How Religious Jews Might Work Together

There is a great deal of merit in Rabbi Ben Greenberg's view that shared Torah study can do more to foster Jewish inclusiveness than shared ritual. As an Orthodox Jew I have benefitted from shared study with Jews of non-Orthodox denominations, as well as shared efforts in matters of community interest, and the benefits went far beyond just understanding my fellow Jew better.

Nonetheless, three objections may be raised to the argument he makes in “Moving Beyond Ritual,” published in “On the Square.” The first is that shared ritual never has been as central to interaction among denominations as Rabbi Greenberg suggests. The second is that joint Torah study raises difficulties quite as irksome as shared ritual. And the third, and perhaps most important, is that any framework for interdenominational dialogue depends on a change of attitude among all the participants.

Let us examine these three objections in turn.