A recent, landmark study of current and future rabbis was met simultaneously with celebration, skepticism, and concern by groups across the Jewish community.

The survey by Atra – Center for Rabbinic Innovation, indicated significant upward trends in rabbis choosing community positions rather than leading congregations from the pulpit, rabbinical students who identify as LGBTQ+ (51 percent), and the number of students receiving rabbinic ordination from nondenominational schools.

The statistics have garnered their share of skepticism and criticism, namely that they under represent Modern Orthodox rabbinical students and that they do not include traditional Orthodox and Haredi populations. But even with those caveats, some community leaders worry that these trends indicate a non-Orthodox rabbinate whose demographics are significantly different than the lay populations they hope to serve, and who may have more difficulty than their predecessors in building relationships with mainstream Jewish community organizations.

Our hosts - 3 rabbis and not a pulpit between them - discuss how the study matches up with their own observations and what it means for the future of the Jewish community.

They also chat about the recent brouhaha within the Jewish community about an upcoming exhibit at Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and a spate of Jewish Canadian organisations recently losing their charitable status. And of course, some Textual Healing to ease our listeners into Shabbat Parshat Vayetzei.

Credits

• Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl

• Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)

• Music: Socalled

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