EXPULSION OF MEMBER FROM THE CONGREGATION

Is it in accordance with the spirit of Jewish tradition for a congregation to provide in its by-laws for the expulsion of a member? The proposed by-law is as follows:

SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION

I. For Financial cause . . .

II. For Other Causes. The Board shall have the authority to remove, expel, or suspend any member in the interest of the general welfare of the congregation. Such action on the part of the Board shall be preceded by notification by certified mail to the party concerned at least two (2) weeks prior to a meeting of the Board, and the party involved may request a hearing before the Board.

THE question which is asked is of great delicacy because of the long and complex history of the legal instruments for the exclusion of a Jew from the Jewish community. The various instruments of exclusion, the ban, the excommunication, well-known as instruments of discipline in the Catholic Church, were from early days instruments of discipline in Judaism (niddui and cherem) and even have a Biblical root. When Ezra wished to summon the entire community to a special assembly, the proclamation was accompanied with this threat of penalty (Ezra 10:8): “Whosoever came not within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited and himself separated from the congregation of the captivity.” In other words, merely for absenting himself from this assembly, the man was “separated from the congregation.”

The Talmud, in Berachos 19a, mentions twenty-four causes for which a person may be excommunicated. These are not enumerated in the Talmud, but all the twenty-four are given in Maimonides’ Yad, (Hilchos Talmud Torah VI: 14) and also in the Shulchan Aruch, Yore Deah 334:43. Among these causes for excommunication would be some of the motivations akin to the suggestions for expulsion in your proposed by-laws; for example, he who despises the head of the congregation or insults his neigh-bor, or refuses to accept the decisions of the congregation, or who uses the name of God in vain; in other words, a troublemaker.

In the Middle Ages, the ban was used to enforce the various decisions of the community. Many of them were financial decisions. It is doubtful whether the isolated, struggling, Jewish communities could have maintained themselves without this instrument of exclusion to help enforce their regulations.

However, this instrument, so indispensable for communal continuity, was used in the last centuries as an instrument against all liberalism and modernization of Judaism, and so was particularly disliked by liberals. For the use of the ban by rabbinical authorities against liberal tendencies, see particularly the end of Wiesner’s Der Bann. We may say, in general, that the use of the traditional (and once indispensable) instrument of exclusion should be distasteful to any modern Reform congregation and should be sparingly used, if at all. The instrument of expulsion, if the congregation feels it is necessary for its self-protection, should be hedged in with many safeguards. Let us, therefore, go a little more deeply into the traditional provisions with regard to the exclusion of people from the community, and see which might possibly be applicable or acceptable today.

There are obvious differences between what your congregation desires to do and what was done in the past in the matter of exclusion. In one way, what you intend to do by excluding a man from membership is equivalent to what was done in some of the provisions of the traditional ban. The man could not be counted in the minyan for the service and could not even participate in the joint grace after meals, etc. (Yore Deah 334:10).

However, there were certain important differences. First of all, what you are doing is, from one point of view, much more serious. The old excommunication presumably lasts only thirty days (Yore Deah 334:13), and you mean to exclude the person permanently from participating in congregational affairs. On the other hand, what you are doing is much less serious than what was done in the past. In the Middle Ages, when these laws were most frequently applied, the community was identical with the congregation. When a man was excluded, he was excluded from the entire community. Here you are excluding him only from one separate organization, and he can still join other congregations. Furthermore, the old excommunication forbade anybody except his immediate family from doing business with him or even from conversing with him. You are merely removing him from membership and not isolating him personally.

However, there is one element about the old laws of ex elusion which is important to notice. Every ban was pre-sumed to last for thirty days only, unless there was ground for its renewal. Furthermore, there was a method provided for the immediate lifting of the ban at any time (see Yore Deah 334:13). Therefore, if there would be any objection to your proposed by-law, it would be as follows:

1. The old laws contained an earlier stage, “nezifah,” which means “rebuke.” Sometimes a man was put under “rebuke” and needed no further discipline. Your by-laws do have the statement that a man should receive two weeks prior notification by mail, but that is hardly enough. There should be a preliminary punishment, such as suspension, which might be as effective as the old “rebuke,” and may make the final expulsion unnecessary.

2. Since the Jewish law puts a time limit on the exclusion and makes provisions for reinstatement, your by-laws should do likewise and make provision for a man applying for readmittance.

In general, we would conclude as follows: Since the exclusion is only from one congregation and not from the community, you have the right to determine who shall cease to be a member. Your membership committee which has the unquestioned right to determine who shall become a member in the first place, should also have the right to determine who shall cease to be a member, especially since the expulsion is only from one congregation and not from the entire community. However, since Jewish law has certain safeguards, you should surround the by-law with the two traditional safeguards mentioned; first, a preliminary suspension and, also, if the punishment of expulsion is carried out, there must be an opportunity for reinstatement.

(Originally published in Central Conference of American Rabbis Yearbook, Vol. LXXIV, 1964.)