As it turns out, neither of those two rabbis
will be there. Rabbi Weinreb discovered that he had a previous commitment for
that date and will be in Israel. He apologized and backed out. Rabbi Scherman
backed out as well, without any public comment that I am aware of. I was
disappointed by that.
Sources I trust that are close to Rabbi Scherman have told
me that there was deception involved in the invitation. I have no details. But from what I have gleaned between the
lines, this event was apparently presented to him as a more mainstream modern
Orthodox event. As it turns out it is a very left wing event with an emphasis on
diversity of the type that is apparently objectionable to him.
I don’t know how true that is. But I can certainly
understand why a mainstream Charedi figure like Rabbi Scherman would be uncomfortable
speaking at such a program. If he was not fully informed of it then he was well
within his rights to back out.
Based on conversations with various sources I wondered if I should
retract my qualified support of it. But... looking at the program as it stands
now I see no reason to retract. I had been led to believe that they would be
promoting the YCT agenda of “Open Orthodoxy”.
That is a philosophy that seeks involvement
with non Orthodox rabbis in an effort to find common ground in all areas including
those of theology and religious practice. While I understand why they are doing this, and can even
respect their goals of Achdus and Kiruv, I cannot support it. This practice was
expressly forbidden by YCT founder, Rabbi Weiss’s own Rebbe, Rav Soloveitchik. While the Rav permitted cooperation with non Orthodox rabbis for non religious purposes
having to do with the public welfare of the Jewish people, he absolutely
forbade the kind of thing YCT stands for. Rabbi Weiss
openly admitted departing from his Rebbe’s teachings in this
regard.
But I saw none of that at the Siyum website. The program is entirely
Orthodox. There are no Conservative rabbis on the program. And the subject
matter does not seem to deal at all with Open Orthodoxy. The program seems to include a variety of
subjects which have great interest to me – and should to any Orthodox Jew
interested in the Talmud. I do not see any problem at all with any of the speakers
or their topics.
There are in fact 3 speakers I would go out of my way to see
and hear: Rabbi Michael Broyde, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot; and Siyum organizer and YCT Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Dov Linzer (pictured). I do not really know the others at all but it
seems that they are all very solidly in the Orthodox camp.
The only problem the right wing might have with this Siyum per se - is with the
female speakers. For various Hashkafic reasons mostly having to do with a heightened sensitivity to Tznius - they are averse to having a woman
address a mixed crowd. One will never even see a woman on any right wing dais.
Not even if she is just sitting there quietly next to her husband - without
addressing the crowd.
When a right wing institution honors a married couple the
husband always speaks and accepts the award on behalf of both of them – while the wife sits behind a
Mechitza unseen and gets a bouquet of flowers at that moment. In fact at one Beis Yaakov banquet I attended
that honored a female member of the faculty - it was her husband who accepted
the award and spoke on her behalf! She did not even come forward to accept it.
I
found that to be ridiculous. But I digress. The point is that one can easily understand
why a right wing religious figure would be averse to addressing a crowd along
with female speakers on the program.
However, although I understand it I completely disagree with
it. One of the most inspiring people I have ever heard speak was Professor
Shani Bechhofer at a farewell dinner sponsored
by members of her husband’s Daf Yomi
Shiur before leaving Chicago. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with men attending a lecture on Torah subjects by
women as did Professor Bechhofer.
As it pertains to
this Siyum - as long as a left wing religious agenda is not pushed I do not
have any problem at all with the any of speakers - male or female. As I said from what I can tell from
the subject matter and their brief descriptions on their website - there will
be no such agenda. And there should therefore
be no objection at all to this Siyum.
That said, I would have preferred to have one united Siyum
that had a mix of speakers that included members of both the right and the
left. I would have preferred the topics to be on a variety of subjects that
speaks to all constituencies. It would have been great to have a Siyum and hear
inspirational speeches right alongside some instructional and intellectual
ones.
Agudah will not have such variety. Nor will it allow any diversity
of speakers. They won’t even agree to have even the most right wing Rosh Yeshiva
from YU address their crowd. And they would sooner have a Palestinian Arab address
the crowd than they would a woman. No matter how Tzanua.
Just to be absolutely clear, I do not support the philosophy
of YCT’s Open Orthodoxy that among other things co-mingles publicly with
heterodox rabbis on religious matters. I
strongly object to what some of their graduates have done along these lines. In
some cases even crossing the lines of Halacha.
I object to what their founder, Rabbi Avi Weiss has done in ordaining a woman. And then
setting up a seminary, Yeshivat Maharat, for just that purpose. I object to his permit for a woman
to be a Chazanit at the Kabbalat Shabbat portion of the Friday night service in
his Shul.
Open Orthodoxy is not
what Modern Orthodoxy is about. Modern
Orthodoxy is about embracing modernity
while being absolutely loyal to Halacha. Open Orthodoxy is about trying to reshape Orthodoxy into
something unrecognizable. I’m not sure where this will lead. But it may very
well lead them out of Orthodoxy altogether. Time will tell.
The Conservative movement started out the same way. They were
Halachic at first making only a few concessions to modernity in the hopes of
keeping the flock connected. They saw the elimination of the Mechitza as a non
Halachic issue since it is not mentioned anywhere in the Shulchan Aruch. Look
at them now. Is that where Open Orthodoxy is headed?
But their Siyum will not be promoting the agenda of Open Orthodoxy. At least not on paper. So my
qualified support for it stands. It’s just too bad there will be no speaker
from the right to counter balance the left.
