RCA honour especially poignant for Rabbi Whitman

Rabbi Michael Whitman

That April night of 2008 was one of the worst of Rabbi Michael Whitman’s life.

He was among the first to learn that Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein and his wife, Deborah, had died in a fire that consumed their house in suburban New York.

“Jake,” as Rabbi Whitman refers to him, was not only a colleague, but a good friend. Rabbi Whitman, senior rabbi of The Adath synagogue in Hampstead, Que., was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., where Rabbi Rubenstein, a few years older, lived at the time.

Fate would bring them together again later. Rabbi Rubenstein, who led the Young Israel of Scarsdale, married Deborah, a Montreal native, who grew up in The Adath.

Her parents, Sarah and Jerry Powell, were pillars of that congregation. The Rubensteins and their four children were frequent visitors to Montreal, and extended family still live here, said Rabbi Whitman, who has been with the Adath for 15 years.

Thus, the presentation in July to Rabbi Whitman of the Rabbi Jacob and Deborah Rubenstein Memorial Award for Excellence in Rabbinic Leadership by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) at its 56th annual convention in New Jersey, was poignant.

“This is really meaningful for me,” Rabbi Whitman told The CJN.

The RCA is the largest association of Orthodox rabbis in the world, with about 1,000 members.

Rabbi Rubenstein was a past president of the RCA and a leading voice for modern Orthodox Judaism. It’s a progressive path Rabbi Whitman has endeavoured to follow.

The Rubenstein award, established following the couple’s tragic deaths, is the only one of its kind bestowed by the RCA, Rabbi Whitman said. It was presented by the late rabbi’s associate and successor, Rabbi Michael Morgenstern.

Reflecting the preoccupations of the Rubensteins, the award specifically recognizes achievement in three areas: Israel, youth and engagement in the larger community.

Rabbi Whitman has rebranded The Adath (formally Congregation Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff) into a synagogue that offers “Judaism for the next generation,” the slogan on its website.

He has initiated, for example, free, abbreviated Rosh Hashanah services for those who might not otherwise attend, musical programs paying tribute to popular artists such as Bob Dylan, and reached out to the LGBT community.

As for being present in the world, Rabbi Whitman has reached out to the Christian and, more recently, Muslim communities. He is the Jewish voice on the blog faithblender.com, along with Father John Walsh and Imam Zijad Delic, through which they comment on contemporary issues from their perspectives.

Rabbi Whitman rallied his congregants to provide aid to the Syrian refugees this past year.

In June, the three clergy were guest speakers at an iftar, the traditional breaking of the Muslim Ramadan holiday, benefiting McGill University’s International Community Action Network. Rabbi Whitman spoke out against indicting Islam in general for violence committed purportedly in its name by individuals.

His appearance was groundbreaking for a Montreal Orthodox rabbi, even a modern one.

He was prepared for criticism from some in the Jewish community, but it did not happen. “I was expecting it, but I heard nothing negative,” he said.

Rabbi Whitman, who is on the RCA executive, has been an activist for change within modern Orthodoxy on several sensitive issues, including conversion, the definition of death, spousal abuse and, most notably, the agunah problem.

Last year, he authored a halachic prenuptial agreement designed to be valid under Canadian law, and is a strong advocate for its use. He will not perform a wedding without the couple agreeing that, if the marriage breaks down, the husband will not withhold a get (Jewish divorce) and the wife will not refuse to accept it, thereby removing the barriers to either’s religious remarriage.

Rabbi Whitman is now promoting a postnuptial agreement for couples that do not have a prenup. Such a document has been available through the RCA for over 20 years. Rabbi Whitman has adjusted it to conform to Canadian law, and it is the first of its kind offered here, he said.

On Sept. 13, a “Postnup Party” will be held at The Adath, where any Jewish couple can come and leave with an agreement they have signed – without charge. It will be in an informal atmosphere with live music and food. “Kind of like a wedding,” he joked.

Rabbi Whitman, a lecturer in the McGill University law faculty, is confident the postnup would be enforceable in a Canadian court as is the prenup, to which it is virtually identical except for the changing of the verb tense.

Rabbi Whitman believes these agreements are the only practical way to prevent the problem of agunot – women who are civilly divorced but cannot obtain a get from the ex-husbands, often for reasons of revenge or extortion.

“The Postnup Party will be a gigantic expression that this is unacceptable to our synagogue and to our community,” he said.

The event will be held in partnership with a dozen other shuls and organizations.

“In the United States, where the law is slightly different, the postnup has had a 100 per cent success rate – there has not been a single case of an agunah [among signatories],” he said, nor after any wedding he has officiated at in the past 10 years.