‘Excluded’ for running partnership minyanim

Backlash claim against Orthodox groups

LEADING MEMBERS of partnership minyanim — traditional services where women take some prayers — say they are being excluded by central Orthodox institutions from participating in key activities — despite their commitment to United Synagogue shuls.

The JC is publishing details of three examples, although it is believed there are more.

Both the former chairman of Kehillat Nashira in Borehamwood, Britain’s first open partnership minyan (PM), and another regular there say they have been barred from certain activities at their local United Synagogue, one of the largest in the country.

Meanwhile, a former lecturer at the London School of Jewish Studies, whose president is Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, has been told he can no longer teach at the college in part because he is an organiser of a PM.

Chief Rabbi Mirvis has previously ruled that PMs — where women as well as men can read from the Torah — are incompatible with US practice.

A spokesman for Rabbi Mirvis said this week he had “indicated to rabbis that involvement in a partnership minyan, in and of itself, should not bar a person from playing a full and active part in our synagogues”.

The spokesman added: “Precisely how this is applied by local rabbis is something best considered on a caseby-case basis depending on local circumstances.”

The issue was first raised in the by columnist Miriam Shaviv, who wrote: “Those to the left of Ephraim Mirvis, particularly those active in women’s issues, are increasingly banished from the ‘US family’.” She went on to claim that Orthodox feminists were being pushed out of the US altogether.

Miriam Lorie, who was founding cochairman of Kehillat Nashira (KN) in 2013, said a teaching arrangement at Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue (BES) was cancelled this year because of her leadership position within the PM.

Mrs Lorie said she was“deeplydi sappointed that this is BES’s current position. I have previously served as the chair of BE S’ se du cation committee and I have taught at BES in a number of settings.” Another leading member of KN, which meets every few weeks, said his offer to lead prayers during the High Holy Days at Borehamwood and Elstree shul following a request for volunteers, had been rejected.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said that Rabbi Chaim Kanterovitz, senior minister at BES, had told him that “because I have led services at the partnership minyan, it was not appropriate for me to lead High Holy Day services at shul”.

Neither Rabbi Kanterovitz nor BES chairman Anne Gordon would comment on the exclusions.

But in a joint statement they said they were “currently in a productive discussion with the leaders of Kehillat Nashira around their relationship with BES. We do not feel it is right to make a comment until those conversations are completed.”

They added: “We welcome and

value the contributions of anyone, male or female, who wishes to give of their time and effort to contribute to the continued success of our community.

“But in line with the wider policies of the Office of the Chief Rabbi and the US, such contributions must be within Orthodox halachah, and aligned with our inclusive, centrist, modern Orthodox, Zionist ethos.”

The Chief Rabbi’s spokesman said: “The approach being taken in Borehamwood has the full support of the Chief Rabbi.”

In response, KN leaders said they were “sorry BES has taken the decision toexcludeorganisersof thepartnership minyanfromtakingcertainrolesinshul. Wewouldwelcomeamovetoonceagain treat these people, some of BES’s most active and devoted members, equally.

“We do not seek to impose the partnership minyan model on others, but simply to make it available for those who wish to go.”

They said many core members “had been very active in the US, including delivering shiurim, davening and leyning, leading committees, taking children’s service and more.

“Our partnership minyan community has always strived for respectful cooperation with our local US shul. We callonthecommunitytoworktogether for the good of the whole.”

Partnership minyanim offer a much greaterroletowomenthanconventional Orthodox synagogues but differ from Masorti traditional egalitarian services. In PMs, men and women sit separately; women can be called up to and read from the Torah; and women can lead a few of the prayers.

Participants in the Golders Green and Hendon PMs said they were unaware of any backlash against their attendees.

Elie Jesner, one of the founders of the Finchley PM, said he was told he could no longer teach at LSJS partly because of his involvement with the new minyan.

Writing in today’s JC, he claimed that other activities of his were also problematic for LSJS, including his position as director of the Honesty Theology Project — run by the Friends of Louis Jacobs.

In response, an LSJS spokesman said: “We have greatly appreciated Elie Jesner’s erudite educational contribution over the years. However, Elie is well aware that LSJS is totally committed to Orthodox Jewish principles within which there is so much important educational work to be done and which we plan to continue to pursue vigorously.”

Mr Jesner said his offers to teach in the educational programme at Finchley United had been rebuffed. Finchley’s Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence said: “Elie isvaluedandwelcomedasamemberof Kinloss, respected for his learning and commitmenttotheJewishcommunity.

“As a shul, we provide a diverse educational programme within the broad spectrum of United Synagogue Orthodoxy. Elie’s educational advocacy, as he puts it — ‘true to the spirit of Louis Jacobs’ — does not fit within this ethos.”

Rabbi Louis Jacobs was ostracised by the United Synagogue because he believed the Torah was divinely inspired and compiled over time, rather than being dictated entirely by God to Moses.