Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea Clinton’

 

An Open Invitation to Chelsea and Marc

Posted on: August 8th, 2010 by Hayim Herring

I do not know Marc Mezvinsky, Chelsea Clinton or any members of their families. But I am puzzled by the vast amounts of digital deliberations in the Jewish blogosphere about their wedding, and the relative absence of attention to their ongoing relationship with the Jewish community now that they are married. If I did know them, here is what I would say:

Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Dear Marc and Chelsea,

Mazel tov…you are now legally married! While some are still obsessing about the details of your wedding, I am much more interested in what the future holds for you as a married couple… Both of you, in a public and proud way, drew upon the symbols of your respective faith traditions. I don’t presume to know what conversations you’ve had or decisions you’ve made about involvement in a religious community. But I hope that you will want to explore participation in some aspect of your local Jewish community and respectfully want to invite you to do so…

For the full text of this letter, visit the JTA website at www.jta.org (Op-Ed section) or click on this link: http://bit.ly/bnrmvs.

Rabbi Hayim Herring, Ph.D., is President and C.E.O. of Herring Consulting Network, a firm which specializes in “preparing today’s leaders for tomorrow’s organizations.™”

I wasn’t expecting to have to hear about the trauma of the trip over the phone.  Hearing Ruby’s distress over the phone was quite upsetting.  I was having a great time cleaning and stuff!  I knew it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk.  Charles was even hesitating a few days ago and I said maybe you shouldn’t go. He was thinking about the fact that his mom is so annoying and stupid and his sister cheated his mom, essentially, out of more than $100,000 by paying that much less for the house than it’s worth.
Another interesting thing (I know you’re fascinated,) when I wryly said it did kind of hurt my feelings a little bit that they really didn’t want me to come, he started saying again how Fitz could ride in the back and stuff, like we could change our plans and I could come.   As if!  Grady is afraid of Fitz, it would be awful for them both.  It’s already awful for Grady, probably, and Fitz was pretty concerned when they were hauling out duffel bags and things.  He knew something was up.  We’ve been bonding a lot lately, though, because I do his grooming and he enjoys it.  I do too, he’s really such a great dog.  I never said I wasn’t fond of him, you know, it’s just that we didn’t have the time and energy and ability to take care of him properly.
Which reminds me, Grady asked who’s going to take care of the dog, like I couldn’t handle it.

The Clinton Wedding: Living in a Post-Jewish World?

Posted on: July 30th, 2010 by Hayim Herring
The term post-denominational has been around for a while. Here’s how I understand it. Yes-religious denominations exist and have value. But, the conditions that gave rise to their creation have changed and you can’t exclusively categorize people and synagogues by denominational labels.
Example: a synagogue has an inspiring musical Shabbat evening service. It features live instrumentation, contemporary poetry along with traditional liturgy, time for meditation and the chanting of niggunim (wordless, simple, moving melodies). How would you characterize this service-Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform? It’s hard to know because it might be any of the above, or a congregation that self-defines as “independent.”
Post-denominational is handy in this situation, because it captures the fluid and evolving nature of Jewish religious and spiritual life. Denominational labels no longer sufficiently differentiate and shed clarity on religious belief and practice.
It’s in that sense that I use the term, post-Jewish, to capture another dynamic occurring. If a person acts post-denominationally, it means that this individual doesn’t want others defining their personal religious identification. And, by extension, those who are post-Jewish don’t want someone else to define their identification with the Jewish people or Jewish community. They can be  proud Jews and have many other identities. The most compelling example: a person can be a practicing Jew, married to a person who practices another religion. For them, multiple identities are not signs of disease, but security and freedom. They don’t have to mix, match or try to harmonize their faith traditions because they can have it both ways. What others may view as a contradiction has an inner logic to them.
The speculation around the Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding is in part driving my observations. We will see tomorrow if Chelsea and Marc, each raised in a home in which religion played some role, want their respective clergy or faith traditions represented when they wed. But regardless of what happens, those who work and volunteer in the Jewish community need to get ready for a wave of post-Jewish behaviors and practices. What’s our initial reaction to thinking of couples like Mark and Chelsea as a post-Jewish/post-Christian couple? Is it different from thinking of them as an interfaith couple? How do we view someone actively volunteering for a worthy social or environmental issue, with a strong awareness of Jewish intentionality, even if no others Jews are involved? Have they assimilated into the broader culture or are they practicing in a post-Jewish fashion? Lots to ponder on this subject….but it’s clear that we need to begin having the discussion.

The term post-denominational has been around for a while. Here’s how I understand it. Yes-religious denominations exist and have value. But, the conditions that gave rise to their creation have changed and you can’t exclusively categorize people and synagogues by denominational labels.

Example: a synagogue has an inspiring musical Shabbat evening service. It features live instrumentation, contemporary poetry along with traditional liturgy, time for meditation and the chanting of niggunim (wordless, simple, moving melodies). How would you characterize this service-Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform? It’s hard to know because it might be any of the above, or a congregation that self-defines as “independent.”

Post-denominational is handy in this situation, because it captures the fluid and evolving nature of Jewish religious and spiritual life. Denominational labels no longer sufficiently differentiate and shed clarity on religious belief and practice.

It’s in that sense that I use the term, post-Jewish, to capture another dynamic occurring. If a person acts post-denominationally, it means that this individual doesn’t want others defining their personal religious identification. And, by extension, those who are post-Jewish don’t want someone else to define their identification with the Jewish people or Jewish community. They can be  proud Jews and have many other identities. The most compelling example: a person can be a practicing Jew, married to a person who practices another religion. For them, multiple identities are not signs of disease, but security and freedom. They don’t have to mix, match or try to harmonize their faith traditions because they can have it both ways. What others may view as a contradiction has an inner logic to them.

The speculation around the Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding is in part driving my observations. We will see tomorrow if Chelsea and Marc, each raised in a home in which religion played some role, want their respective clergy or faith traditions represented when they wed. But regardless of what happens, those who work and volunteer in the Jewish community need to get ready for a wave of post-Jewish behaviors and practices. What’s our initial reaction to thinking of couples like Mark and Chelsea as a post-Jewish/post-Christian couple? Is it different from thinking of them as an interfaith couple? How do we view someone actively volunteering for a worthy social or environmental issue, with a strong awareness of Jewish intentionality, even if no others Jews are involved? Have they assimilated into the broader culture or are they practicing in a post-Jewish fashion? Lots to ponder on this subject….but it’s clear that we need to begin having the discussion.

Rabbi Hayim Herring