“And Isaac dug in the wellsprings of his father.” Genesis 26 tells us. Isaac is was in the land of Gerar journeying back to Canaan and the wellsprings in which he and his community dug enabled their community to thrive.
In coming together to establish the North Carolina Jewish Clergy Association on Pesach 5782/2022, we chose to dig in the wellsprings of our rabbinic predecessors.
232 years ago the first North Carolina Jewish congregation was built in Wilmington. In the earliest years, synagogues were served by lay leaders without smichas, without rabbinic ordination. To fit in with the Christian cultures in which they lived, they called their religious leaders “reverends.”
In 1921, there were two ordained rabbis in our state. By 1938, there were fifteen. In March of 1950 a prominent Rabbi Rypins invited the fourteen other Rabbis to convene and on April 16, 1950, 72 years ago this week, nine of the fifteen rabbis in our state got together to establish the North Carolina Association of Rabbis (NCAR). They set annual dues at $2.00/member.
Today there are 80 Jewish clergy in this state. From Chapel Hill to Charlotte, from Pinehurst to Fayetteville and far beyond. (Our dues will start at $36.)
The first goal of the North Carolina Association of Rabbis was to support one another - to create collegial connections. Its correspondence welcomed new clergy into the “growing fraternity of North Carolina rabbis,” They offered one another condolences in times of sorrow, concern in times of illness, support in times of celebration, and expressed desire to share some congregational resources such as chuppahs - wedding canopies.
That is our first goal, too. To support another – for only we know the tremendous weight that North Carolina Jewish clergy carry. Denominational lines did not matter then and sensitivity was consistently shown for observance and they do not matter today. Our NCJCA is open to all Jewish clergy who have been ordained at seminaries sanctioned in our organizational framework and who are in good standing with their respective clergy organizations.
Studying together was a significant second goal of the NC rabbinate of the 1950s. Almost every meeting involved the presentation of papers and/or the bringing in of an outside scholar. Book reviews, talks on halachah and explorations of Zionism were common themes.
Study remains important to us today. We, too, will aim to have dynamic programming to uplift and challenge our minds. The Mishnah famously instructs us, “Aseh lecha rav, knei l’cha chaver,” “Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend” (Pirkei Avot 1:6). We are so blessed to have both in one another - friends and teachers. And we will be blessed by the international scholars whom we bring in to teach us.
Strengthening Jewish Life was NCAR’s third goal and of the utmost importance. Its rabbinic commitment to Klal Yisrael (the whole of the Jewish people) led the rabbis to promote Jewish education not just within the walls of their own synagogues but within the borders of our state. They would help support a Circuit Riding Rabbi whose job was driving by car and trailer around the state supporting the small Jewish communities of North Carolina. Rabbi Harold Friedman would drive a 1200 mile circuit every two weeks. The Circuit Riding Rabbi bus was fully equipped with a library, ark, Torah, and a gift shop that would enable books and records to make their way into Jewish homes.
Strengthening Jewish life in North Carolina is our most important goal, too - in education, in cultural opportunities, and sadly, in combatting antisemitism and all forms of hate.
The Tar Heel rabbis before us quickly became a ישראל קול (kol Yisrael), a voice of the Jewish people in the public realm. In 1951, one year after they formed, they were addressing the problem of the teaching of Bible in public schools and the problem of religion in public schools. In 1955, the rabbis of North Carolina wrote Governor Hodges expressing NCAR’s wholehearted support of the Supreme Court decision calling for the desegregation of public schools and calling on the Governor to utilize all the power at his command to promote the implementation of that decision without undue delay. Our predecessors advocated with Governor Hodges for higher teachers salaries, about certain resorts in our state that discriminated against minorities, and far more.
The rabbis before us faced hardship and they faced hate. In the midst of the CIvil rights movement, dynamite was placed outside Charlotte’s Temple Beth El and outside Gastonia’s Temple Emanuel. Thankfully it did not ignite. According to a Burlington Daily Times News article on the issue, seventy-three members of the Gastonia synagogue had received intimidating letters or phone calls.
We will use our collective voice in the public realm when needed, as well.
NCAR’s commitment to Klal Yisrael, the people of Israel, extended to their support of Medinat Yisrael, the State of Israel. For us, it will be the same. Our siblings in Israel, their safety, and its vibrancy as a Jewish state and a democratic state, will be on our minds, too.
In Genesis, Isaac dug in the wells of his father and his community found “mayim chayim - living waters - the waters of life.”
Water sustains. May the friendships we have and form sustain us.
Water nourishes. May our collective programs nourish our minds and souls.
And may our strength as clergy sustain and nourish the Jewish community of our state.
And water in the Passover holiday that so quickly approaches represents liberation, redemption, and freedom. May we work to create a more just society through our work, through our words, through our collective voice, strength and wisdom to achieve that redemption which our community and world so deeply needs.
Comments