One of my major issues is the subject of an op-ed in yesterday’s Jerusalem Post: The idea of Achdus within Orthodoxy.
I have long hoped for a time where all segments of Orthodox Jewry would respect one another while at the same time disagreeing on Hashkafos. And just as writer Michael Freund has, I too have experienced the occasional Achdus that happens at a wedding where a mixed group of Orthodox Jews can participate together at a wedding in joyous harmony.
In the article, Mr. Freund points out that about 50 years ago, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Mordechai Gifter spoke at a gathering of the Rabbinical Council of America, the premiere professional organization of the Modern Orthodox rabinate. Imagine that happening today in a climate where Modern Orthodox rabbis are called Misyavmin by Charedi rabbinic figures! It could not happen. The stridency and arrogance of the “right” is too strong and leaders like Rav Gifter and Rav Moshe do not exist.
Right wing Orthodoxy has become arrogant because it has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams. It has created and is perpetuating a vision of Judaism that is so exclusive it doesn’t even tolerate deviation among its own ranks. The events surrounding the banning of Rav Nosson Kaminetsky’s book comes to mind... as do the events surrounding the banning of Rabbi Yosef Reinman’s book. Both men were forced into contrition and years of hard labor were wasted.
How can there be Achdus when a prominent figure in the Lakewood community tells me that the Kollel would not dare invite a Rav Hershel Shachter to speak at one of their events? How can we hope for unity when Dr. Norman Lamm, former President of Yeshiva University was so easily condemned by Rav Elia Svei several years ago when he was the Yoshev Rosh of the Moetzes calling him a Sonei HaShem?! This is a particularly grievous event because Rav Svei took comments that Dr. Lamm had made during a speech identifying the differences between YU type students and Lakewood type students. He compared them to the 2 Tannaim who had differing but legitimate understandings about the role of Torah study. Rav Svei took those comments out of context and made it seem as though Dr. Lamm had painted all Charedi Bnei Torah as just a bunch of cave dwellers. No tolerance. But it is an intolerance of the right. Not the left.
I am sure that there will be those who will say that there is plenty of intolerance of the right, in Modern Orthodox circles. And it’s true, there is. But let us examine who is intolerant in each case, and why. When you hear a boorish condemnation of a Rabbinic figure of the right by a member of the Modern Orthodox it usually stems from the ignorance which is so prevalent amongst Modern Orthodox Jewry. They lack any real understanding of Kavod HaTorah. In many cases their entire Jewish education is weak and did not last beyond high school, if that.
But you will never hear such comments from the leadership of Modern Orthodoxy. No Rosh Yeshiva or Rebbe in YU would ever dream of saying anything disparaging about any member of the Agudah Moetzes whatsoever. They speak of these people in the respectful tones one might expect from an Orthodox leader about fellow Orthodox leaders... even ones they disagree with Hashkafically. And who are the critics from the right? The very leaders themselves. Not all of them of course but enough prominent ones to make it clear to most Charedim about the complete rejection of any segment of Judaism they disagree with.
That generates massive intolerance from the whole group. For after all, if Rav Svei or Rav Keller can say these things about Dr. Lamm who are they to defend him? If the Jewish Observer which speaks for all of the Agudah Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah can so easily disparage a Gadol of the stature of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, how can there be anything but animosity and disdain for his Talmidim, his colleagues, the institutions he worked for, or the rabbis he ordained?
In the article, Mr. Freund pleads for a return to Achdus within Orthodoxy: there has got to be a way to bring the various elements together for the sake of the common good. I, too, have made such pleas... for many years. But they have fallen on deaf ears thus far. The "right" does not want us. They don’t want their flock to be contaminated with our ideas.
Is there hope? Well, there is always hope. But I think that the ball is in their court.
