Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

Over the last two days, I have watched snippets of the U.S. Senate hearings concerning the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. She is being considered for the vacant Supreme Court Justice spot vacated by the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, of blessed memory.

While politics abound from the various Democratic and Republican senators, I have been intrigued by the ideologies of the American legal system and their various methodologies in jurisprudence. Judge Barrett defines herself as an originalist amongst other legal ideologies. She notes that even in her camp of originalists, there are progressive and conservative tendencies.

While American law and other nationhood legal systems serve the people, Jewish law is predicated on serving God. Thus, theology is a major difference. Nevertheless, I am struck by the fact that both, American and Jewish law, share pluralistic ideologies. In each, the application of the same methodology can at times yield different conclusions, and the application of different methodologies can at times yield the same conclusion.

In Jewish law, one used to stereotype different approaches to interpreting Halakha between Orthodox and non-Orthodox streams. Nowadays, however, the nuance is deeper. Within the Movements which adhere to Halakha, one finds much diversity in ideology and interpretation. Neither Orthodox nor Conservative is monolithic. In my student days back in the 1980's, my teacher, Rabbi Joel Roth, a recognized Halakhist, wrote a book, "The Halakhic Process, a Systemic Approach." His methodology was debated within Conservative and Orthodox circles.

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Bereishit. We begin the Torah reading cycle anew. I encourage us to develop what Rabbi Roth once taught me, "a Halakhic consciousness." Let us try to understand and respect sincere differences in the nature of the Halakhic process, even as we try to live according to the dictates of Jewish Law.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison