Rabbi Emanuel Feldman has a wonderful article in Cross Currents on the popularity in America today of things Orthodox. Yes, it is cool to be Jewish, as I wrote about here awhile ago. Only he takes it in a different direction than I did. Whereas applied it to general culture and took it as a pat on the back for our cultural successes albeit with a grain of salt and a warning to keep or eyes open... Rabbi Feldman applied the phenomenon to American Jewry and its impact on non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.
Rabbi Feldman is right on target. He basically says that it was primarily due to the influx of ultra-Orthodox rabbinic figures with single minded determination to rebuild in America what was lost in Europe without regard for the political correctness of the times. The times of that era demanded a melting pot mentality. And that was the dominating influence on virtually all immigrants up to that point. But Rabbinic figures, most notably Rav Aharon Kotler, established their institutions which all but ignore that Zeitgeist . And from there sprang generations of students who’ve done the same. Contrast that with the melting pot mentality that so dominated Conservative and Reform thinking and the results are that those denominations look at us with envy. Instead of considering Orthodox Judaism an ancient relic of a dead past (...as historian Arnold Toynbee not so generously called observant Jews) they now point to what we’ve accomplished as the model which they are trying to emulate.
There are a few factors that were left out from his article which I believe were as vital to success as are those he mentioned., most notably, the influx of post holocaust immigrants. Without these committed Jews who came here “suddenly” and wanted to resurrect what they lost during the holocaust, Rav Aharon Kotler would likely have failed. This wave of immigration was different from that of the pre war era. The intensity of religious beliefs of these new immigrants and the determination to rebuild is what kept the enterprise going and resulted in what we have today.
Additionally working conditions of that time made Shabbos observance extremely difficult. Only the most committed of Jews would be able to withstand not working on Shabbos.
And it was also the case that those who immigrated here were not so interested in holding on to their Judaism. In some cases they couldn’t wait to jettison their Yiddishkeit. There are stories of Jews dumping their Teffilin overboard into the ocean upon their ships reaching Ellis Island. Others who perhaps wanted to remain Frum succumbed to the pressures of American society and ended up working on Shabbos right along with the Teffilin dumpers. Another factor was that there was hardly any religious infrastructure of significance in pre holocaust America, hardly any day schools and high schools. And they did not have enough organized infrastructure of significance to remain Frum, especially day schools which are indispensable in passing observant Judaism on to our children. These are all factors, among others, that contributed to our current success.
But it is not perfect. Rabbi Feldman also points out that not all is well within Orthodoxy. And he mentions some of the things I harp on all the time... such as the fact that there was a level of respect by the RW for Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and his Hashkafos then, that has disappeared, and in some cases has turned into a near contempt. And there is an excessive emphasis to dress a certain way (black hats) in the RW world. So too does he mention the problems with Satmar and Lubavitch...all things which I’ve mentioned here on this blog.
So hat’s off to Rabbi Feldman. We need more people thinking like this.
