Textbook Case

The folks at YAFFED have announced the formation of an interdenominational rabbinical council “to provide public support for our mission of ensuring that every child in Hassidic and ultra-Orthodox yeshivas receives an education that includes instruction in secular studies… as required by law.” The group’s press release states that it “has long sought the opinions of rabbinical figures from all denominations,” although there isn’t a regular Orthodox rabbi among the members of the new council.

Its six “partners” and six “advisors” include clergy who are Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Open Orthodox and one who’s “post-Orthodox.” Denominationally speaking, that’s a half-dollar, a quarter, a dime, a penny and one with no cents at all. But at least they fit right into YAFFED’s agenda of making change.

Be that as it may, the gesture of creating this council is touching. Indeed, it’s highly appropriate that it was announced during the Nine Days, a time when Jewish brotherhood is paramount in our minds. What better way is there, after all, to foster unity and understanding between Jews than to express concern for the education and welfare of Jewish children — and especially someone else’s children, which shows that the concern and caring being expressed is altruistic rather than self-focused?

I’m so moved, in fact, by YAFFED’s commitment to bettering the lives of their fellow Jews who aren’t even a part of their community that I feel impelled to reciprocate in whatever small way I can. And so, I issue here an invitation to clergy members from across the Jewish spectrum — but first and foremost, to those very same people who’ve accepted YAFFED’s invitation to join its council — to join yet another council in formation.