THE RAINBOW SWASTIKA - Scattered Seed Ministries

like-minded colleagues. The unitiated, meanwhile, take the phrases at face value and translate
them based on their own definitions.] The CLAL faculty affirms that "the Eternal Torah
means not the 'Never Changing Torah', but rather the 'Eternal, Never-Stopping Revelation'... a
Higher Wisdom, an Ultimate Wisdom, is 'out there,' like the radio waves that fill the cosmos.
We only need to 'tune in'." (Rabbi Natan Margalit, "New Paradigms for Revelation", CLAL
Spotlight, July 1998) [Orthodox Jews will to be shocked to hear that the Torah entrusted to us
at Sinai is in perpetual flux, and that G-d is composed of impersonal, unfeeling waves of
energy floating "out in the cosmos". But New Agers will nod in agreement.] Yitz Greenberg
handed the reins of CLAL to his disciple Irwin Kula in 1997, but he continues his mission of
"mentoring emerging rabbinic leaders in our CLAL Fellowship Program." (Update)
The current President of CLAL, Rabbi Irwin Kula, is proud to acknowledge Rabbi Greenberg
as his mentor. Kula, described in the 1997 CLAL Update as a talented speaker who "dazzled"
his audience, is firmly in support of Jews who are "redefining Judaism", because "the
'journey' into the future has 'different roadmaps' for different Jews." (interview with Jewish
Telegraph Agency, "Focus on Issues", Nov. 18, 1997) In a definitive article called
"Jewishness in a New Era: Continuity, Discontinuity or Transformation?", Kula dismisses
community worries about a crisis of lost Jewish identity; what Jewish leaders take for
assimilation is merely "normalization of the Jewish condition". Today's Jews, he says, have
merely switched their "modes of expression": from the "institutions and practices created in
another era" to a shedding of "boundary-maintaining Jewish behaviors" which no longer make
sense. Not that Jews have "become like everyone else", but they are finding "new forms that
are appropriate to their full and equal participation in a broader human community." And
what are CLAL's red lines in the "re-imagining of Jewishness"? There are none - not from
Torah or even from CLAL itself: "The assumption that any one of us knows exactly what it is
that needs to be preserved from the past becomes problematic. A new context inevitably will
demand far-reaching changes in the very nature of Jewishness." How far-reaching? As far as
creating "new kinds of Jewish community that are more attuned to the era in which we live."
In a nutshell, whatever practice or principle in Judaism is "too circumscribed for this new era
in Jewish history", we are free to trash if we want - actually, the new era "will demand" it.
Like Yitz Greenberg, for justification Kula points to the rabbinic cancellation of animal
sacrifices after the Temple's destruction. He smoothly draws the parallel: the forced
abandonment of that practice due to calamity is just like today's wholesale abandonment of
the 4000-year Jewish framework for its being "less attuned" to our age. [More amazing, here
is a "rabbi", trained by another "orthodox rabbi", who thinks that Rabbinic Judaism left
behind both the Temple sacrifice and "the belief in its continued importance". Can it be that
Greenberg never taught Kula the many rabbinic prayers which anticipate the restoration of the
Temple sacrifice? But since Kula insists on this parallel, let him follow it. We should now
expect CLAL to compose Tisha-Be'Av-style kinot for this new and wider abandonment they
are witnessing, so much like the abandonment of the Temple.] As a preview of what Kula's
ideal of "Jewishness in a New Era" might look like, we can consider that in this 3-page article,
there is not a single occurrence of the words "Torah", "covenant", "commandments", or any
reference to the G-d of Israel in any form.
Elsewhere, CLAL shows scant respect for Torah-keeping Jews, as well as an evasion of their
challenges. A commentary by Andrew Silow-Carroll, spotlighted by CLAL from among "the
latest thoughts and reflections by CLAL faculty and associates", quotes Orthodox writer
David Klinghoffer who asks why anyone would embrace Jewish religion if they don't believe
it is from a Divine Source. Rather than grappling with the question or offering an alternate
religious anchor, Silow-Carroll simply rejects Klinghoffer for his "dismissal of the various