Speaking on Panel at Temple Beth David about Denominations

Poster for the event
Poster for the event

Yesterday, I had the honor of speaking on a panel about Jewish denominations at Temple Beth David in Westminster, sponsored by the Jack Broscow Brotherhood.  I was one of three rabbi panelists, alongside Rabbi Joel Berman of Temple Beth Emet of Anaheim, representing Conservative Judaism, and Rabbi Nancy Myers of Temple Beth David, representing Reform Judaism.

I realized it was my first time speaking on a panel concerning Jewish denominations, which was interesting.  The structure of the panel discussion was each rabbi was alotted ten minutes to speak about their movement, followed by two separate questions (to be answered in three minutes): where our movement stands on interfaith couples, and where we stand on Israel.  Following these questions, the floor was opened up for further ones.

At the outset, I made sure I stated that there are multiple Orthodoxies, as Yehudah Mirsky has written, and that it may be considered as a sort of spectrum, with Haredi, Hassidic, Modern, etc. varieties.  As someone representing Modern Orthodoxy, I did focus on that, as well as Open Orthodoxy.

It was a nice event and it was interesting to speak with people after the event who seldom interacted with Modern Orthodox (or even non-Chabad Orthodox).

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