Baruch Dayan HaEmes - May God Avenge Their Blood

Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrah.

It is impossible for me to imagine. My mind will not allow it. I cannot put myself in the place of the parents who have lost their children. It is too painful. I am at a total loss for words. So instead of my usual commentary, I am going to simply post the very sad news (now confirmed) as Ha’aretz is reporting it:

The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped 18 days ago in the West Bank have been found, it was announced Monday night. Their families have been notified.

In light of the dramatic developments in the case on Monday, the Israeli security cabinet called an emergency meeting for 9:30 P.M.

The bodies were found north of the Palestinian town Halhul, just north of Hebron.

A large contingent of Israeli security forces were in the West Bank Monday evening between the Palestinian town of Halul and the West Bank settlement Karmei Tzur, just north of Hebron, where a wide search after the three missing kidnapped teens took place earlier on Monday.

Eyal Yifrah, 19, from Elad, Gilad Shaar, 16, from Talmon and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, from Nof Ayalon went missing from a hitchhiking station in Gush Etzion whilst making their way home from a yeshiva. Naftali Fraenkel was also an American citizen.

Following the kidnapping, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Brother’s Keeper, a massive search for the three throughout the West Bank and conducted operations against Hamas, which Israel held responsible for the abduction. Two of the teens were students at the Makor Chaim yeshiva in the religious kibbutz of Kfar Etzion, were thought to be hitchhiking to Modi'in, a city halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The third studied at Shavey Hevron yeshiva in the West Bank city of Hebron. When the three failed to arrive home or make contact with their families, authorities were notified.

Live blog:

8:40 P.M. Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel responded to the report saying "In a war as in a war one must strike at terrorist mercilessly on the one hand and respond with an appropriate Zionist response on the other." (Barak Ravid)

8:20 P.M. Palestinian residents of Hebron report that all entrances and exits from Hebron are closed by Israeli security forces. (Jack Khoury)

8:10 P.M. The Security Cabinet is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting at 9:30 P.M. (Barak Ravid)

Listening to the Voice of Mama Rachel

Guest Post by Rabbi Dovid Landesman

Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Shaar

A unique event took place last night in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Rabin. Some eighty thousand people, religious and secular, mesorati and chiloni, gathered to listen – not to protest or to demonstrate – but to stand together as a unified nation sharing a common prayer – bring the boys back home. That prayer expressed itself differently than it might have had the rally taken place in Kikar Shabbat or Rechov Chazon Ish in Bnei Brak. There was no formal recital of Tehillim nor were there any rabbanim asked to address the assembly. 

For many of the crowd gathered in front of Tel Aviv’s city hall, Tehillim and rabbanim would have colored the event as a representation of something with which they find difficulty identifying. Instead, they listened as many of Israel’s leading musicians and performers expressed their solidarity with the families and, believe it or not, raised their voices in supplication to the Ribbono shel Olam in a form with which everyone could identify.

At the end of the rally, the master of ceremonies revealed that the costs of the rally had been met by the donation of a single philanthropist, Shlomo Rechnitz of Los Angeles, who requested that a song that he had composed to the words of Shomer Yisrael from tachanun be performed. Rechnitz is most likely  the single most generous ba’al tzedakah in the chareidi world; few are aware of the help he extends to other causes. How inspiring to learn that he was anxious to publicly support an evening where Klal Yisrael in all of its myriad colors had gathered to share its common burden. 

The only speaker addressing the crowd was the president elect, Rubi Rivlin,  a direct descendent of the talmidei ha-Gra who came to settle Eretz Yisrael in the early part of the nineteenth century. Rivlin is not an observant Jew – at least not in his public appearance – but from his eloquent but simple words one can discern the depth of his connection to his people and his land.  אל תשלח ידך אל הנער– do not set your hand against the young man – he said, quoting the malach that interceded to save Yitzchak at the akeida. 

Rivlin took the verse out of context, interpreting it as a challenge to Hashem even though it was an instruction to Avraham. But from the tone of his words one could clearly understand that he was beseeching God to demonstrate His mercy, a message that he repeated when he concluded with a tefillah that this be a time of mercy and Divine grace.

Completely missing from the rally were any bombastic threats of retaliation, any gestures of we are strong and mighty. Rather, there was a message of hope that we are one people, united in a shared destiny despite our trivial – and sometimes serious – differences. Netziv, in his commentary to Shir ha-Shirim  8:1, interprets the verse that states: מי יתנך כאח לי - wouldst that You were like a brother to me. Why does Israel ask God to act like her brother? Because brothers may fight, brothers may disagree but the connection between them can never be broken. We in Israel fight, we disagree, we mistreat each other – but when there is trouble and misfortune, we are united as brothers.

Yesterday, the families of the three boys went to the area where thousands of soldiers have spent countless hours searching under every rock and in every cave for the young men. They stopped to express their gratitude to the clearly exhausted soldiers for their efforts and were told repeatedly, why do you thank us, we are searching for our siblings. The gevurat ha-nefesh – spiritual strength – that these families have demonstrated in the days since the kidnapping is incredible and, to my mind, demonstrates the epitome of emunah and bitachon.

Rachel Frenkel - mother of kidnapped teen Naftali Frenkel

Most eloquent has been the mother of Naftali Frankel. Did you hear her words at a rally at the kotel where she told thousands of women that even if God forbid the end of this case is not to our liking, we will believe no less for the Ribbono shel Olam is not in our pocket? Last night she expressed her thanks not only to the government and to Tzahal, but also to Abu Mazen – the head of the Palestinian authority – and to the mayor of Chevron for their courage in condemning the kidnappings. 

In an interview she quoted Natan Sharansky telling her that in the years that he sat in confinement in the gulag, completely cut off from the outside world, he was able to remain sane and be strong because he knew that the entire nation of Israel was praying for him.

I once heard R. Itiel Goldvicht relate the following story. A group of soldiers – officer candidates at the IDF’s military academy – had come to Yerushalayim for Shabbat. After davening at the Kotel, they ate the seudat Shabbat at Aish ha-Torah. At the end of the seudah, Rav Goldvicht asked the group if anyone would like to comment about their experiences; for many of them it was the first time that they had ever experienced a kabbalat Shabbat. 

A number spoke, expressing their thanks and even commenting that it had been an uplifting experience. Then a soldier got up and asked for permission to add a few words. He introduced himself as a Druze from a village in Northern Israel. “I’ve often wondered,” he began, “how it is possible that Israel can survive and flourish in such a rough and antagonistic neighborhood. When I watched you all dancing and singing tonight, without embarrassment and sharing a link to your traditions, I realized what the answer is. When you are together, united, there is no force in the world that can defeat you.”

Many of us are familiar with the midrash that recounts Mama Rachel successfully beseeching the Ribbono shel Olam on behalf of her children. Rachel’s life was a demonstration that she accepted that all that transpired was to be accepted as the will of God. This is the reason, as it were, that God listens specifically to her; she did not complain about her fate or misfortune. 

In our generation we have been allowed to hear another Mama Rachel, Racheli Frankel, teach us what emunah and bitachon are all about. לא נביא אני ולא בן נביא– I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet – but I have an instinctive feeling that we are being given a clear message from God;  despite all that divides us, we are still one people. 

Whether we say tehillim in Kikar Shabbat, or listen to performers in Kikar Rabin, the tears of Mama Rachel have the power to nurture us back to our manifest destiny. The Ribbono shel Olam has promised the Rachels of our people –  ושבו מארץ אויב – they will return from the land of the enemy.

Thank you Racheli Frankel for sharing your strength with us.

A Glorious but Imperfect Legacy

Typical of the ubiquitous Meshichist posters

There has been a lot of discussion about the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav Menachem Mendel Schneersohn over the last couple of weeks. Several books have been published about him as the 20^th anniversary of his death approaches.

I never met him.  But my impression over the years as well as what I have read recently is that he was a remarkable man – in more ways than one.  Aside from being a genius, he was a leader with few if any peers. There are so many superlatives cited about this man’s abilities, that I could not possibly remember let alone list all of them. I believe that they are all true (…with the exception mentioned by some about his prophetic ability).

His chief accomplishment was that he took a movement that had but a few members under the previous Rebbe (his father in law) and turned it into one of the most powerful outreach organizations in history – increasing its numbers exponentially over the decades since his ascension as the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe. Through the guidance of the Rebbe, there are more Shiluchim – emissaries of Lubavtiach in more places than there are of any other segment of Judaism.

The Rebbe believed that the way to build Klal Yisroel was to do it one Jew at a time. He set the tone of how Luibavitch does their outreach. They do not call it Kiruv. They see us all as being in the same boat. Some more observant than others. All of us have to work on our Judaism.  They do not see it as making  irreligious Jews – religious.

As much as the Rebbe was concerned with the Klal – his focus was on one individual at a time. That’s why he was so accessible to the public. Getting a private meeting with the Rebbe was not all that uncommon for even the most ordinary of people.  Including those that were not Lubavicthers.

It was his willingness to meet with all Jews, his intelligence, his knowledge of Torah, his knowledge of human nature, and his technological savvy and willingness to use it that enabled him to create an empire unmatched in the Jewish world.

Story after story has come out about individuals who have had personal encounters with this man. In almost every case, those individuals walked away inspired. To say that the Rebbe was charismatic is an understatement of immense proportion. I recall an interview of famed author, Chaim Potok that took place after the Rebbe’s massive stroke, shortly before he died. He had similar things to say about the Rebbe. When he was asked why he never had an audience with him, which he could have easily gotten, he replied that he was afraid that his charisma would have overwhelmed him.

The Rebbe’s power over his people was uncanny. He was so beloved, so trusted by his Chasidim, that they would do his bidding no matter what he asked of them. So that when a young family was told to go to a community where there were few if any religious Jews, in order to serve those few Jews that were there, they did so barely giving it a second thought. 

Imagine any other religious Jew with a young family being told to go to the remotest part of the globe and told to raise his children there with no other observant Jews anywhere near them.  No one that I know would ever dream if doing that. But Lubavtichers did it and still do it matter of factly to this day, 20 years after the Rebbe’s death. The Rebbe had no trouble sending his Chasidim anywhere in the world. In almost every instance there presence there bore fruit as they were able to reach out by their warm embrace of every single Jew they met. No matter how secular.

The list of dignitaries - religious and secular - that had a personal meeting with the Rebbe is a mile long. So brilliant was he, that Israeli generals actually discussed military strategy with him.

All that said, I am not a Chasid and could not agree with his position that Chasidus in general; and Chabad Chasidus in particular was the primary light by which the Torah cold be understood. There have been thousands upon thousands of pages of his discourse on this subject published, I have heard some of them repeated and I am not convinced of his view.  I am also a bit disappointed at the proprietary way in which Lubavitch reaches out to fellow Jews.  They focus as much if not more on the things unique to Lubavitch as they do on the things that are common to all of us

But it is easy to forgive since the positive impact they have far outweighs the negative.

But, as I have written in the past, the Lubavitcher Rebbe made one huge mistake. Near the end of his life he started focusing on Moshiach. He started talking about Moshiach’s immanent arrival. If we would just push a little harder, do one Mitzvah more…he would surely come. That led most Lubavitchers to believe that their Rebbe was actually Moshiach himself. Even the most rational among them believed that at any moment, the Rebbe would reveal himself as Moshiach. The Rebbe denied it. But he never really discouraged his Chasidim from saying it. They mistook his denials for humility.

But it is obvious that he was not Moshiach. No one outside of Lubavitch believed it even when he was alive. And after he died, that should have put an end to it. Unfortunately it didn’t. That belief still exists to one degree or another. Either as a private hope that when there is the resurrection of the dead during messianic times the Rebbe  may arise to declare himself Moshiach… to those who proclaim with certainty and out loud that this will happen. Some believe that he never even died.  Others believe that even though he did die, he will definitely arise from the dead to become Moshiach. In a few extreme cases, there are Lubavitchers that actually say that the Rebbe is God. That of course is Avodah Zara.

I have no choice but to say that the Rebbe erred by putting too much focus on the idea that Moshiach’s arrival was imminent.  This has caused one of the biggest rifts between Lubavitch and the rest of Orthodox Jewry. There are some Orthodox Jews that will still not eat from Lubavitch Shechita. And they are not just extremists. They are part of the mainstream and exist across the entire spectrum of Orthodoxy.

I believe it is the extreme loyalty that he inspired (which caused the kind of successes that everyone is now talking about) that is also responsible for the Meshichist phenomenon.  The Rebbe is now larger in death than he was in life. While that is fairly common with charismatic leaders. In this case it has brought with it a lot of negative baggage.

Mainstream Chabad has fought that image hard and I believe it has for the most part been successful in subduing the noise. We now read mostly about all the considerable good that they do. But the fact is that it still exists and is the proverbial fly in what would  otherwise be a sublime ointment.There is a Beis Moshiach right here in Chicago with a poster in the window proclaiming the Rebbe’s Messiahship!

This is really too bad. Because as I have said, Lubavitch serves a vital function for Klal Yisroel that nobody else does or is even willing to do. They are the true soldiers of God – sending His message to all four corners of the earth. We need them. And we ought to support their work. But the Messianism continues to be a stain on the legacy of a great Jewish leader. A man whose leadership will likely not be repeated again in my lifetime. And probably not until Moshiach himself arrives.

Pride and Prejudice

Once again, we are being subjected to what is now being called a Pride Parade. (The word ‘Gay’ has been dropped from the name). This has become an annual event sponsored by LGBT (the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgender community).  I could never understand why anyone would choose sexual orientation as something to be proud of. But I am told by members of that community the purpose a ‘Pride Parade’ is to counter the negative self image of people whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual.

I can understand that. Homosexuality had always been frowned upon in society. People who had these tendencies were embarrassed by them and tried to hide them. If someone was caught in a homosexual relationship or act, he would pretty much be ostracized from his or her community.  Until the 1970s homosexuality was indeed considered abnormal – a psychological disorder that needed to be treated with psychotherapy.  

But in the 70s that all changed when mainstream psychology declared homosexuality an alternative but normal lifestyle. Since then, this community has been working diligently to get everyone to feel that way. Today, in 2014, that seems to have taken place. Gay marriage has been legalized in many states. And the public seems to have accepted it.

I can sympathize with those homosexuals that still feel ostracized in the community.  The three major faiths  consider the homosexual act to be a sinful one. For Jews and Christians it is spelled out in the Bible.  When a gay person that is raised in a religious home is led to believe that God rejects them because of their attraction to the people of the same sex, it can be pretty depressing in a clinical sense.

And that can and sometimes does lead to suicide. It doesn’t help matters when you have organizations like JONAH that use aversion therapy to try and change someone’s  homosexual orientation.  For those who are not simply confused about it and may not actually be homosexual, this kind of therapy might work. But for those who are not confused about it and know that they are only attracted to the same sex, it can be disheartening to go through the kind of embarrassing treatment only to remain gay afterward. Add to that the societal rejection one will get in a religious community, and one can see how someone would not want to live like that… and may attempt to take their own lives in desperation.

So I understand the motivation behind a Pride Parade. It in essence tells homosexuals that they should not pay any attention to anyone or any community that shuns them. But instead have pride in who they are. If who they are includes being gay, so be it. It’s nobody’s business who you love.

The problem is that a Pride Parade ends up being more than that. And not in a good way. First of all it brings out some pretty disgusting behavior by the more flamboyant drag queens. Lascivious public behavior is unbecoming of a holy person. And yes, we Jews are a holy people chosen by God to be so. And we are supposed to act like it.

But more than that, a pride parade ignores the sinful part of being gay – acting on it in a way that the Torah forbids. The message of this parade is that one need not worry about that… that expressing one’s love in a sinful way is something to be proud of. Forget about what an ancient and archaic book says about it. If it feels good, do it! Who are you going to harm if it is an act done between 2 consenting adults? 

The answer to that question, if you are a believing Jew, is that you are harming yourself. God does not approve of that behavior and has declared severe sanctions against it. Actions have consequences. There may not be any earthly consequences for this behavior. But surely there will be consequences in the world to come – if we violate His word. A Pride Parade therefore sends the wrong message.

This does not mean that one Jew has a right to embarrass another. Nor does it give them the right to somehow reject them from their community. I’ve said this many times. It is no sin to be gay. It is only a sin to act on it in ways that the Torah prohibits. We all have our Taavos – fantasies that may or may not be permitted by Halacha. And we would love to act on them. But we must refrain from doing so when the Torah forbids it. This applies to both straight and gay people.

But if anyone succumbs to a sinful desire in the privacy of their own bedroom, it is nobody’s business except God’s. It is completely unfair to react with hostility to a potential sinner just because we know that their desires may be against Halacha.

But at the same time, it is completely wrong in my view to celebrate it in such a public way by parading with signs about being proud of these desires. It would be like a parade about being proud of a desire to be Mechalel Shabbos.

Showing public pride in a sinful desire is not something that anyone should be doing. Yes, one should have pride in being who you are. But when ‘who you are’ includes sinful desires, it ought not to be center of focus. Not for gays. Not for straights. Besides - is the flaming 6 foot tall muscular flaming drag queen the image that gay people want the world to have of them? Because they are the ones getting all the media attention. From the Forward:

The most outrageous snapshots from any given Pride parade tend to be the most popular – six-foot drag queens (seven, if you count heels and hair,) chiseled go-go dancers in mini-Speedos, loads of glitter.

Being gay – or straight - is nothing to celebrate. We are who we are. We should not judge anyone else based on their sexual orientation.  It is not our business who others choose to love or live with. Unfortunately much of society is still repulsed by gay people. Especially religious society. And as I said that causes them much unhappiness, depression, and even suicide in some cases. That is wrong and societal attitudes ought to change. It’s nobody’s fault who they are attracted to. Human beings ought to be judged on the content of their character. Not on whom they love.

But to celebrate one’s homosexuality is the wrong way to go about changing public attitudes. Aside from being wrong,  I think it actually does more harm than good because of what the media focuses on. But more importantly instead of just giving them pride, it implies a seal of approval - a Hechsher if you will - to doing things that are completely sinful.  And that ought to be protested.

The 'Godless' Knesset

Members of the Knesset reciting Tehilim for the 3 kidnapped Yeshiva students. Note Mechitza in the back. Front row 2nd from right: MK Dov  Lipman

What does Amalek look like? It doesn’t take much to find out. One picture is worth a 1000 words. These are the people who would destroy Yiddishkeit. They are the ones who reject the Torah. These are the people whose purpose of drafting Charedim is to assimilate them out of observance. These are the people who will kidnap your children and force them into non religious Kibbutzim.

These are the people whose god is Zionism and their prophet: Herzl. These are the people who hate religion and religious Jews. These are the people who do not respect the sensitivities of religious Jews and force them to sin. These are the people who laugh at the separation of the sexes.

These are the people that some rabbinic leaders pray will be wiped off the face of the earth.

These people are just a bunch of Godless atheists. We must fight them with every fiber of our body. And get the rest of the world to understand just how evil they are.

A Clueless Leader

Rav Ovadia Yosef, ZTL and Rabbi Shalom Cohen in a 2000 photo (Forward)

If you like living in the dark ages and in poverty… and love hateful rhetoric, Rabbi Shalom Cohen is your man. In case you don’t know who that is, Rabbi Cohen who has inherited the title of Maran from Rav Yosef - is the newly elected head of the Shas Council of Torah Sages. He has replaced Rav Ovadia Yosef, ZTL in that position. How he was elected is a mystery to me. As is why he was elected.

There is speculation that Aryeh Deri, who is the political head of Shas had a lot to do with this. He is close to Rabbi Cohen and sees him as an ally. This in contrast to former Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, with whom Deri had a severe falling out. I guess this is what happens when politics gets mixed into religion. Instead of choosing a leader for all the people, you choose a political ally. But I digress.

It’s not that Rabbi Cohen isn’t a Talmid Chacham. As the Rosh HaYeshiva of the prestigious Sephardi Yeshiva Porat Yosef - he must be.  If I recall correctly he was a close confidant of Rav Yosef as well. But being close to a Gadol is not enough. Neither is the knowledge of vast amounts of Torah. There are plenty of people who can lay claim to having much Torah knowledge and have nonetheless made a Chilul HaShem. 

I would posit that Rabbi Cohen has in the past made statements that can easily be considered such. Like when he referred to anyone wearing a Kipa Seruga (meaning Religious Zionists) as Amalek.  Amalek is the (now extinct) nation mentioned in the Torah – an enemy of Israel - that God commanded us to destroy. Needless to say, these comments are condemnable.

To the best of my knowledge Rabbi Cohen has been cloistered in the four walls of his Yehsiva and has never held any public office. I doubt that he has much experience in dealing with public matters. But that doesn’t stop him from making outrageous and even harmful comments, not only from a public relations standpoint. But even in a practical sense. And his very first pronouncement - in writing - as the head of Shas proves that. He has banned female Charedim from attending college. Even Charedi colleges.  He was quoted in the Jerusalem Post: 

“Female [high-school] students should not even think about undertaking academic studies in any framework, because this is not the way of the Torah,” 

And from the Forward: 

“Our rabbis, the sages of Israel, unconditionally opposed academic study and even in the Haredi colleges, since a significant number of professors are university graduates and do not uphold the pure religious worldview on which the girls were raised,” Cohen wrote.

“In addition, the material in the colleges is based on research and scientific methods that contravene the Torah. Therefore, students should not even consider going to learn academic studies in any framework, since this is not the way of the Torah.” 

This man has departed from the ways of his predecessor, who was indeed the Gadol that Rabbi Cohen is not.   Rabbi Yosef’s daughter Adina Bar-Shalom founded a Haredi College of Jerusalem in 2001 – with the approval of her father.

Let us first examine his problem with research and the scientific method.  Can anyone alive in the 21^st century actually be opposed to research and the scientific method? How does he think the cures for so many diseases of the past were discovered? By looking at the Refuos of the Gemarah? 

I can understand if his problem was with exposing his students to certain courses that he saw as Apikurus. Although I might disagree with him on what is or isn’t Apikurus (like the fact that the universe is about 15 billion years old), I can understand why he might have difficulty with that.  But to reject scientific research all together because ‘it contravenes the Torah’ is a mind-blowingly ignorant thing to say, let alone believe.

And in a practical sense, how does he believe that the Kollel System that he so vigorously defends is going to survive if the wives of the Avreichim sitting and learning 24/7 do not have the means to support their families? Where are they going to find jobs that pay a decent wage if they do not learn the kinds of skills taught in these colleges? 

Does he think that the pay a religious studies teacher makes will be enough to support a typical family of 13? And does he think that there are even enough teaching jobs for all Sephardi wives of Avreichim to go around? Or does he think a store clerk makes the kind of money that someone who learned technological skills in college makes?

One can understand the extent to which the Kollel life is promoted in Charedi circles even if they disagree with it as I do. I do not believe that all Charedim - Sephardi or otherwise - should automatically study in a Kollel. But even if I did, it is the height of irresponsibility to hurt the material welfare of the very people you so idealize by denying even their wives the education to better support their families. 

This is not the thinking of a Gadol. It is the thinking of a clueless individual that has spent most of his life in the rarified air of Charedi yeshiva - isolated from reality.

Defining Modern Orthodoxy

R' Aharon Lichtenstein - a Centrist Icon

Defining Orthodoxy is fraught with peril. It is virtually impossible to get a consensus on what its parameters are. Of course there are some segments that define themselves as the only true representatives of Judaism and de-legitimize all other segments. Including other Orthodox ones. They may be one manifestation of it. But they are certainly by far not the only manifestation of it.

For purposes of this post, I will define the general category of Orthodox Judaism as follows. It is the belief in the fundamental tenets of Judaism and acceptance as mandatory adherence to Halacha.

I have always divided Orthodoxy into these categories: Charedim, Chasidim, Centrist (RWMO), Left Wing (LWMO) and  MO-Lite (...observant more by rote or peer pressure than by conviction). There is also a category called Orthopraxy that consist of Jews who are not believers but practice Judaism for a variety of reasons unrelated to belief. (Such as honoring one’s parents or just being desirous of belonging - and being an integrated member of an Orthodox community.)

The problem with dividing Orthodoxy into categrories is that there is often a lot of overlap. In some cases it’s hard to peg to which category one might belong. I don’t think one can draw any hard lines. But in a general way, I think these categories are fairly distinct.

There are others that breakup Orthodoxy somewhat differently. In a Forward article, here is how Jerome Chanes has done it: 

Modern Orthodox; Centrist Orthodox; the Yeshiva arena (“yeshivish”); Chasidim; Chabad; and Satmar. 

I actually agree with this breakdown up to a point. It does not really contradict my own classifications. I concede that Chabad  and Satmar are additional independent categories. (Although I do not agree that they aren’t really Chasdim at all. They most certainly are).

Where I part company with him is in how he defines Centrist Orthodoxy out of Modern Orthodoxy... and the reason it has developed the way it has. As a Centrist, I consider myself Modern Orthodox. I think it is important to make that clear. What he now defines Modern Orthodoxy is the way I define Left Wing Modern Orthodoxy. Here is how he says Centrism evolved: 

(T)he Modern Orthodox began looking over their right shoulder at the more sectarian world of Agudath Israel and the Brooklyn Yeshivas. “Hmm — they are wonderfully observant, they sit and ‘learn,’ and they do send their kids to college!” Second, in terms of interaction with the external world — what we call public affairs — the Modern Orthodox began moving in a rightward direction. 

The result? The overwhelming majority of those we used to call “Modern Orthodox” are further to the right both religiously and in terms of public affairs, increasingly conservative on Israel and religious issues. The Modern Orthodox world of the 1960s, moderate-to-liberal on most public policy issues — church-state, civil rights, Israel, even reproductive choice — has moved steadily rightward. These are the “Centrist Orthodox.” 

Leaving out the political side of it, that is not exactly what happened. I can understand why someone on the left that now calls themselves MO thinks that. But this is not exactly what a Centrist is. First (aside form the obvious adherence to the fundamentals of faith and adherence to Halacha) a Centrist has by no means abandoned modernity. We believe that there is much to be gained in the modern world both educationally and culturally.

Modern Orthodoxy actually encompasses two separate Hashkafos. Torah U’Madda (TuM) and Torah Im Derech Eretz (TIDE - as expressed by its founder Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch). Although adherents of TIDE sometimes vehemently deny that they are MO or that they have anything to do with TuM - by definition, TIDE embraces modernity and has much in common with TuM.

Both believe that secular knowledge is valuable. Both believe that there is much in secular culture to admire. There are differences in the reasons of both. But  in practice there is little difference. (TIDE should not be confused with some of the customs that are common among German Jews who are the people most commonly associated with TIDE. It is not the customs of German Jewry that defines TIDE. It is their Hashkafa that defines it.)

I do agree with Mr. Chanes that the Modern Orthodoxy of our day is not the same Modern Orthodoxy of our parents and grandparents day. But I don’t accept that the new ‘Modern Orthodoxy’ is only reflected by the left. In my view the category still very much includes Centrists.  We may be perceived as being more right wing but we are certainly not pushing any rightward envelopes. The left on the other hand is pushing the envelope of Orthodoxy leftward beyond acceptable limits. The things he cites as innovations are the very things that border on crossing the lines of even the Modern Orthodoxy of old. Here is how he puts it: 

The Modern Orthodoxy of today, distinguished from the Centrist, is the only place in the world of traditional observance where interesting, creative, innovative things are happening. It’s the arena of Drisha and Yeshivat Maharat, offering traditional study of Jewish texts for women; of Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg; of the “partnership” minyanim, pushing the envelope in traditional structures of prayer; of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s “Open Orthodoxy.” 

This may be modern. But it barely resembles Orthodoxy in my view. Mr. Chanes  attributes the Centrist move to the right to looking over our shoulders at organizations like Agudah. This is simply not a fact. What we have done is become more educated about Judaism and accepted the fact that in the past, there was a lot of ignorance about actual Halacha. 

Just to take one example. Modern Orthodox social events used to have mixed dancing. That completely ignores Halacha. It is forbidden by Halacha for a man and a woman (that are not married to each other) to touch one another. Even according to those who allow it in non sexual platonic ways – dancing together is not one of those ways 

To take another example, most married Modern Orthodox women of the past did not cover their hair. Halacha requires them to do so. In our day almost all married Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair – even those in LWMO.

In most cases we are far more educated than our MO parents and grandparents were. That is what the day school system has accomplished. We are more knowledgeable about Halacha and strive to follow it more carefully. To the causal observer who sees us now and remembers the past, it just seems like we are looking to our right. But that isn’t what we do.

What distinguishes a Centrist from a LWMO is not our attitude towards modernity. We both have positive views of it. It is how we view innovations in our religious practices. Whereas Mr. Chanes sees  breaking with tradition as a positive response to the spirit of the times - we view it as a negative break from normative Judaism. We value tradition and are resistant to changing it unless there are some very strong – even existential reasons to do so. By responding to the spirit of the times with innovations like Partnership Minyans LWMO begins to resemble Heterodoxy more than the do Orthodoxy. That they do not cross any Halachic lines may still make them Modern Orthodox*. But certainly not exclusively so... or even in the mainstream sense of the word.

They no more have that kind of exclusionary claim, than do certain Charedim to the claim that their version of Judaism is the only authentic form of it. In my view, though both may be Orthodox, they are both extreme versions of it.

*Leaving out their recent embrace of one of their ordained rabbis who has rejected some of the fundamental tenets of our faith - which does cross a line into Heterodoxy. 

The Reason These Boys Were Kidnapped Is…

Charedi man walking near home of abducted teen Eyal Ifrach (VIN)

Here we go again. Once again we are beginning to hear ‘the reason’ for a tragedy. In this case the kidnapping of three Yeshiva students in Israel about 10 ten days ago.  What is that reason? It is Divine punishment, of course. 

For what, you ask? Well that depends on who you are talking to. If you are Charedi, then the reason is because of the new law drafting Charedim.  If you are a Religious Zionist, it is anti religious legislation and the willingness of Israel to give up parts of Eretz Yisroel for peace. I’m surprised no one has raised the Tznius issue as a reason yet.

Looking for a spiritual cause of a tragedy is a time honored tradition in Judaism. As God’s chosen people, we are told that whenever there is a great tragedy in the world, in addition to the reasons that specifically apply to them, God also intends His people to get a message out of it. Legend has it that when the Chofetz Chaim heard that there was a devastating earthquake in Japan where many people died, he sought a message out of that for the Jewish people.

But  today, it seems that this kind of thinking has been taken to a new level. Now, when just about anything goes wrong blame is placed on an agenda being thwarted.  There is never any thought that there might be other spiritual reasons. It is always the issue of the day that is focused upon. So that when tragedy befalls the Jewish people – well that is God being upset that our agenda has been thwarted.  Which is then used as ‘proof’ of the rectitude of that agenda.

I’m reminded of the recent meeting in Lakewood that addressed a rash of accidents in that area. The culprit? Long wigs. God was sending us a message about that by hurting innocent people in accidents. Women were told that if they shorten their wigs, all would improve. And sure enough – on cue, the very next week the claim was made (falsely as it turns out) that there were no serious accidents that week.

Segulos work the same way. It is an appeal to those in need by offering a spiritual solution in exchange for a contribution of a specific amount of money. Tzedaka organizations have been using Segulos to increase charitable contributions for years now. You want spiritual help for your problem? Give us your money and will perform this great Segula for you. Bnei Brak’s Kupat Ha’ir is notorious for doing things like that. They made such a pitch just before Shevuos, advertising widely across all the religious media.

To me all these Segula ads are one big fraud. And though fraud is not the intent of blaming a tragedy on a thwarted agenda, it is equally erroneous to make that claim. There are no Nevi’im today. Prophecy is gone. We cannot know why God allowed a tragedy to happen. To presume you know or to even suggest that it is likely - is the height of arrogance to me.That different groups use their own agendas as the ones being thwarted proves it. It is no different that trying to explain the reasons for the Holocaust as some do.

We have no clue what the spiritual reasons are for any tragedy, either today or yesterday in the post prophesy era. All we can ever really know is the physical reality of what happened. Speculating about Godly reasons in our case can only add pain to those  most suffering from the ordeal: the kidnap victims and their families.  In essence what we are telling them is that even though those 3 teens were completely innocent of having any part in thwarting an agenda, God decided to send that message by making them suffer. How incredibly cruel  and self serving it is to do that.

Instead of looking for blame, we ought to all be doing what we first did when we heard about it: uniting in prayer and supporting the Israeli govenrment’s all out efforts to find the victims and punish the perpetrators.

For some whose agenda is more important that the individuals being directly affected, that isn’t good enough. They take the opportunity to push own agenda forward by appealing to our spiritual side. They may not think they are being cruel. They may actually think they are being helpful because they do very much believe in their cause. But I would suggest that the evidence does not support them. 

I believe that this kind of thing happens because of an over-focus on spirituality. I don’t think it is healthy to do that. We can’t really know what’s ‘up there’. We only know what’s ‘down here’.  And we ought to focus on that. The only valid spiritual activity is prayer. The rest is Achdus. Achdus in prayer. And Achdus in Hishtadlus. That should be our main focus. Instead of using a tragedy to forward an agenda by claiming it is some sort of spiritual message we should all go back to the kind of Achdus that we saw immediately following this kidnapping.  Our only agenda here should be the safe return of those young boys to their families.  

The Billion Dollar Question: Can Yeshiva University Survive?

Rav Ahron Soloveichik, ZTL - proponent of Torah U'Mada

There is only one Yeshiva University. There are many ‘Lakewoods’. I have no issue with Charedi Yeshivos like Lakewood  whose purpose it is to learn Torah only.  My criticisms are only about how widely that is implemented in the Charedi world. I disagree that all Charedim should strive to do that to the exclusion of all else. But certainly such institutions should exist. There is nothing wrong with focusing on your area of expertise. Whether one should also be well versed in other subjects for their own sake (Torah U’Mada)  or only to enhance one’s Yahdus (TIDE) is what separates us from Charedim who do not place much value on Mada at all except for utilitarian purposes.

The fact is that Yeshiva University is a Yeshiva that has both a Yeshiva and a university on the same campus and encourages its students to study both. Its motto is Torah U’Mada. That is in contrast to the Charedi worldview where very few Charedim seek secular education beyond high school in America (and at all in Israel). That some go on to become professionals via a higher education is not a function of any value they place on secular studies. It is solely a function of getting the education required to make a decent living.

There is nothing wrong with studying Mada for parnassa purposes.  That’s what Touro does. Their education is geared towards Paranassa. I am a big supporter of that. But YU actually values secular studies per se. They take seriously the Gemarah’s statement ‘Im Omar Lecha Yesh Chochma BaGoyim, Taamin’. If someone tells you that non Jews have wisdom, believe them. 

YU’s goal is to seek out that wisdom and teach it to its students. It is the only Yeshiva to do so L'Chatchila beyond high school .  Those who study in the Yeshiva program - the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS, which is what YU is really all about) are typical of those who place primary importance on Torah study but place great value on Mada too. There are plenty of Masmidim there. One can go into the Beis HaMedrash at YU at any given time and find it filled with students learning B’Hasmadah Rabbah (with great diligence). Some into the wee hours of the morning. And they do not neglect their study of Mada at all  - succeeding at those studies with similar degrees of excellence.

I bring all this up in light of the recent report about the financial straits YU is going through.  Apparently YU’s board of directors approved risky investments that went south to the tune of a billion dollars. I cannot image any Yeshiva having those kinds of funds to invest, let alone to operate with. That is some serious money. That’s 1000 million dollars. They lost it all, it seems.

A lot of people blame YU’s president, Richard Joel. He is after all the CEO responsible for among other things YU’s financial welfare (and being handsomely paid for it). But I am not one of them.  He consulted with the board about those investments and they must have approved it.  He did not just blindly go into the market and invest in penny stocks. He consulted with acknowledged experts in the field of financial investments and if I understand correctly followed their recommendations.  When the economy tanked a few years ago, so did those investments and apparently they did not recover when the economy started rebounding.

But… I understand that Mr. Joel is getting the blame for all this. He is the man in charge. He is the man at the top. The buck stops there. So if he gets fired, it is just as understandable as when a Cubs manager gets fired. If the team is doing badly you don’t fire the team. You fire the manager. Even if he is a proven winner in his past engagements with other teams that have won pennants under his leadership. That’s just the way it is. Richard Joel will land on his feet. I’m pretty sure he put away piles of money from the very generous compensation he received over the years as CEO of YU (unless he put that money into risky investments too. I hope not).

But this post is not about Richard Joel’s misfortune. It is about the Talmidei Chachamin at that institution that are in danger of losing their jobs. Perhaps more importantly it is about the existence of the only school that represents the values of Torah U’Mada. As an adherent of this Hashkafa, I would consider it a tragedy of major proportions if YU were to go down.

At an existential level we cannot allow Orthodoxy to become a world where there is no value given to the wisdom of the world. That would in my view be contrary to the mission of Judaism.  Ein Somchin Al HaNes, the Gemarah tells us. To say for example that we don’t need our people to study areas that are vital to the health of our people is to ignore the Torah’s admonition that we are required to do our part in it. It’s called Hishtadlus. So that to encourage all Jews to study Torah and ignore the medical sciences is an abdication of that Hishtadlus.

It isn’t only about our physical health. To deny the study of the great thinkers of the world who have aided in our own understanding of Emes is to limit our ability to understand our own Hashkafos. That is why Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik studied philosophy. He became a world renowned expert in it. He could thus better explain Jewish philosophy by comparing it to current philosophical thought.  Much as did the Rambam with the philosophic thought of his day.

In an era where there is so much information available instantly, what better way to prepare for encounters with that, than with a Yeshiva like YU?

Yes the Torah only approach is fine for those who limit or even deny themselves exposure to outside world. But for those who study the works of other great thinkers, there is only one YU.

It would be tragic beyond all proportion if Yeshiva University were to fold. I don’t think that is going to happen. But the mere prospect of losing the only asset that rises to the task – scares me. And when a billion dollars is so easily lost, it is no longer out of the realm of possibility for something like that to happen.

An Unholy Routine

What kind of Chinuch do these parents give their children? (TOI)

I have been debating about whether I should say anything about a performance of a 12 year old boy on the TV show, America’s Got Talent (AGT). On the one hand, I could not see myself expressing the anger I felt at what is most certainly a Chilul HaShem made by a 12 year old boy. I really don't want to hurt him. On the other hand I can't let this go by without protesting it.

The Chilul HaShem was a standup comedy routine that was so vulgar, the it almost made AGT judge Howard Stern  blush. And Stern is perhaps the most vulgar radio and TV personality in show business.  What made it a Chilul HaShem was that this young contestant was wearing a Kipa. That almost certainly means he is an Orthodox Jew.  And his father was seen on that show wearing one too.

Normally I would be praising Orthodox Jews who are not embarrassed to wear a Kipa in public. It would certainly be understandable if he removed it during the performance so as not to influence the judges. They might see it as odd and therefore prejudice their vote. What this tells me is that he is proud to be an Orthodox Jew and wants people to know it, despite any negative consequences that may result.

Last year on this same show, a young boy about the same age wore a Kipa too. He sang and played the piano. And what he did was a Kiddush Hashem. He not only wore his Kipa proudly he refused to perform during the 3 weeks where Halacha forbids listening to live music. He made that a condition of being on the show. That took guts. He could have easily jeopardized his chances of appearing. There were probably tens of thousands of contestants that would have been happy to take his place. I’m sure he knew that. But he stood by his beliefs. They were more important to him than success. As it turned out, AGT allowed him to do that. And he did quite well on the show.

But in this case, I wish he had taken it off. Telling vulgar jokes at such a young age in front of millions of people is not the image we ought to be projecting to the world. Kidoshim Tihiyu, the Torah tells us (Vayikra 19:2). We are to be a holy people.  Rashi comments that the reason this Parsha follows the section on Arayos (forbidden sexual relationships) is to tell us that wherever one finds a ‘fence’ to such acts, one will find holiness.  The obvious reverse of that is that where one finds Arayos, one will not find holiness. This young boy was anything but holy on that show. He projected unholiness.

What this young fellow did by his ‘act’ is tell the world that Orthodox Jews are vulgar people. This is not being a light unto the nations. It is a Chilul HaShem for a holy nation to present itself in that way. What lesson does that teach the nations? How does this reflect the Godliness that our behavior is supposed to represent?

When I saw this segment (which has been all over the internet) I was disgusted and embarrassed. I was embarrassed for the 12 year old on stage, embarrassed for his parents, embarrassed for his school, and embarrassed for Klal Yisroel.

That the judges and audience loved it makes no difference. The Jewish people are not on this earth to win popularity contests. Our mission in the world is to be a light unto the nations. It is that for which we are to appreciate applause, not what this young boy did.

But my outrage is not directed so much at this young boy. It is directed at his parents, who seemed to not only approve, but celebrate what their son did.

Really? Is this the Chinuch you are giving your children? Is this your Orthodoxy? Is this how you think the world should see us? Is this what your ancestors envisioned for their offspring? Do you think the boys grandparents or great grandparents would approve? What are you teaching your children with this? Which Pesukim in the Torah tell you that this is OK? Which Gemarah?

Yes, laughter is an important part of life. The Talmudic sage Rava always started off his Shiurim with a bit of humor, so as to get the attention of his students in a positive way. They would then be more motivated to learn from his lectures. Is this what happened here? And did Rava tell these kinds of jokes?

What kind of Chinuch did the parents get to make them feel it is OK to let their son do this in front of millions of people while wearing a Kipa?

What makes this even more egregious is the fact that the father denied on camera that he had anything to do with the material his son performed and that his wife (the boy’s mother) never heard that material before. The fact is that the father did one of those jokes himself in almost the exact same manner as his son. It was at a comedy club available for viewing on YouTube.

And what about the day school this boy attends? How are they going to deal with this? Are they going to just let it slide? I don’t think that is an option. This requires a serious rebuke of not only the boy but of his parents. There are obviously some major Chinuch issues to be addressed here. In my view the school needs to educate both the boy and his parents about what is proper behavior for an observant Jew. What I can’t understand is why the parents haven’t learned that yet? What kind of homes were they raised in? What kind of teachers gave the impression that this could ever be OK?

What a shame. On the surface the parents seemed very normal and very likable people. The relationship between the parents and their son seemed to be very loving. The parents are obviously very supportive of this child. All good things. Things from which we can all learn. But there is something very wrong with parents being proud of their son’s vulgarity in front of millions of people.

I don’t wish this family any ill. In fact, I have no issue with young boys succeeding in show business, provided they do not make a Chilul HaShem in the process. I would only ask him to clean up his act. And ask that his parents help him do that. You don’t have to be blue to succeed as a stand up comedian. Ask Bill Cosby. His routines are never blue. And there aren’t too many comedians who are as successful as he is. Follow his example and stop making a Chilul HaShem!

Another Frum Jew Goes to Prison

Former Jerusalem Mayor, Uri Lupolianski

I had hoped I would never have to see this headline: Ex-Mayor Of Jerusalem Sentenced To 6 Years Prison In Bribery Case. But this is the headline at VIN this morning.

I was a big fan of Uri Lupolianski. He was a Charedi that I thought we could all be proud of. He founded the charitable organization Yad Sarah, an organization that helps the elderly and disabled. It lends out medical equipment, supplies and services to anyone in need without regard to which segment of Judaism they belong.

He came to national attention when he succeeded his predecessor, Ehud Olmert and was elected mayor of Jerusalem. Prior to that time Lupolianski was deputy mayor and a member of the National Building and Planning Committee.

What an accomplished individual he was. Before becoming mayor, he won several awards and in 1994 he accepted the Israel Prize on behalf of Yad Sarah.

By all accounts this Charedi individual who belonged to the Degel HaTorah (Lithuanian) faction of United Torah Judaism was a very popular and effective mayor.  He did not seem to favor any particular faction and governed the citizens of Jerusalem fairly and equally. It was widely assumed that if he ran for a 2^nd term, he would easily be re-elected. But in a rotation deal with the Agudat Yisroel (Chasidic – mostly Ger) faction, he was to hand over his slot to their candidate, Meir Porush. Meir Porush then proceeded to lose badly to a secular Jew, Nir Birkat.

A lot of Charedi Jews were upset that Agudat Yisroel insisted on their turn. They had a Charedi Jew in power with all indications pointing to an easy re-election… and basically handed over the reins of power to a secular Jew.

I remember feeling angry at that too. Not that I have a problem with Nir Birkat. I’m sure he is a fine mayor. I was upset because here we had a Frum mayor of a holy city that was popular with the majority of Jerusalem’s voters and basically threw it all away. He governed in a way that made a real Kiddush HaShem. Or so I thought.

Unfortunately it does not end well for Uri Lupolianski. Which means it doesn’t end well for Frum Jews. Uri Lopianski was convicted of taking bribes while he was deputy mayor and and a member of the National Building and Planning Committee. For those bribes he advanced various real estate ventures, particularly the Holyland development, a complex of luxury apartment buildings in Jerusalem, that critics say are ugly and intrude on the city skyline.

As was the case with the Spinka Rebbe, these ill gotten gains were not taken for personal use. They were distributed to charitable projects that help the poor in the city. That’s nice. But that does not make him any less a crook, same as the Spinka Rebbe. He was convicted of corruption in March of this year and today sentenced to 6 years in prison.

How truly sad it is when good people go bad. I still believe that Lopianski is a good man. His goals were helping the poor. But when a Frum Jew is convicted of corruption, it is Chilul HaShem - no matter what his intention was. He pushed through a project for pay. And not necessarily for the benefit of the city or its residents.  What a sad day for Lupolianski. What a sad day for his family. And what a sad day for Frum Jewry.

Placing the Blame on the Wrong People

MK R' Shai Piron, former co-head of a Hesder Yeshiva

I have to take issue with Jonathan Rosenblum’s latest column in Mishpacha Magazine. Jonathan predicted last year that Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party would reverse a trend  of greater integration into broader Israeli society. From Mishpacha: 

An unidentified official in the Council on Higher Education termed the registration for the start of the upcoming academic year among chareidim as a “catastrophe.” According to the best estimates of the head of the council, Professor Manuel Trachtenberg, there will be a 20 percent decline from the chareidi registration in the 2013 academic year. The decline has been particularly dramatic among male students. 

This in spite do the fact that there has never been a better time for Charedim to do this because of increased government support in the form of student loans and grants – and at a time where government handouts have been reduced because of the economy.

The same is true for Charedi enlistment in the military: 

Defense Minister Moshe (Boogie) Ya’alon recently told the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security that the IDF had witnessed a 50 percent decline in chareidi enlistment in recent months. 

(What kind of a nickname is Boogie? But I digress.) Why does Jonathan blame Yair Lapid for this? Because of the Charedi view that his goals are anti Torah. As such the formerly tacit approval by Charedi leaders to those who felt they needed to go to work, get the army out of the way  and get educated has been changed to seeing this as an attack on Torah study - a Shas HaShmad even.

As such these leaders have been directing their students to resist anything even remotely related to leaving the Beis HaMedrash.  Statements by Yesh Atid  Kenesset members, like MK Rabbi Shai Piron about integrating Charedim into society were (and still are) seen as an attempt to wean them off the true path of Torah via assimilation into the world of the secular Jew.

What a bizarre interpretation of reality. MK Piron’s idea of ‘forg(ing) a common Israeli identity’ for Charedim does not mean one must leave the path of Torah. Nor does it mean that one cannot be as Charedi as they wish. It simply means giving Charedim a sense of pride in country. Much like American Charedim have a sense of pride in being Americans. There is nothing wrong with that. It is not Shmad to call yourself an Israeli… and know what that means and what it doesn’t mean. Being an Israeli does not preclude being Charedi.

On the contrary. There is by far not enough of such identification by Charedimin Israel.  Some are so anti Medina (State of Israel) that identifying as an Israeli is anathema to them. You may as well call them a Kofer.  The result of such thinking is to lack any sense of gratitude for what the state of Israel has done for them.  Basic decency requires you to have gratitude for what your are given, even if you have  legitimate issues. 

If - as is the goal of Yesh Atid – you are imbued with a common Israeli identity, you will not see things as myopically as you have in the past. The blinders will have been taken off. You will see the positive as well and not only the negative.

This is what forging a common identity means. It does not mean dropping one jot or tittle from Halachic observance or even Charedi Chumros.

The irony of blaming someone like Lapid for the reduction in the number of Charedim taking advantage of incentives for military service and a college education should not escape anyone. It is his party that has advocated for them. They are incentives. No one is forced to do anything. The fault lies not with Lapid, or Rabbi Piron. It lies with the Charedi leadership who have unjustly characterized Yesh Atid’s goals  and have reacted in ways that are detrimental to their own constituents. And even against their own interests which include the economic survival of the Charedi world

I’m sorry that Jonathan has spinned it this way. He should instead appeal to his leadership to stop mischaracterizing the motives of Yesh Atid, a party that includes 2 religious rabbis whose goals are the exact opposite of what the Charedi leadership has said they are.

Message to Charedim in Israel: Take advantage of these opportunities, you have nothing to lose but your poverty. 

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Last year’s Maharat graduation ceremony - (Forward)

I guess there is no more pretense. Rabbi Avi Weiss is in the business of giving women Semicha. This means they are rabbis. They will Paskin. You can call these women Maharat all day long. A rose by any other name is still a rose (to paraphrase Shakespeare).

Rabbi Weiss was warned about ordaining women by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). They told him if he wanted to retain his membership in that august body, he would have to cease and desist doing that.

Rabbi Weiss had at the time ordained Sara Hurwitz. He graced her with the title Rabba – which he said is just the grammatically correct way to refer to a female rabbi. It is somewhat strange that he did that. The word ‘rabbi’ is the anglicization of the Hebrew word ‘Rebbi’ (teacher). When that word was rendered into English it became gender neutral. There is no male or female word for rabbi in English. He made that up.

I think Rabbi Weiss simply tried to dodge the issue by saying that she was not exactly a rabbi like a man is. But she was and is. And in my view she ought to be called Rabbi Hurwitz.

Nonetheless Rabbi Weiss backed off calling future female Musmachim rabba - and went back to the more cumbersome Maharat (Manhiga Hilkhatit Rukhanit Toranit, “one who is teacher of Jewish law and spirituality.”)  But now he has apparently made it clear. He has given these women Semicha. And yet at the same time it seems to be denied: It may look like “Yoreh Yoreh,” but it ain’t. 

That’s kind of schizophrenic if you ask me. Just to be clear, I have always had a problem myself with this issue. As a young Semicha student I once penned an article in a local magazine here in Chicago questioning the validity of denying women Semicha. I said that becoming a rabbi just meant that you were becoming a teacher. Why can’t women do that? What is the problem with calling them rabbis?

If that was all there was to it, then I would still feel the same way. But there is more than Halacha at stake here. There are other considerations like Serara. Not to mention the practical side of a woman becoming a pulpit rabbi being very awkward. A female rabbi cannot be counted into a Minyan… Must sit behind the Mechitza aand cannot sit with those who are counted towards a Minyan - men. Being a Rabbi in a Shul from behind the Mechitza is not normal. 

But more than that it is a break from centuries of tradition.  Tradition should not be so easily broken. That is precisely the problem I had with YCT and OO. Although I still believed them to be members of Orthodoxy in good standing (until the recent controversy with respect to allowing an Apikores into their midst) - I never supported breaking with tradition the way they have.

The issue was never about the learning for me. I believe women can and perhaps should study Torah at any level they are capable of. Same as men. But when it comes to making them rabbis… well that goes beyond achievement in Torah study  and enters the realm of breaking barriers.

Why should that be a goal? Why must we turn Judaism into something unrecognizable?

I sympathize with Rabbi Weiss’s desire to equalize women’s status in Orthodox Judaism. It does seem unfair to the modern mind to bar women from opportunities that men have. But Judaism is not about having equal roles for men and women. It is the opposite of that. Men have their roles and women theirs. That does not make a woman any less of a Jew. It just makes them a different kind of Jew from that of a man. It makes them a female Jew.

If knowledge is all a woman wants, God bless her. I am all for it. But if it Semicha, that tells me that it’s more than just knowledge they are after. They are after breaking the glass ceiling. This is something they will never be able to completely do – and still call themselves Orthodox.

As Orthodox Jews -they know that. But the counter-claim is that they want to go as close as they can to equality with men without violating Halacha.

Well… guess what? Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Why push the envelope in Orthodoxy by seeking equality with men when it can never fully happen? Why cause all this discord in Orthodoxy? Why not be the best Jew you can be in the role that God has given you?

No matter how much I want to be a Kohen (a Jewish priest) - there is no way I can ever be one. My job in the eyes of God is not to be a Kohen but to be the best Yisroel I can be… I cannot seek the priesthood. It is unavailable to me. It is not my role as a Jew.

Judaism does not prevent any Jew, man or woman, from high achievement in any and all areas that do not violate Halacha.  If for example a woman wants to become President of the United States, that is just fine with Judaism. But when the desire crosses over into religious activity, a woman takes on the role of a Jewish woman – a role that is different than that of a Jewish man.

Yes there is a lot of overlap in Halachic observance. But there are differences too. Significant ones. And while there are many Mitzvos specific to men that women are allowed and even encouraged to do, there are some that should be discouraged. When tradition is broken because of a spirit of the times, it’s time to examine if that spirit has undue influence on you.

That said, it is not my place to judge anyone’s motives. I’m sure that those women getting Semicha from Rabbi Weiss are fine religious Jews – sincere in what they are doing. But even in all that sincerity, I can’t help but believe that they have been influenced by the spirit of the times in seeking that goal.

There is a lot of opposition to it by mainstream Orthodoxy – including the Modern Orthodox RCA.  I am curious to see how they will react to this.

A More Sober Analysis

The Kotel yesterday as 30,000 Jews prayed for the safe return of 3 kidnapped teens

With all the problems going on in Yiddishkeit today - and there are a lot of them - it is difficult to talk about any of them… as we wait for those 3 kidnapped teenagers to be rescued. Truthfully I have thought about little else since this happened last Friday.

My outrage was reflected yesterday when I fantasized about ridding Israel of all its enemies in one fell swoop. Of course as I also said yesterday, any attempt at a solution like that would be immoral. But I still feel that the west is not sufficiently enlightened about the real problem.

The way I see it Muslim Arabs comprise four different groupings.

The first is the Radical Islamists that have declared a Jihad with a goal of ridding the Middle East of the Jew and establishing an Islamic Caliphate that would rule via strict Sharia Law. Toward that end, all means necessary must be used. Including mass murder and suicide.

The second group are those that sympathize with them and support them but would not personally act on it.

The third are more secular and though they would prefer we weren’t there - would make peace with us just so they could get on with their lives.

The forth are those who are actually pro Israel.  There is of course some overlap. The lines are not that clearly drawn. But for the most part this is how I see them.

The vast majority are comprised of the 2^nd  and 3^rd groups…  with the third I believe being the larger of the two. I have always felt we could forge a peace with them (and of course with the 4^th group-  and the with 2^nd group being forced to go along). The 1^st group of radicals is however the most significant one. Even though they are relatively small, they are the ones that prevent any kind of peace. They are the ones religiously  motivated to the point of killing and dying for their cause.

I don’t think the west sufficiently appreciates this. They continue to pursue terrorists instead of the real enemy, Radical Islam. I do think Israel realizes this. But the west needs to catch up. Until it does and starts to think the way Israel does, very little will change.

Radical Islam is an idea, not an organization. It is an idea that guides the kidnappers, Hamas, Hezbollah, the 9/11 terrorists, Al Qaida, Islamic Jihad, Iran’s Shia Musilms, and ISIS (the Sunni Radical Muslims in Iraq that have murdered in Nazi like fashion 1700 Iraqi soldiers by forcing them to lie down into a ditch and shooting them all in the head …claiming a victory for God!) It doesn’t matter what a group calls itself. They are all bound by the religious tenets of Radical Islam.

This is the enemy, not terrorism. And it ought to be fought with all the vigor that the allies fought the Nazis in WWII.

I also wrote yesterday about the Achdus we are now witnessing. I wish it could make me happy to see it. But it actually makes me a little sad. As I said yesterday, it is only tragedy that makes us unite like this.

The kidnapped teenagers are from Religious Zionist families - one or more of whom lives on the West Bank. Their Hashkafos are anathema to the Charedi right. They believe in the State of Israel and fly the flag, the right denies its legitimacy and spurns the flag. They believe in army service, the right vilifies it. I could go on. The differences are stark. But today all that is forgotten.

The Agudah has called for a mass gathering in all Yeshivos, Shuls and Batei Midrashim to pray for the safety and welfare of these young boys. Lakewood has issued a call for their students to pray and to dedicate their Torah study for the Zechus of these teens. There were Teffilos yesterday at Kikar Rabin. And yesterday at the Kotel, over 30,000 Jews from every sector of Judaism came together to pray. Was that a Kiddush HaShem? Surely it was. It was inspiring even. But why must we only come together when there is tragedy? Should I be happy that it took the kidnapping of three teenagers to get us there?

Wouldn’t such Achdus be even more inspiring if all of observant Jewry could listen to each other and respect our differences? And maybe even take suggestions from each other for improving our lives as well as improving our Avodas HaShem?