“Jews love traditions,” Lisa Miller wrote, introducing Newsweek‘s second annual list of the “Top 50 Influential Rabbis in America.” Leaving aside the typical questions of, “Where’s Rabbi [Insert name here]” or “How did Rabbi [Insert name here] make it up to [Insert high rank here],” or “Why is this list decided on by a group of three men,” Jspot’s Rabbi Jill Jacobs asks the question, “what is it with the American Jewish community and exclusive clubs?”
The media love top ten lists, and people seem to love reading them. Jacobs admits to liking the lists, too, especially when she’s on them. At the same time, Jacobs writes that she feels, “a little embarrassed by the ridiculousness of it all, by the whispering (and shouting) about who’s in and who’s out and why, and by the ways in which certain awards/designations are sometimes seen as akin to the mark of God.”
