Chabad: Reform bar mitzvahs are a racket
Earlier this year Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, talked a little smack about Chabad's willingness to sign kids up for Bar Mitzvahs without requiring them to attend a ton of classes or forcing their parents to start showing up to shul:
Chabad, however, is often the address for those who wish to avoid serious requirements for the child or family. It is the place that you go when you do not want to join a synagogue or subject your child to a meaningful course of study. The rationale offered is that no child should be denied a Bar Mitzvah, and even with little serious training, the child and family – who are probably unaffiliated – may later be drawn into Jewish life. Perhaps.More likely, the lesson that is absorbed is that Judaism is not a serious endeavor and that even the most significant milestones require only a modicum of work and preparation. Let me be clear: no family should ever be denied membership in a synagogue because of inability to pay. But we should protest when Chabad, or anyone else, becomes a voice of Jewish minimalism that lowers educational standards in our communities.
Now Chabad is firing back. Here's a snippet from the recently posted reply from Chana Silberstein, the educational director at Chabad at Cornell:
What Yoffie fails to consider is that Chabad's willingness to offer all children a bar mitzvah stems not from lowering of religious standards, but from a refusal to make children the pawns in a game of institutional extortion.The reason most temples demand certain requirements be met before allowing children to be bar mitzvahed has nothing to do with standards—and everything to do with increasing synagogue revenue. The present system of front-loading fees such as synagogue membership and building fund, while creating an economic base for synagogue operations, discourages many Jews from getting involved.
Thus, many American Jews affiliate with synagogues only because they believe that if they do not, their child will not be able to become a bar mitzvah. In effect, the children are forced to pay the price for the failure of congregations to give their members a reason to want to join of their own volition. And so the kids become hostages. Parents are told that unless they ante up, their children will be denied this most significant of milestones. Some parents pay the ransom. Others leave the temple in disgust.
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In any movement this has to be remembered...ayn kemakh ayn Torah. If Chabad didn’t have their revenue streams (Kol HaKavod to them for their development), it would be more difficult to say the least for them to remain relavant in the marketplace of organized Judaism.
Chabad doesnt charge membership. Rarely charges for high holiday tickets or for any of their events. That is exactly why they have cultivated other revenue stream aka donations from individuals who feel jewish education and life is more important than the status quo of the establishment.
Chabad preys on unaffiliated Jews who don’t understand the more unsavory aspects of the Lubavitch movement such as:
* Chabad’s refusal to accept any other form of Judaism as legitimate and equal in value to Chabad. Not being ultra-Orthodox is fine as long as you are “getting there.” But the moment a Jew decides that their (non-Chabad) beliefs and observances are a good fit for their personal convictions, Chabad has a problem with you.
* Chabad’s unhelpful role in Israel. They aren’t Zionists, make no effort to advocate for Israel among non-Jews, and the rebbe refused to visit Israel. Their Israeli followers refuse to serve in the Israeli military, yet they demand that their remote settlements recieve Israeli army protection, and oppose almost any sort of effort to make peace.
* Their creepy beliefs about the rebbe. They (or at least many of them) say he’s the messiah and will return in a second coming! 21st Century Jews or 2nd Century Christians?
Their outreach efforts are great and should be emulated by Reform, Conservative, and modern Orthodox Jews. No Jew should feel excluded from his faith and heritage. But mainstream Jews should be very suspicious of their actual beliefs and hidden agenda.
point by ALev point:
* Chabad accepts Judaism that upholds Shabbos, Kashrut, torah law, and helping out every single Jew --- that’s true Judaism. Chabad has no problem with any Jew. The hope is that he/she will eventually come around to lighitn a candle, eating Kosher, respecting Shabbos. That’s the long/ short of it.
* Opposing ‘efforts to make peace’ IS being helpful: negotiating away land for nothing isn’t peace. You cannot negotiate with murderers.
* There is no hidden agenda. Every Jew has to be given a chance to see Judaism in its true state unfettered by the curly-cues of a Judaism designed for comfort. Every modernization, attempt at reform or departure from Torah-true Judaism has vanished like the Romans, the Greeks and the Nazis.
Give Jews the REAL thing. That’s the essence of Chabad.
Alev, you are misinformed. Chabad accepts all Jews regardless of affiliation. I attend a Chabad Shul and members of the nearby Reform Synagouge also attend including their Rabbi and his family. No one puts the “moves” on them.
Chabad is a great supporter of Israel. Many hundreds of Chabdniks serve in the IDF and American armed forces.
Chabad does not endorse any “creepy beliefs” in the Rebbe. Each must decide on their own.
Last month the UJA had their annual convention with their largest attendance ever, over 3400. Chabad also had theirs with over 4000 in attendance. Wake up and smell the growth of Jewishness. Pick your flavor. Mazal tov!
If the Chabadians feel good about themselves, that is great. But they should not denigrate other people.No one has that right, respect is due everyone and Ms Chana could easily have included the title for Rabbi Yoffie. When people do not show respect then it is easy to tell where they came from and their narrowness of mind.
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Raanan
11/02/07 10:37 AM
BS"D
Way to go Chana!
Tell it like it is!!
Not only is “front loading” “Synagogue Dues” necessary for the Bar Mitzva culture of America, but a distinct lack of content is missing as well as what is REALLY necessary for a Bar Mitzva:
Being Called up to the Torah for the first time,
putting on Kosher tefillin
and being able to daven with a minyan as a Jew has always done and will always do, long after history writes reform and conservative out of the History books as an “experiment that failed”.