Kohen<\/em> who serves temporarily as High Priest may not thereafter resume his lesser role as an \u201cordinary\u201d priest (Horayot 12B). A synagogue building may be turned into a religious school (a step up in sanctity), but an institution of sacred learning may not be \u201cdowngraded\u201d for use as a mere synagogue (see Megillah 3:1)!<\/p>\n\u201cMaalin Ba-Kodesh<\/em>\u201d invites individual practitioners of Jewish tradition continually to add to our knowledge, to intensify our commitment, to increase our observance and celebration of Jewish religious life. \u201cEin Moridin<\/em>\u201d represents the concomitant obligation to safeguard against creeping laxity or occasional disengagement from expressions of Jewish piety.<\/p>\nAs exemplars of Jewish scholarship and practice, religious leaders may find constantly increasing their commitment a daunting challenge. In determining their course (and consequently that of those who value their example), such accomplished leaders do well to recall the wisdom of Shalom Spiegel: \u201cPrecedent furnishes a floor beneath which legal practice will not sink, but above which it is free to rise.\u201d Maalin Ba-Kodesh, V\u2019Ein Moridin.<\/em><\/p>\n(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi for Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and is the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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