- Clergy
- Shabbat
The Chatam Sofer taught, “There is always a difference between the older and younger generations…In the past, when the chain of the generations was stronger, the links more tightly intertwined one with the other…there was a more powerful spiritual connection between the generations.”
When my Gen Z kids called me “Boomer,” I got really upset. “My parents are Boomers, not me! I’m Gen X! Everyone’s always forgetting about us!” I protested. And of course it was exactly the response they were hoping for.
It seems that back in the early 1800s the Chatam Sofer may have had “kids” calling him to task as well. He was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis in Austro-Hungary. I am likely a descendant of some of the upstarts he was referring to, as he was an outspoken opponent of Judaism’s Reform Movement. My connection to the Reform movement goes back to my Reform Jewish great grandparents, Karoline and Bernard Levy, who immigrated to New York City from Germany in the 1800s. I don’t know if they were aware of the Chatam Sofer’s writings but their timelines and life stories certainly have some overlap.
The Chatam Sofer exhibited an uncompromising opposition to Reform, and radical change throughout his life and career. His apparent sadness about the loss of connection between generations makes a lot of sense in this context. Because he was focused on what was becoming different and the loss inherent in that, rather than what was being transformed and invigorated with new life, he likely saw the burgeoning Reform movement as a loss of Judaism. I am sure he would be shocked if we could bring him Rip-Van-Winkle-style (or Honi-the-Circle-Maker-style for any Talmud scholars out there) into a Wilshire Boulevard Temple Shabbat service to see that the reforms he spoke out so vehemently against have continued to persist.
The thing is that in order for those generational chains to be strong and resilient, we need to actually listen to one another. We need to pridefully place ourselves generationally, acknowledging those who came before us and not belittling the ideas of those who will come after us. We carry multitudinous legacies and hopefully will bequeath them as well. Each of us is a link in a strong generational chain and each and every link adds to the resiliency of our chain of Judaism.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Shapiro