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Former Montreal synagogue lead rabbi Leigh Lerner advocated for ‘radical…

Rabbi Leigh Lerner’s catchphrase was “Go do it,” no matter if the goal was to start a food bank, combat human trafficking, fight for LGBTQ rights or overcome opposition to interfaith marriage. As a university student in the United States in the mid-1960s, he was steeped in the tradition of social justice advocacy, with a finely honed sense of right and wrong and the quiet determination to get things done, even if others disagreed with him.

As the long-time lead rabbi of the reform

As the long-time lead rabbi of the reform Temple Emanu-El-Beth-Sholom in Westmount, Que. (upon his retirement in 2012, he became the synagogue’s “Rabbi Emeritus”), he saw the job as something that was rooted in tradition but needed to change to respond to the times. Like the Talmudic scholars of yore, he believed that issues needed to be discussed openly, not only within the confines of the Jewish community, and that faith should encompass everyone who wanted to participate, even in the most peripheral of ways.

In 1977, when Mr. Lerner was the senior

In 1977, when Mr. Lerner was the senior rabbi at the Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul, Minn., he officiated over what the state’s historical society calls the first interfaith wedding in any Minnesota house of worship. He continued that practice in Montreal, where he also regularly presided over same-sex civil unions and then same-sex marriages when they became legal.

“If you spend 23 years leading one congregation

“If you spend 23 years leading one congregation and over 50 years in the rabbinate, like Leigh did, you don’t do it well without perseverance and a commitment to who you are and what you do,” said Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, his successor at Temple Emanu-El-Beth-Sholom. “He left a strong and healthy community in a city where we are the only Reform congregation with all the unique pressures that entails. And he did it by bringing us to the table with a radical inclusivity.”

Mr. Lerner died in Las Vegas on Sept

Mr. Lerner died in Las Vegas on Sept. 5 from complications due to a stroke. He was 81 years old, a tall, lean, polyvalent man who learned French when he moved to Montreal in 1989 in order to better understand the city at large, and who was given to striding the streets in a deerstalker hat, his hands folded behind his back.

His friend, Rabbi Bob Alper, with whom he

His friend, Rabbi Bob Alper, with whom he studied at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, said their relationship really began a few years after they had both graduated. That was when Mr. Lerner returned class notes he had borrowed from Mr. Alper in their final year.

“I had asked for the notes to be

“I had asked for the notes to be returned but Leigh insisted he had no idea what I was talking about,” Mr. Alper recalled. “Then, as he was going through old boxes in St. Paul, he found them, sent them to me with an apologetic note. “That was a spark for me. He was a man of quality and modesty, with great strength of character.”

It demonstrated what his friend was so good

It demonstrated what his friend was so good at, Mr. Alper continued: creating sparks of kindness and understanding day by day, year by year, that represented the highest form of Judaism.

For 22 years, Mr. Lerner marched in Montreal

For 22 years, Mr. Lerner marched in Montreal pride parades, while he was a member of the advisory council of the now-defunct Across Boundaries Multifaith Institute in Montreal, a past president of the Montreal Christian Jewish Dialogue and a supporter of the Montreal Muslim Jewish Dialogue. He was wont to say that it was through such dialogues that people learned of the diversity that thrives on the other side of the table.

“Is inter-religious dialogue realistic? Is it practical? Yes

“Is inter-religious dialogue realistic? Is it practical? Yes, and it is very necessary,” he once said during a panel discussion in November 2003. “It is remarkable for me to see how people who have been in dialogue for some time are discovering that others are coming to them and saying, ‘Can we get in on it?’

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Former Montreal synagogue lead rabbi Leigh Lerner advocated for ‘radical inclusivity’

Rabbi Leigh Lerner’s catchphrase was “Go do it,” no matter if the goal was to start a food bank, combat human trafficking, fight for LGBTQ rights or overcome opposition to interfaith marriage.

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Source: Globe and Mail
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