs Yiddish speaking care workers, but are there emergencies that are foreign to the frum culture?

Of course, you wouldn't want an EMT who looks down at large families or makes someone feel uncomfortable about family size.

There are many non-Yiddish-speaking Orthodox communities which are served by Hatzalah.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 02 2017, 7:27 pm
DrMom wrote:
There are many non-Yiddish-speaking Orthodox communities which are served by Hatzalah.


My neighborhood just got Hatzalah and few speak only Yiddish here but didn't it start in a Yiddish speaking community? My understanding was that the most pressing issue was that local ambulances were slow to come to an emergency but in some parts of Brooklyn, the elderly for whom ambulances were often called, only or primarily spoke Yiddish.


Last edited by southernbubby on Sun, Dec 03 2017, 7:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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amother
Lawngreen


 

Post Sat, Dec 02 2017, 8:36 pm
Only on a very a limited number projects. My kids would not be allowed to attend some events.
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imasinger




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 02 2017, 10:56 pm
It is in some large part because of Orthodox and Reform working together that led to my becoming BT.
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amother
Tan


 

Post Sat, Dec 02 2017, 11:09 pm
Check out the last 15 minutes of this video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=.....7USek

which is a the organization Kesher Yehudi in Israel. Charedim and soldiers were paired to create wonderful connections.
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FranticFrummie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 03 2017, 6:30 am
This is such a beautiful thread. If we keep it up, can Moshiach be far behind? (Soon and in our days!)

I just came home from a challah bake, and the place was absolutely packed. There were MO, Chassidish, Conservative, Reform, and unaffiliated/questioning Jewish women from all walks of life. The energy in the room was incredible!

No one cared if you showed up in pants, or how you did or did not cover your hair. If only we could see these sorts of things more often, the world would be a better place.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 03 2017, 7:39 am
I went to a lovely chassunah recently, when the daughter of a Chabad shaliach got married. Lots of non-Orthodox people were invited and many of the kallah's same age group cousins who were in attendance, made it their business to get the non-Orthodox ladies onto the dance floor, involved them in the dancing, and they made sure that they got to dance with the kallah and have a fun time. The non-Orthodox ladies looked like they were really enjoying the experience, despite the fact that their husbands were on the opposite side of the mechitza. It was just beautiful to see that everyone could dance together as one people and really enjoy one another and that the non-Orthodox were totally included and made to feel that they were part of it.

Now Chabad is about to have a huge Menorrah lighting in Downtown Detroit. I have gone in the past with friends and the area is always packed and crowded with both Orthodox and non-Orthodox people because they have all kinds of booths and activities, and music that appeals maybe more to the non-Orthodox than to some of the Orthodox! But like the music or not, everyone is all there together as one Jewish people celebrating one of those holidays that made us a people, together.
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