Reply to Rabbi/rebbetzin making parents feel bad about bar/bat mitzvah parties

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Rabbi/rebbetzin making parents feel bad about bar/bat mitzvah parties"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] But I also disagree that it is the reasonable for the rabbi to be constantly expressing his opinion on parties and Jewish celebrations.  He is vocal about disapproving about parties and all sorts of public things, including when we wanted to visit our child's classroom to teach about Hanukkah, but he is pushing away many congregants. Personally we had asked our child about doing the ceremony in Israel to save a lot of money, including the expected high "contribution" to the rabbinical discretionary fund, and our child's motivation for making this commitment was the party.  As a reform Jew (with a reform rabbi) I am fine with it and don't want my teenage child harshly criticized here.[/quote] 
Your individual child doesn't need to be criticized and I don't agree with the manner in which this rabbi is going about expressing his opinions.  But being Reform doesn't preclude a rabbi from offering moral, ethical, or spiritual guidance. The question of how lavish is too lavish and the proper focus during religious celebrations is addressed by Reform congregations too.

A quick example from Google, from a Reform temple:
[quote]Certain principles should be kept in mind as your prepare for your simcha. The service and the child should be the focus of preparations. Extravagant decorations and / or lavish cuisine are inappropriate and detract from the Shabbat mood.

Accordingly, we offer the following guidelines:

On Friday evening, we suggest a simple Oneg Shabbat consisting of a sweets table, fruit, punch, coffee, and tea.

On Saturday morning, we recommend at least a simple Kiddush with wine and challah.[/quote]

I'm not saying you have to agree with the rabbi's positions or that I agree with it. Just that it's within the realm of opinions that exist and are somewhat defensible. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics