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| Rabbi Steven Pruzansky (Jewish Link) |
His point is that Modern Orthodoxy should not be defined in
a manner that reflects Lot’s derogatory values. But rather it should be defined in a
manner that reflects Abraham’s values he then goes about describing the values
of each in modern day terms.
I mostly agree with what our
values should be. However, I think he oversimplifies Modern Orthodoxy by boiling it down to these two models. I believe it is a lot more complex that that.
In my view (which I have discussed many times) there are three basic levels of MO. Right Wing (Centrist); Left Wing (formerly referred to as Open Orthodoxy); and MO-Lite.
I happen to believe that the Left is not motivated by the kind of behavior He ascribes to Lot. Although I believe they are badly mistaken for a variety of reasons, I think they are generally motivated by principles they believe are authentically Jewish.
I truly believe for example that the women who are now
being ordained as rabbis by the Left are sincere in what they do. Although I do think there is a certain
amount of feminism that motivates them, for the most part they truly believe that what they do is for the sake of serving Klal Yisroel better. I do not believe that they do it strictly for ulterior motives.
Although there may be a lot of people like that fit Rabbi Pruzanky’s description of Lot’s motives, I don’t think it truly apply to the Left or to MO-Lites. The Left is ideological. Lites are motivated more by sociological considerations.
What I do agree with for the most part is that Avraham was
indeed the model of Modern Orthodoxy to which we should all aspire. He even goes a bit further - saying that this model should simply be called Orhtodox! (...without the modifier ‘modern’.) I actually agree with him. Here in part is how he describes the model of Avraham:
Avraham… wasn’t a recluse, nor did he shun or condescend to his neighbors. Indeed, they revered him as “a prince of God in our midst” (Bereishit 23:6) even if they could not fully understand or appreciate him. And that is because he struck the proper balance, as Rav Soloveitchik famously explained of the dual life of “I am a stranger and a resident among you” (ibid 23:4). Avraham knew how to be a resident and good neighbor, to encourage his fellow citizens in pursuit of virtue and to join with them to promote the common good. He supported them, did business with them honestly, welcomed them into his home graciously and even went to war with them…
That is what the ideal should be for all of us. However it is not the ideal that is so often expressed by the Charedi world. Their world view is to engage as little as possible with the outside world. Doing so only as necessity requires. The idea of engaging with them at any other level is anathema to them. Especially in the insulated world of Chasidim like those of Satmar or Square where isolation is the ideal. Which is the reason communities like Kiryas Joel and New Square were created.
I agree with Rabbi Pruzansky on this score. Isolationism was clearly not the model by which our forefather Avraham lived. He was both a man of the world and a man of God. It was this standard that made him who he was. He life was an excercize in striking the proper balance. Centrism is all about balance. Something that in my view - both the right and the left seem to have abandoned.
