Opinion
The United Synagogue needs to recruit a Modern Orthodox dayan
The unexpected vacancy at the London Beth Din creates an opportunity to alter its religious balance
March 12, 2019 14:34
1 min read
The unexpected vacancy at the London Beth Din creates an opportunity to alter its religious balance
March 12, 2019 14:34The unexpectedness of Dayan Yonason Abraham’s departure from the London Beth Din, and the brevity of its announcement last week, inevitably sent the rumour mill into overdrive. So feverish was the speculation that one senior rabbi urged colleagues to ask their congregants not to indulge in it over the Shabbat table.
While the Beth Din gave no reason for his exit, it reassured rabbis preparations were under way “to ensure a high-calibre dayan is found to work alongside our other highly respected dayanim”.
What the Beth Din did not say was that the vacancy creates an opportunity. Some people believe the time is long overdue for the religious court of the Chief Rabbi to appoint a dayan from a Modern Orthodox, rather than, Charedi background.
The United Synagogue has always prided itself on its broad religious outlook, its ethos of “inclusivism”, as former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks defined it. But it has long been governed by a “Charedi Beth Din,” as one United Synagogue rabbi declared not so long ago. The religious balance of the Beth Din tilts to the right.
Of course, that is not to say that dayanim trained in Charedi institutions are unable to relate to US members from a middle-of-the-road milieu. But if the US is confident of its religious philosophy, that should be reflected within its ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Of the four dayanim - including Dayan Abraham - on the London Beth Din, only Dayan Ivan Binstock has served as a rabbi within a US congregation. Dayan Abraham’s two colleagues have led independent synagogues outside the US, as did he until last week’s events. There are some US members who feel strongly they should be brought into the US fold rather seemingly remaining aloof from it.
The US might take a cue from the S & P Sephardi Community, which recently appointed a dayan from a national-religious, rather than Charedi, background. Dayan Ofer Livnat is believed to be the first in the UK to sport a kipah serugah, knitted kipah, that identifies him within the centrist rather than Charedi spectrum of Orthodoxy.
Dayan Livnat also happens to run a long-distance training course for future dayanim offered by the Sephardi Montefiore Endowment in the UK, which includes a couple of US rabbi among its students.
While the US has been talking about providing more career opportunities for its rabbis, since Dayan Binstock, it has yet to take a dayan from the ranks of its own ministry.
One option could be to pick one or two of its rabbis as trainee dayanim and prepare them to serve on the Beth Din rather than replenish it from outside.
