Roots of the Reform Rabbinate: Reflections on a Virtual Pathway Intensive

For a week, students who study to be rabbis from kitchen tables and hard-won quiet corners across the country set that distance aside and gathered in person, in Cincinnati — the city where Reform Judaism in America began. This year’s intensive carried the theme “Roots of the Reform Rabbinate,” an invitation to walk the ground Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise once walked, and to ask what it means to inherit a movement built, as Director of the Virtual Pathway Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed, Ph.D. says, “out of nothing more than conviction.”

They were joined by six very special “ambassadors.” Virtual Pathway students Elisabeth (Lis) Cardy, Audrey Hochstater, Dina Kwasnicki, David Scott, and Talia Werber, along with fifth-year cantorial student Philip Fisherman, were there to guide the incoming class through the week and give them some insight about what is to come.

The week held opportunities to get to know the Cincinnati campus and what’s offered there: a walk through our American Jewish Archives with Dana Herman, Ph.D. and Lisa Frankel, Shacharit in Scheur Chapel, and an introduction to the Rare Books Room in our Klau Library with Rabbi Rick Sarason ‘74, Ph.D. They had chances to learn with Provost Judah Cohen, Ph.D. and reflect with President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D. And of course, they were fortunate to get to know the rabbi who will be shepherding them through this virtual program, Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed, Ph.D.

But the theme asked something more of the students than a tour through history and sessions with faculty. It asked them to sit with the same questions every generation of rabbis has had to answer for itself: What is a rabbi? What values will carry me into this work? And what does it mean to become a rabbi through a pathway that didn’t exist five years ago, let alone a generation ago?

The two reflections that follow come from students who spent the week wrestling with those questions. KeSean Johnson and Shiela Steinman Wallace, both members of the 3rd Cohort of the Virtual Pathway, come from different cities and different backgrounds, but here they share what binds them and what they carried away — from the people they met, the history they stood inside, and the work of becoming rabbis in a program still writing its own roots.

Shiela Steinman Wallace, Louisville, KY

Participating in the intensive in Cincinnati means that I truly am embarking on the pathway I have yearned to travel throughout my life. While the path to acceptance in the program was very challenging, Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed, Ph.D. and every faculty and staff member that we met let us know that they are there to ensure that we succeed. The ambassadors reinforced that message. I don’t think I have ever felt more taken care of than I did this week.

Our class of 17 is remarkably diverse, yet we share a common goal. In four short days, we bonded into a cohesive group. Already, some close friendships are developing, and I know we will be there for one another. At Karen’s insistence, we chose partners to check up on each other. Kristina Lally and I chose each other immediately and will be doing a lot more correspondence than just checking when one of us falls off the radar.

As I return to my lay leadership roles around Shabbat engagement at my home synagogue in Louisville, KY, be in musical engagement or the facilitation of prayer, I now look at my role and my intentionality a bit differently. Perhaps there are ways I can offer more perspective to my fellow congregants as to why I have chosen specific melodies. Perhaps I can also work more closely with my rabbi, Beth Jacowitz Chottiner ’07, in planning our services.

I look forward to beginning my classes. Most of my classmates are balancing many more commitments than I am. While I have more time, I recognize that I learn more slowly than I used to and I’m often technologically flustered. Now, however, I know that the resources will be there to enable me to succeed.

KeSean Johnson, Baltimore, MD

As much as I would like to say I was prepared for Cincinnati, I was not. A half-week meticulously planned to have future rabbis engage– not only with each other but with staff, the text, other students, and the local environment– governed and guided by an ancient spirit, but I’m sure they could not have predicted the connections that formed as a result of this week.

Some of us connected by learning details about people we might have walked past in life, but have never met, whom we will now be connected to for the rest of our natural lives.

Some of us connected to the archival and historical portions, whether they be from records specifically pulled for us that were tied to our identities in some form; or the rare book room connecting to words written hundreds of years before we were born. Maybe it was the liturgical history that was fascinatingly articulated by the world-renowned Rabbi Rick Sarason or the visit to Plum St. Temple with the opportunity to stand on such a historical bima and picture addressing a full crowd for the upcoming High Holy Days.

Some of us connected to the תפילות (prayers). How could one not become swept up in them, as they were organized by the incomparable Cantor Richard Cohn ‘92 and 5th year cantorial student Phillip Fisherman to evoke the spirituality that a future Rabbi will need and former “typical” congregant might have hidden deep down.

Some of us connected to the fact that we could become a Rabbi and still show up as our full selves in the actual identities that we own. The idea that I could help a person navigate a problem in a space where they feel comfortable, with no judgement, and it be ordained and solicited is mind blowing!  One thing I know for sure– EVERYBODY who came to the campus in Cincinnati connected to something!

It is conceivable to me that Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise could have imagined my presence at Hebrew Union College and that feeling became overwhelming when we went to Plum Street Temple.

He intentionally positioned the shul across the street from the power players, adhering to the social order of the day in public spaces and naming that slavery was exploitative but also that abolitionists upset the social order, all while he was maintaining a center-leaning voice and imagining national unity.  He also understood that standing for Black Americans would cause a rise in antisemitism and he was correct!

His positioning then allowed for the “צדק צדק תרדוף” (Justice, Justice, you shall pursue) form of Judaism that we so openly enjoy. Imagine Wise in 1875 thinking: politics away from the bima as a leader, as to not invite unwanted attention and roll with the public social order of inclusion. Now let me paint you a picture: I am standing with my class on the stairs in Mayerson Hall waiting for our picture to be taken. President Rehfeld hears the photographer call me “Black Sean” (without knowing that I had told the photographer that she should call me that) and prepares to run to my aid, as a leader adhering to the now social norms, because he thought that I had received some harm at his College. This is a testament to the legacy that was built and standards that have been maintained and will continue, as we move “מדור לדור חדש” (from generation to new generation) in Jewish America.

As you embark back on into your daily lives, remember you are a difference maker, you are important, and you do belong here, the words articulated beautifully by THE Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed, who is consistently ensuring that space is made for other identities that she may not share. When it gets rough just remember the above. If you need help, I’m around like a circle.  I love you all and there is nothing you can do about it!