Does "make for yourself a rav" normally terminate with the synagogue employment contract?

I was talking with a US rabbi from a liberal movement who left a congregation after 30 years. He told me that he needed to disengage from his now-former congregants, out of deference to the new rabbi. This is strong guidance or policy from the CCAR (rabbinic body), not just him making his own evaluation. (This question is not about the Reform movement; that's just context.)

This surprised me, as I didn't know that "make for yourself a rav" had implicit termination conditions. I knew that, as a matter of professional courtesy, the outgoing rabbi would decline requests to do lifecycle events for congregants and ask them to go to the new rabbi instead. That makes sense to me, but I didn't expect it to extend to other contexts like individual study or answering questions. There is apparently some wiggle room if the new rabbi agrees; I didn't ask detailed questions.

Is this practice more general, or is it specific to liberal movements or perhaps to the CCAR in particular? I've never been a member or close observer of an Orthodox congregation during a rabbinic transition, so I don't have anything to compare this with. In other communities, and I'm especially interested in Orthodox ones, if a congregational rabbi leaves (on good terms), is he expected to stop individually teaching or guiding congregants? On the one hand, we want to avoid the actuality or appearance of the previous rabbi overstepping the new rabbi's authority. On the other hand, making for yourself a rav seems a more personal matter that I wouldn't expect to be bound by a synagogue employment contract.

posted over 4 years ago

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Monica Cellio‭ staff

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