London – Amid the swirl of controversy created last week when he openly denounced Partnership Minyans, and pressure from ultra-Orthodox leadership to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Jonathan Sacks to decline the invitation to speak, UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis made history on Monday, becoming the first chief rabbi to appear at the Limmud convention—and he did not disappoint—bringing a message of “openness” to a captivated audience.
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JTA (http://bit.ly/1fYm2uj) reports that Mrivis—whose appearance was one of the most eagerly anticipated of the four-day conference—received a standing ovation from the packed room as he entered amid tight security.
Jane Eisner, who covered the event for THE JEWISH DAILY FORWARD (http://bit.ly/1e8AEFE) reported that additional listening rooms had to be set up to accommodate the overflow crowd.
Eisner said Mirvis was “was a forceful speaker, at times charming, moving fluidly from referencing the new Prince George, the late Nelson Mandela, Kabbalah and lots of traditional Jewish texts, to story-telling that left the audience laughing.”
But the central theme of Mirvis’ talk was about “openness,” using the second chapter of the book of Exodus and the birth of Moses to convey his message.
“Moses achieved greatness even though he came from humble beginnings; that is, we all have the capacity to be leaders. In killing an Egyptian slavemaster and fetching water for the Midianite women who were otherwise ignored, Moses fought injustice and aligned himself with the oppressed; that is, we all should be willing to do for others,” Eisner wrote about Mirvis’ message.
THEJC.com (http://bit.ly/1fEkrck) reports that in the context of Moses, Mrivis said, “It is there to teach us an all important lesson…as Jews in the first instance, we must be totally devoted to our fellow Jews, mindful of the importance of unity…to be there for one and all…and at the same time, as Jews, we must be committed to every single human being created in the image of G-d. This is why this passage appears before the episode of the burning bush and Moses’ appointment as our leader to show that we have to have universalistic ideals, that we are here as a people to be or lagoyim, a light unto the nations and not to simply exist in a self-imposed ghetto away from the other peoples of the world.”
In assessing the overall tone of Mirvis’ speech, Eisner wrote, “You could read these words as a sly slap at the ultra-Orthodox leadership that condemned Mirvis for even attending Limmud. I’d like to believe that the leader of an important Jewish community is instead saying that Jews cannot be so single-minded about their own survival that they ignore the plight of others and the imperative to combat injustice. Who are those others? He didn’t say. That is for the rest of us to decide.”
whats Limmud ?
It’s so sad that some people are so ignorant and closed minded, as evinced by the first two comments.
I would like to thank Jane Eisner for her foolish interpretation of R Mirvis’ words.
Not unexpected, considering that she is the editor in chief of a cheap rag, not fit for fish wrap.
And the following shows Eisner’s massive lack of basic Torah knowledge:
“Moses achieved greatness even though he came from humble beginnings”
Humble beginnings? What were those? He grew up as a prince in the House of Paroh.
What a fool. How can we trust anything at all she publishes.
Moses did indeed come from humble beginnings.
He was born in secret. (Pharaoh was on a killing spree of all males.)
He was kept hidden for 3 months.
He was put in a basket into the Nile as a last resort.
That sounds like a humble beginning to me.
Limmud in a nutshell is an organisation created with the goal of bringing the previously marginalized reform and conservative movements in to the public domain and acknowledging them as part of legitimate judaism.
They have done this by accusing all others of closemindedness for ‘Allowing’ reform views to be heard and ‘Denying’ people of an opportunity to ‘Learn torah’.
They wont accept messianics and jews for J. They clearly wish to show they are part of Judaism. The United Synagogue leadership in their foolishness has made the rabbonim capitulate.
The US will not last long now as an orthodox movement, with the president saying this week he sees female presidents in 10 yrs…..