Livre d'Or

Thank you so much for this, redaloud. It's exactly what I needed to hear, and you express it very well. You're very right that there's a strong element of considering the rabbinate cos I need to do something, and another five years of being a student would avoid scary decisions, and there is a bit of wistfulness in it, yes. I think it's not only that, I think there are some positive reasons as well why I could serious contemplate training as a rabbi. But I'm not committing myself yet because I do have doubts about exactly the problem you describe.

The situation in England is, well, most Reform and Progressive congregations aren't going to stop you participating if your partner isn't Jewish, and some are actively welcoming. But any kind of leadership position, whether lay or rabbinical, is going to be more or less closed, particularly anything formal. If I decide against rabbinical training because of jack, it will be more about the principle that I don't want to pursue a career where random strangers get a say in who I date.

Taking up the fight is a possibility, and I do take your point that that might be the brave thing to do. The thing is that to do that I would have be very certain about both the goal of becoming a rabbi, and wanting to be in this relationship forever. And neither of those things seems a foregone conclusion yet. (It's not possible to train as a rabbi in Sweden; if anything I'd train in the UK and then move back to Sweden to practice. In five years' time I think the Progressive group may be mature enough to need and be able to employ a rabbi.)