• Are there any laws concerning the celebration of a conversion?
• Should a Reform community blow the Shofar if Rosh Hashannah falls on Shabbat? 
• Can a Jew be cremated and can he/she then have a Jewish funeral?
• Do we have to read Haftarah on Shabbat?

    This month we begin a new part of our bulletin and web site: “Ask the Rabbi.” Many synagogues have such a column, where members of the synagogue can send a question to the rabbi and he/she responds in the bulletin. We have been collecting questions for a couple of months, but I want to try something a little different with my answers.

    I must begin with a disclaimer: I am not giving Psak Halakhah¸ which is authoritative findings of rabbinic law. I am not a posek (an authoritative judge of Jewish law) and I do not want to be one. I do not believe in the authority of a rabbi to hand down decisions that require individual Jews to behave in a certain way. Rabbis have not always had this kind of authority, the power of rabbis has ebbed and flowed through the generations. But the story of that ebb and flow is a topic for another column (or sermon).

    So if I am not giving Jewish legal rulings, what is this column?

    Rulings of halakhah (Jewish law) are based upon reference to earlier laws and biblical passages. They exist because of their origin solely in tradition. Innovation does exist in halakhah, but it must be cloaked in the garments of the texts. If someone has a new idea or question, even if the answer is entirely new, it must appear as a discovery within existing texts—something earlier generations did not elucidate fully.

    When I answer an “Ask the Rabbi” question, I look to legal texts as only one voice among many in giving my answer. Other voices include the wide variety of other texts, biblical, midrashic, philosophical, mystical, Hasidic, and modern that have been written throughout our history. In addition, in answering your questions I also consider our responsibilities as members of the modern world, our personal spiritual paths and origins, our individual theological beliefs, and our personal ethical imperative. I will try to summarize the views of traditional law on the subject, but I also include these other voices creating a conversation around the subject. I believe this is what separates progressive Jews, we consider the entire spectrum of Jewish tradition, including but not limited to the more focused view of legal writers. This is how we make progressive Jewish decisions.

    One more note. Asking questions is a treasured Jewish tradition, one we need to increase in the modern Jewish community. Unfortunately, most modern Jews finish their Jewish education at the age of 13. Jews today have sometimes 20 years of secular education becoming doctors, lawyers, college professors, architects, engineers, psychologists and so on, yet we often leave Jewish school at 13, after only 4-5 years of education. Many Jews continue learning in their fields, reading journals, attending conferences, and learning from colleagues, but in our Jewish lives, we rarely continue learning. Asking questions is the beginning of such learning. Nevertheless, sometimes people may feel embarrassed by their supposed lack of knowledge. For this reason, all questions will remain anonymous.

- Rabbi Michael Holzman