One of the criticisms I get here is that I do not focus
enough on the good side of Modern Orthodoxy... that I focus too much on the ‘evils’ of the
Charedi world.
First let me state that I do not in any way consider
Charedim to be evil. God forbid. The vast majority of them are sincere, God
fearing Jews who want nothing more than to serve God in the best way they possibly
can. They are Chareid L’Dvar HaShem – as their name implies. They tremble at the
word of God.
My issues are not with mainstream Charedim. They are with
the bad apples among them. The ones that get all the media coverage.
Unfortunately there have been far too many incidences of evil being done by members of that community over
the last few years that have gotten media attention – and therefore mine.
Otherwise my posts on the Charedi world generally involve defining
our differences – and occasionally questioning the decisions of some of their
leaders on various issues.
But I do admit not talking enough about the positive side of
Modern Orthdodxy. Or worse not enough about its negative side.
Yes there is a negative side to Modern Orthodoxy. Immersing oneself in the general culture even
where Halacha permits it has its dangers. One can easily be enticed to ‘cross
that line’ between the permissible and impermissible. And it can be a fast and slippery slope from
there. Just like the isolationists in the Charedi world are vulnerable to going
OTD by being unprepared for their inevitable exposure to the outside world, so
too can the Modern Orthodox Jew go OTD by being over exposed to it.
But I am not going to
discuss here which way is the safer way to retain one’s Yiddishkeit. For
purposes of this article let us assume the risks are equal. I am going to
discuss the positive side of Modern Orthodoxy. Nowhere is this illustrated
better than in the above mentioned article.
Using the candidacy of Mindy Meyer as a springboard to
understanding the differences between Charedim and Modern Orthodox Jews –
especially where women are concerned - Tablet shows just how poorly even the most
seasoned reporters really understand those differences. I could not agree more.
The truth is that Orthodox Jews are all lumped together as
having the same attitudes in life. So that for example a Chasidic Jew in Williamsburg
will be treated the same way a Modern Orthodox Jew in Teaneck. They are both seen as Orthodox and their worldviews are more or less seen to be the same: decidedly anti modern. Quoting
from the blog Jezebel, Tablet demonstrates this:
“That no woman has emerged as a political candidate [in New York], despite the Orthodox community’s growing size and political sway, is largely a result of women in the community being relegated or elevated, depending on one’s perspective, to a domestic role—expected to dress modestly, live quietly, and draw little attention to themselves in the outside world. Some women won’t shake the hands of men,”… “Others refuse to speak in gender-mixed company, be photographed, or wear a color as flashy as pink.”
This is definitely the way much of the Charedi world sees the role
of a Jewish woman. While some of those descriptions apply to all Jewish women (e.g. dressing
modesty) the Modern Orthodox woman will fully participate along with her
secular sisters in all walks of American life. And they will seek the kind of
education and opportunities that will enable them to do so. Tablet then
illustrates this point by citing numerous examples of highly successful Modern
Orthodox women, such as best selling author Faye Kellerman and Michelle
Greenberg-Kobrin, the dean of students at Columbia Law School.
The more open and actively modern attitude with respect to
secular education and western culture not only enables the MO woman to
participate at these levels, it encourages them to do so, if they so chose.
This is not to say that Charedi women can’t or don’t achieve
great successes like these. Tablet mentions Ami Magazine’s Rechy Frankfurter
who is the successful senior editor of that magazine. And she is not the only Charedi woman who has
achieved high level success in the modern world.
But I think it is clear that the door to such success is far
more open in Modern Orthododxy than it is in the Charedi world just from the
simple fact that the attitudes about participating in the culture are so vastly
different. Hence the greater number of highly successful modern Orthododx women.
How successful? From
Tablet:
There are many thousands of Modern Orthodox women engaged in every form of public pursuit, from Jewish-studies professors at elite universities to press secretaries for U.S. senators. Indeed, according to the newly releasedUJA Jewish Community Study of New York, directed by Dr. Steven Cohen, 41 percent of female Modern Orthodox respondents possessed post-graduate or professional degrees—“a somewhat higher level of educational attainment than their non-Orthodox counterparts” and the highest among all populations surveyed, male and female. None of which should be surprising, given that a passing glance at the Ivy League and beyond reveals flourishing Orthodox communities with countless aspiring Orthodox female professionals.
Over at Yeshiva University, the institutional bastion of Modern Orthodoxy, similar trends can be observed. Last academic year, the university’s most prestigious post-graduate leadership program, the Presidential Fellowship, had 16 full-time members drawn from the previous graduating class. Half of them were women. Last week, the university granted tenure to 10 professors, the majority of them women, several of whom are Orthodox.
That pretty much sums it up for me.
I would of course never say that being
a stay at home mom is anything but a wonderful thing for any woman to do. It
has a very high value in Judaism and is very fulfilling - if demanding - when it
is done right. But that ‘creature’ is becoming extinct in both worlds. Working
mothers is the new normal.
However it is not impossible to
be a good mother and a college dean. So if an observant Jewish woman wants to participate
in the American Dream and have it all, Modern Orthodoxy is the best place to be
in order to achieve that.
