Clergy Letter Project Expands to Include Rabbi Letter

Oh dear dear dear. Sorry, bad editing. They do not support "teaching evolution since last July"; they have signed it since last July.

There are also Conservative female rabbis as part of the egalitarian movement.

Yes, I know, but there are not as many; that is why I wrote "probably."

[old joke]
At the Orthodox wedding the mother of the bride is pregnabt.
At the Conservative wedding the bride is pregnant.
At the Reform wedding the rabbi is pregnant.

And it is certainly not the case that if a synagogue is "Temple something" that it is Reform. There are a huge number of conservative synagogues with that naming.

And what of guinea pigs, hares and such? Do dogs and cats get a say?

Yes, sorry, Mr. Utterback is correct. According to this URL, a bit over one quarter of Conservative synagogues in New York are named Temple Something. According to this URL, three quarters of Reform synagogues are so named.

I had (have?) in the back of my mind the claim that Reform first began designating their synagogues Temples, but evidently others do so as well. Indeed, one of the five Conservative synagogues in Colorado, where I live, is named Temple Shalom.

Is that why I never see a barber shop around a Synagogue? Because you're not supposed to cut your hair about the temples? ;)

Thought it was worth noting that my parent's congregation is on the list. It's a conservative temple in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and the rabbi is a woman: Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin,
Am Yisrael,
Northfield, IL

Don Cates said: [old joke omitted]

All the local Conservative Synagogues that I know of in LA support reality, Evolution is real, and religion can't pretend otherwise.

I asked an Orthodox friend, a lawyer and a member of Chabad, a very orthodox group, a friend who sends his kids to orthodox schools in LA in the heart of Pico Robertson area. That's an area loaded with ultra orthodox Jews, the ones in black outfits to match with 19th century Polish dress.

He said, of course, we teach Evolution. It's reality. Modern Orthodox don't, in essence, live in the 19th century. HE said that he, and his friends, orthodox friends want their kids to be successful in the world, and reality is reality. And that's what taught in the LA Orthodox school he sends his kids to.

While all of the REconstructionist and Reform are living in the 21st century, most Conservative synagogues and rabbis are also, and many orthodox as well.

Jews have had too much experience with an omniscient, all powerful god as in the bible, to take it seriously, i.e. literally.

Jews have a long history of debating and changing over time, even with the Orthodox revival recently.

The recent Pew study shows American Jews as the religious group with the most atheists and agnostics, and the least likely to take the bible literally of any of the religious groups but for Unitarians and Buhdists.

So it's no suprise that Jewish Rabbis endorse the reality and appropriateness of Evolution not just being true, but being taught in schools, even religious schools.

Bernard Kirzner, M.D. said: So it's no suprise that Jewish Rabbis endorse the reality and appropriateness of Evolution not just being true, but being taught in schools, even religious schools.

I don't see the point in speculating on what proportion of the rabbis are from what movement. The assumption of the names and gender is likely wrong. In my current and previous Conservative congregations the female rabbis outnumber the male rabbis.

Getting rabbis to sign has three counts against it. One is the perception that this is a Christian problem that a rabbi shouldn't get in the middle of. Next, a problem for clergy of all sorts, is the perception that promoting science and evolution is the province of atheists. Third is that Jews are not inclined to confront other people's religious faith and "give witness". What the project has going for it is the Jewish appreciation of the First Amendment. Assimilation via public school is a huge annoyance. I'll have to work on it from that perspective to get my current rabbi to consider it. My previous rabbi in Ohio was one of the first, if not the first, rabbi to sign the letter, but my current rabbi prefers to avoid anything related to politics.

Rabbi Feit, quoted in the article, is an immunologist at Albert Einstein as well as a Yeshiva U professor, and has been speaking at universities, synagogues and schools across the country on the Jewish acceptance of evolution, trying to counteract the reflexive adoption of the Christian fundamentalist anti-science campaign.

Bernard Kirzner, M.D. said: He said, of course, we teach Evolution. It's reality. Modern Orthodox don't, in essence, live in the 19th century. HE said that he, and his friends, orthodox friends want their kids to be successful in the world, and reality is reality. And that's what taught in the LA Orthodox school he sends his kids to.

william e emba said: Evolution denial is so strong in the rest of Orthodoxy that it can be barely be mentioned.

A few things ought to be mentioned concerning evolution and Orthodox Judaism:

1. Where there is opposition to evolution, this isn't so much because of foundational creeds (like Christianity's "No Death Before The Fall" issue), but reflects the general "struggle with the Enlightenment" Judaism has been in since the 18th century. Put it another way: Orthodox Jewish rabbis who oppose evolution do so because they think it opens the doors to disregarding the authority of the sages (of the Talmud).

2. Jewish creationism among Orthodox Jews is overwhelmingly of the mature-earth persuasion (Omphalos; world created nearly 5770 years ago, but with the appearance of millions of years). OEC gap creationism ("Ruin-Restitution") can also be found.

Mike said:

william e emba said: Evolution denial is so strong in the rest of Orthodoxy that it can be barely be mentioned.

I don't know if it is actually that simple. Something is going on in Orthodox leadership that might be a generational shift.

Something highly political, secretive, and protracted is going on. The more defense of evolution education becomes perceived as an atheism cause the less likely it will be that any clergy will want to be associated with it.

Anon. Jewish Reader said: A few things ought to be mentioned concerning evolution and Orthodox Judaism: 1. Where there is opposition to evolution, this isn't so much because of foundational creeds (like Christianity's "No Death Before The Fall" issue), but reflects the general "struggle with the Enlightenment" Judaism has been in since the 18th century.

Put it another way: Orthodox Jewish rabbis who oppose evolution do so because they think it opens the doors to disregarding the authority of the sages (of the Talmud).

2. Jewish creationism among Orthodox Jews is overwhelmingly of the mature-earth persuasion (Omphalos; world created nearly 5770 years ago, but with the appearance of millions of years). OEC gap creationism ("Ruin-Restitution") can also be found.