Now that 50 rabbis have made Newsweek's list of "Most Influential Rabbis," let's check that list thrice first by concept, then by criteria and finally by content. (Read
JTA coverage about this list.) In concept, the list was "mischievous" and "subjective," admit its creators, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Michael Lynton and fellow power brokers Gary Ginsberg of News Corp. and Jay Sanderson, CEO of JTN, a Hollywood production company that creates Jewish TV content. Lynton, who grew up nonobservant, became interested in religion when he became a father.
According to Newsweek, Lynton and Ginsberg traveled to Israel last summer with their families, and one evening they began musing about the diversity of Jewish experience in America; around the High Holy Days, Lunton approached Sanderson for help. In conversation, all three convey both an earnest desire to launch a debate about the future of American Judaism and a boyish joy at the diabolical fun they've made for themselves.
Moving on to criteria. How do you judge who is a top rabbi? Here's what the list-making trio decided: Are the rabbis known nationally/internationally? (20 points.) Do they have a media presence? (10 points.) Are they leaders within their communities? (10 points.) Are they considered leaders in Judaism or their movements? (10 points.) Size of their constituency? (10 points.) Do they have political/social influence? (20 points.) Have they made an impact on Judaism in their career? (10 points.) Have they made a "greater" impact? (10 points.)
With the first two criteria, the list establishes the larger lesson for rabbis: If your PR department isn't up to snuff, neither are you. And now we're at content. Who are these rabbis? Some of them are the names you already see everywhere the Reform movement's David Ellenson; noted and prolific author Rabbi Joseph Telushkin; the ubiquitous Rabbi Shmuley Boteach; and others. The blogosphere has also been buzzing about the inclusion of Yehuda Berg (No. 4), the rabbi who introduced Madonna to kabbalah, calling his "branch of Judaism" a "cult".
Cult or not, according to the criteria, Berg certainly is prominent, has social influence and has made an impact. The blogger who calls his blog "The Kvetcher" also called the list's No. 1 rabbi, Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "the leading theologian for political Holocaustism," the blogger's criticism of the central role that the Holocaust plays in Jewish life today. But other rabbis are new, even to my Jewishly attuned ears. I'm not completely humorless I know that lists are fun. We used to make lists in camp of which guys were the hottest, and I'm sure they were doing the same thing about the girls. And all of us have been obsessed with and frustrated by what lists do and don't include ever since the Ten Commandments. But there's something uncomfortable about creating a list of top rabbis in an age when so many people don't find their local spiritual leadership inspiring.
If the contents of this list upset us, we can counter in a few ways. We can discount the list entirely. We can make our own lists of the people who inspire us, seeking them out if we haven't found them yet. Or we can mark it "for entertainment purposes only" and move on.
