Yes, there are thousands of real rabbis who are not Hamas apologists, but CNN had to dig up this person who looks like a PT Barnum circus performer as their typical rabbi.
Rosenberg says their rabbinic ordination came from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. That stream of Judaism is just as bizarre as the circus performers of years past, because their rabbis do not believe in God in any normal sense, which makes them fairly unusual people to be interviewed as real rabbis from mainstream media.
If you look at the courses RRC's rabbis have to take to get that label, you see a combination of things that Orthodox 13 year old boys know and new age ideas that have nothing to do with Judaism.
It takes them three years to learn how to...pray.
By the end of Year 3, all students are assessed for basic liturgical competence covering:• Weekly services• Shabbat services• Life-cycle rituals• Torah cantillationStudents are assessed for:• Fluent reading with correct pronunciation• Ability to apply appropriate nusach, as well as contemporary melodies• Phrasing conveying basic comprehensionThese materials and skills are covered in the Tefillah and Life Cycle courses. Hallel and Birkat Hamazon are assessed by the end of Year 3.
Even at the end of that time, they do not know how to lead prayers on holidays.
And then there are the social justice components:
Exploring a Jewish Theology of Liberation(3 credits)Fulfills Social Justice creditIn this course, students will explore creating a Jewish Theology of Liberation by looking at Jewish thinkers, and then Liberation Theology as it has been developed by Latin American, Black, Womanyst, Feminist and Eco-Feminist thinkers. Students will raise questions as to how applicable these ideas are to the Jewish communities they want to address.Food Justice (3 credits)Fulfills Social Justice creditThis course will examine the production, consumption and distribution of food and food’s connection to our physical, emotional and spiritual lives. The course will explore traditional Jewish and Christian teachings about food in relationship to eco-kashrut, and current food justice and sustainability issues. It will equip you to raise justice issues every time food is served.
Unravelling White Settler Jewishness (3 credits)Fulfills social justice creditCourse Description: This course will utilize the writings of Jews who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color-(BIJOC) along with collaborative research and storytelling, and documentation of the histories of our families to examine Jewish assimilation into/exclusion from white settler society. This course will explore how participation in white settler Jewishness constrains the ability to form critical alliances and play an ethically, spiritually, and politically grounded role in the movement for climate justice.
Reconstructionist founder Mordechai Kaplan probably knew a thing or two about Judaism. But these graduates, based on their coursework, do not.
Treating people like Rosenberg as mainstream Jews is an insult to thousands of years of tradition.
