Rick Rosner On, 46: Reform Judaism, Rituals, and Modern Life
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Personal SubStack
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/11/03
Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Rick Rosner about Reform Judaism, religious observance, and adapting tradition to modern life. Rosner offers humorous personal comparisons of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform practices, reflecting on varying levels of commitment, synagogue services, conversations with rabbis, and learning the term “rebbetzin” through a romantic television comedy series.
Jewish Communities in Ukraine and Reform Jewish Identity
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’ve been interviewing rabbis internationally and doing fieldwork in synagogue communities here in Ukraine, primarily Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch communities.
The Chabad movement was founded in Ukraine, so it goes back a while. Before the Soviets, the population of Odesa was at least one-third Jewish, a significant population. Now it’s about 1.2 percent, so you see the impact of the Soviets.
I bring you up in interviews, not for the obvious stuff, like you’re super smart or super weird and eccentric. You have a wife and daughter who keep you in check and on the straight and narrow, which is what you need. But I bring you up more because you’re Reform Jewish.
For more than a decade, I’ve asked you, “What is Reform Judaism? What are you supposed to believe? What’s the theology? What’s the philosophy? What are the values?” You get exasperated, do that fumbling thing, and say, “We don’t even know what we’re supposed to believe.”
They find that funny too. You wanted to say some things.
Religious Observance and Modern Practice
Rick Rosner: There are two billion Muslims in the world and roughly the same number of Christians, right? A big chunk of those are Catholics.
Catholicism has a ton of ritual and beliefs, large and small. Same with Judaism, with, I don’t know, 15 million in the world. When you have religions that encompass a quarter of the world’s population, you’re going to have a wide range of orthodoxy, of adherence to the strictest tenets.
Probably most people live and follow a very hollowed-out version of their religion. Most people are not orthodox in whatever religion they follow. But I don’t know any other religion that’s practical enough to make that official.
Comparing Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism
About 150 years ago, maybe Stephen Wise was one of the guys, I don’t know, a rabbi and some people he was working with decided, “In this modern world, people are not following every dang Jewish thing you could possibly follow. We should make that a thing.” They came up with Reform Judaism, which is Judaism lite.
I don’t know when Conservative Judaism popped up. I assume after Reform Judaism. You have Orthodox Judaism, where you wear the clothing and follow everything. It’s Talmud all day, Bible all night, at the temple six days. It’s hardcore.
Then somebody decided, “We need something halfway between the hardcore and those lazy a-holes who don’t do anything.” Then you have Conservative Judaism.
I tend to see Conservative Judaism as Reform Judaism plus an extra hour tacked onto the services. You can go to a Reform Shabbat service and be out in 45 minutes. If you found a new-agey enough place, maybe half an hour.
I wanted to comment that it’s practical to offer people degrees of commitment to the rituals of your religion.
Learning the Term “Rebbetzin” Through Television
You said you’ve been talking about me with rabbis and rebbetzins. A rebbetzin is Mrs. Rabbi. I don’t know if that counts if the rabbi is a woman.
I learned the term last week from a sitcom. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star in a sitcom about a shiksa, a blonde lady who falls in love with a rabbi in L.A. and does a podcast. She and her sister’s podcast started out leaning towards relationships and sex.
Now that she’s hanging with the rabbi, she has to learn how to be a rebbetzin and dress respectably. The joke was that she went to what might be her future mother-in-law and borrowed one of her tweed suits.
I learned the term. That’s what I’ve got.
Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Rick.
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