'Radical' rabbi profiled in new video
ANNE RACKHAM
Associate Editor
It's easy to say that strength comes from love," notes Rabbi William Kramer. "But strength comes from loving. Strength comes from forgiving. In my case, strength comes from faith."
Kramer - a 75-year-old modern theologian and scholar, described by some as a "radical anarchist" - is profiled in the video documentary "Beyond the Pulpit: Facets of a Rabbi" (Chip Taylor Communications, $39.95).
Although the nature of God and Judaism are explored, the film is more the story of a man who has embraced life and learned from both study and experience. Here he shares some of what he has learned and what touches him, and the viewer is given a rare opportunity not only to see into the life of a remarkable man, but to contemplate the very nature of life itself.
After watching snippets of Kramer walking with his cane, appearing on a television game show, and speaking to his congregation from the pulpit, the viewer learns that the Reform Jewish leader began his life as a chubby child, always feeling a bit estranged, a bit the outcast.
He appears to have almost stumbled into being a Reform rabbi, although he notes he "never really made a living" doing it. The West Coast rabbi has worked as a college professor, modeled for advertisements (and still has his face on the packaging for a brand of yogurt), publishes Jewish newspapers, took and passed the California bar exam, and has appeared in movies and television programs, including "L.A. Law." (A clip included in the documentary shows Kramer portraying a rabbi lecturing a man about the evils of vindictively refusing to grant his wife a get, a Jewish divorce.)
There are extensive interviews with Kramer's wife, Betty, who is the rabbi's second wife and married him when she was already in her 60s. There are scenes showing Kramer's passion for shopping in thrift shops and collecting things. It is clear that the marriage is not "perfect" but that both partners are happy to be together in all their imperfection.
"It's very difficult to live with boxes and boxes of books and papers," says Betty Kramer, adding that she doesn't like it when her husband loses his temper and yells at her. The rabbi notes that the anger doesn't last and that, more importantly, the arguments they have don't "threaten the basic relationship."
"It's the best marriage of which we're capable. A lot of people have the best marriage of which they're capable, and there would be fewer divorces if people realized this," says the rabbi.
He admits to feeling inadequate as a father, noting that most "preacher's kids" have troubled relationships with their parents, and that his sons were no exception.
His sons, he says, came to him in their 20s to tell him "they didn't hate me anymore. ... I listen much better to my grandchildren."
He discusses his own personal battles with bigotry, recalling an incident when he was working as a counselor at an interracial, interreligious camp and he attended a dance, where he saw a black man dancing with a white woman.
"I felt the prejudice well up in me," Kramer admits. "I realized I had to go to the second feeling and say, '...Be prejudiced against a feeling like that.' "
But he stops short of admitting his greatest weakness, his "bad side," insisting it's "nobody's business but mine. Let it be hard for me to live with, not other people."
Here is someone who feels "diminished" by the overlapping elements of his life, by the way life is "transferred to timelessness," who fears success more than failure because success in one field could result in his being pigeon-holed. Here is a clergyman who admits to not knowing what lies beyond death - reincarnation? after-life? - but who firmly believes that "something continues."
With remarkable candor, Kramer and his filmmakers help the viewer to see that while everyone's life is filled with conflict and pain, life is still a beautiful gift to be savored.
"I believe I have a mission from God," he says. "My mission is to help people get closer to God, and in so doing, to raise the quality of their lives."
For copies of the video, call (800) 876-2447 or e-mail sales@chiptaylor.com.
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