Is Judaism in Crisis?

February 21, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

If you haven’t yet listened to Rabbi Barr’s podcast this week, it’s worth checking out. Here’s the MP3.

The podcast discusses a recent article in the Forward: “Liberal Denominations Face Crisis as Rabbis Rebel, Numbers Shrink.” That article reports the Conservative movement has seen very significant drops in membership.  The Reform movement also has its challenges, including a group of dissident rabbis who seem to think they know what is best (they may or they may not) for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).  The Reconstructionist Movement also has challenges and recently merged its Jewish Reconstructionist Federation with the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

All of this signifies a crisis (and perhaps an opportunity).  The Jewish community is certainly going through a quantum shift.  As Rabbi Barr says in his podcast, the models of the past do not necessarily work for the Jewish community today.  He argues it’s not just about structural changes, though.  It’s also about beliefs.  The Jewish community is sometimes held back by the past.  Instead, we need a Jewish community that evolves and celebrates diversity.

You’ll hear in the podcast that our ancestors had their day.  Now it is our chance to have ours.

Listen to the podcast and share your thoughts here!

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Watson on Jeopardy: Imagining a New World

February 17, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 2 Comments 

I called my grandmother earlier this week and she told me she couldn’t talk because Jeopardy was on.  I thought it was a bit odd since she’s never seemed like such a focused Jeopardy fan before, but I also didn’t take it personally.  Then, I got home and flipped on the TV and learned this was not just any Jeopardy episode.  The best Jeopardy players were playing against Watson, the IBM computer, who (excuse the expression) kicked the human’s tushies!

As I read the article in the New York Times science section about Watson, it raised all sorts of questions for me.  As machines’ powers grow far beyond their ability to respond to simple commandments, how will their changing roles influence the changing roles of people?

The Times piece discusses how technology can displace jobs, at least in the short run.  This may really scare some, and many people will argue that there are large philosophical differences between a human doing something and a machine doing it, even if they can do it equally well (or the machine can do it better).  We may wonder, will there be any jobs left for people?

As someone who is willing to imagine the world a little more boldly and less-constrained, I take a different perspective.  I’m willing to go so far as to imagine a world in which humans really aren’t necessary for any jobs.  Machines can do them all better than us.  What an incredible opportunity to re-imagine how our world works.  I hope there’s a think-tank somewhere having conversations about what kind of completely new economic system we would have if machines were doing all our work, and we were using our own human time in entirely different ways than we can imagine today.  This may be a little outlandish, but it’s a fun exercise to imagine.  In fact, if that think-tank needs more thinkers, I’ll be right there (unless of course they have computers working on this already)!

That’s what technology does – it compels us to imagine what we can’t imagine.  Some say that religion’s job is to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.  I would say that’s also the role of technology.  It comforts the disturbed – making easier so many of our challenges.  And it also disturbs our comfort – always letting us know change is about to happen.

In our liturgy at Congregation Beth Adam, we say “our ancestors never could have imagined the world in which we live.  Never could they have imagined the changes that have taken place.”  So too, I am humbled by the fact that I cannot even begin to predict the details of the world my descendants will one day inherit.

But what we can do is constantly embrace the tools of the time, as we do at OurJewishCommunity.org.

I was reminded of this this morning while watching the Today Show.  A 15 year old boy named Lyndon Baty has a compromised immune system and therefore cannot attend school.  But he now does attend school – in an entirely new way.  He goes to school as a robot avatar.  From the MSNBC website:

“a 4-foot-tall chrome and steel robot takes Lyndon’s place in classes and allows him to interact with teachers and fellow students. His face is displayed on a screen near the top of the robot and his voice is projected through its speakers. Lyndon can see and hear everyone through signals transmitted to his laptop from the robot’s camera. It’s like a video conference — on a robot.”

It was extraordinary to watch.  Again, not something our ancestors could have imagined – but an incredible enhancement to our world.

For now, I think there are lots of things humans can do better than computers.  But I also have to say, if a computer can one day do my job better than I can, I’m not so arrogant to say that I won’t let it.  Instead, I’ll find something else to do with my time.

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Secular Student Groups Increase

February 14, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

A recent post on the CNN Belief Blog discusses the doubling in the number of secular student groups.  I’m glad to hear that, especially when I read the mission of the Secular Student Alliance (from their website):

The mission of the Secular Student Alliance is to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human-based ethics.

Those ideals all speak to me very much.  And clearly they speak to others.  But too often, it is only the “religious” groups who have their voices heard – they are most organized and as a result most listened to.  It’s wonderful to see those with secular voices can also find a community of like-minded individuals with which to have conversations.

As secular groups grow and talk about what they do and do not believe, all of our conversations will become richer.  Secular groups will challenge religious individuals and groups to really think about and articulate what they do and do not believe.  This is so valuable.

The CNN blog mentions that the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life says that one quarter of people under age 30 consider themselves atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular.  I know many Jews who fit this description have found a home at OurJewishCommunity.org.  It’s so nice to have a truly liberal Jewish community that allows for a variety of God concepts from those that use the word God to those that don’t.


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Egyptian Revolution and the Power to Effect Change

February 14, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 3 Comments 

During our Friday evening streaming Shabbat service, Rabbi Barr and I briefly mentioned the events in Egypt – and some of you thanked us for that on Twitter.  In preparing for the Shabbat service, we felt we had to acknowledge the events in Egypt.  But, we also knew that talking about it at great length during services didn’t necessarily make the most sense.  Though we have both been following the news closely (and I had even been on a phone briefing with Middle East analyst, negotiator, and author Aaron Miller) we are not news reporters ourselves nor are we experts in Egyptian politics.  We also know the news over in Egypt is changing rapidly.

So, while we didn’t say much on our streaming Shabbat service other than acknowledging that we were following what was going on and concerned about those who had been injured, I think I’ll see just a tiny bit more here.

First – I’m worried about Israel.  But, I’ve never not been worried about Israel.  Sure, these events have shaken up the Middle East, and change is scary especially when it involves one of Israel’s more friendly neighbors.  But we can’t predict the future.  I hope that whatever happens, Israel feels secure as a home for Jews.

Second – I am impressed by the power of individuals to self-organize and effect major change.  Some protesters were fighting out against corruption or police brutality, others against lack of free elections or freedom of speech.  Some were protesting high unemployment, food inflation, or low minimum wage.  They fought for what they believed in, and brought about change.  Of course, the violence, injuries, and deaths are very upsetting.   And we must not forget that. But to the extent that we see this as a powerful group of people who were at once disorganized and who are now bringing major regime change, I’m impressed.  It reminds me of the Margaret Mead quotation – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Third -  As a cyber-rabbi, the role of social media in the Egyptian Revolution interests me.  I just saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about a 30 year old Google executive who had created a Facebook page with over 500,000 likers; the page tracked police abuses.  This, combined with many other Facebook and Twitter efforts, contributed to real progress.  In a country where much of the traditional media is state-controlled, tools like Facebook and Twitter gave voice to those who otherwise would not have had loud voices.

May we all raise our voices together – hoping for peace around the world.



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Porn Sunday

February 7, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

Most of us (at least in the US) didn’t miss the fact that yesterday was Superbowl Sunday.  However, you may have missed the fact that yesterday was also “Porn Sunday.”  I first read about “Porn Sunday” on CNN’s Belief Blog.  The concept struck me as totally bizarre – that hundreds of churches were going to spend a Sunday criticizing their parishioners for their use of pornography.  While I totally understand that pornography can be very bad (e.g. when it involves minors or someone coerced to participate), there is also a wide range of what is porn/erotica and I have a hard time understanding why a pastor would make a blanket statement that it is all bad.

Porn Sunday is an initiative of XXXchurch which “is designed to bring awareness, openness and accountability to those affected by pornography.”  Amazing that there are churches with such niches!  Its pastor, Craig Gross, has said that porn “is the elephant in the pews.”

This got me thinking further – not about porn – but about the elephants in our pews.  What are the big issues that get ignored in the organized Jewish world?

I teach Human Relations and Pastoral Counseling to third year rabbinic students at Hebrew Union College. In my class, we cover a wide range of topics such as addiction, child abuse and domestic violence, interfaith and interdenominational issues, death and mourning, aging, infertility, and sexuality.  We talk about these topics and I ask the rabbinic students to think about how they will make it clear to their future congregations/communities that they are willing to talk about all of these issues.

All of this is because I think it’s so important that we not ignore important topics like these.  While I don’t think porn is the elephant in the pew, I do think there are lots of other topics that may be.  While some may like to think Jews don’t drink or Jews don’t have financial problems or Jews don’t beat their spouses, of course some do.

So all of us – clergy and community members – can provide a shoulder to lean upon and spread the message that while some topics may feel taboo in some communities, they don’t need to be.  We can all take the elephants out of the pew – and embrace the diversity of the opportunities and challenges that individuals in our communities face.

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