A Heterodox Rabbi Who Gets It

Yeshiva University - where Modern Orthodox rabbis are trained

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there is a massive shortage of non-Orthodox rabbis.

These are the words of Joshua Rabin – one such non-Orthodox rabbi. Which is yet another nail in the coffin of Reform and Conservative Judaism. I say this with no ill intent. I say it simply as the undisputed fact it appears to be about the once powerhouse movements considered to be the future of Judaism in America a few short decades ago.

Calling it a crisis, Rabbi Rabin adds:

With a generation of rabbis nearing retirement and fewer students entering non-Orthodox rabbinic programs, the situation will likely worsen in the coming years, perhaps decades.

I don’t think there is any doubt about that. It is a story of an American Jewish experience devoid of actual Jewish content.  Attending afternoon Hebrew schools like the one he attended - were once part and parcel of the American Jewish experience Every synagogue had one. But by now they have just about disappeared.  

That’s because very few parents of students attending those schools had any personal investment in the Judaism being taught there. If you don’t see it at home, learning about it in school is not going to motivate change that might seem odd by American cultural standards. Becoming a rabbi raised in circumstances like that - as did Rabbi Rabin is an anomaly.

What makes this essay somewhat different from other treatments of this problem is that he gets it. Rabbi Rabin understands exactly what is missing from those movements and suggests changes that have a proven track record of success. Here is what he said:

We can’t anticipate when someone will deepen their commitment to Jewish life; kal va’homer, all the more so, if and when they decide to enter the rabbinate. But the longer a person goes without Jewish engagement, the less likely they are to start.

For over three decades, however, the Jewish institutional world systematically neglected the very institutions we need to thrive to maximize our chances of richly educating the most significant number of Jews such that they might choose the rabbinate... 

In Bava Batra 21a, our Sages credit Joshua ben Gamla with ensuring the vibrancy of Torah learning when he decreed that Jewish children should begin their studies at age six... over time, this decision to start requiring education at an early age is what allowed the Jewish people to become “a small population of highly literate people, who continued to search for opportunities to reap returns from their investment in literacy.”

Non-Orthodox Judaism operates in an environment (of) institutional decay coupled with a Jewish populace largely deficient in Jewish literacy. Like in Joshua ben Gamla’s era, we will not innovate our way out of this problem, because the problem is not about innovation — it’s about our collective negligence of the institutions whose success or failure holds the key to whether or not we will find a solution.

Indeed. Couldn’t have said it better myself. My only quibble is, ‘Why re-invent the wheel?’ If Rabbi Rabin is serious about the cure for what ails American Jewry (and I think he is) let him turn his attention to the schools that already exist. Orthodox Jewish day schools and high schools exist in spades. Why not utilize what’s already there instead of investing time and huge sums of money to build new schools with new budgets to run them?

It's true that Orthodox schools cannot possibly handle the overload of children being sent to them by unaffiliated Jews if they all decided to suddenly do it all at once. (If only that were the problem.) But getting American Jewry en masse to become committed enough to send their children to our day schools will not happen overnight. It will very likely be a gradual process that schools will be able to handle and grow at an equivalent pace.

Based on his article, my impression of Rabbi Rabin is that he is a sincere Jew who wants to see the Jewish people flourish. And that nothing would  please him more than if one of his secular congregants became more observant. Committed rabbis like this far prefer becoming more religious than going the other way. If one of their members goes from being non observant to becoming Orthodox, they consider it a victory!

Imagine the possibilities if we could convince the ‘Rabbi Rabins’ of Judaism to work with us instead of competing with us.

Pipe dream? Maybe. But if Rabbi Rabin really wants to see more rabbis serving the American Jewish community, why not go this route? There are many modern Orthodox rabbis that would fit quite nicely into this new cohort of Orthodox Jews. My advice: Try it. You might like it.

If Trump and Netanyahu are Behind it, It Must be Bad

How much do I hate thee? Let me count the ways

Thank God! It appears that for the first time since Israel's defensive war in Gaza began, Israel is on the verge of deal with Hamas - ending the war and bringing the hostages home. Both sides (Hamas and Israel) have agreed with the broad outlines of the deal and are now apparently working out the details. 

I for one am happy about the deal. I want to see those hostages back home with their families. I want Israeli soldiers out of harms way. Finally getting their lives back. Returning to their families, jobs and careers. 

I trust that neither Netanyahu nor the majority of his governing coalition would  agree to any deal that would harm Israel. Not now and not in the future. Despite protestations from right wing extremist members of his government and their supporters in the public and in the media. They consider the deal a disaster! 

In any case, it is not up to Netanyahu alone to consummate this deal. He must submit it to his governing coalition for a vote. And there is every indication is that it will pass. Hamas got the memo from Trump which may in part be the reason the have already accepted this deal.  

Bearing this good news in mind, it amazes me just how blinded people can get by hate. If you hate someone enough, there is no way anything they do can be seen in a positive light. Even if the hated individual completely changes course into the direction you have advocated - those who hate him will find fault with him even though they once criticized him for not taking that position. 

Which in my view is sad… so sad… it’s a sad, sad situation. And becoming more and more absurd.

Religious Rights Versus Educational Mandates

Not sure how I feel about this. Let’s just say that I have mixed feelings about it. YWN reports the following:

In an early morning filing, Bobov, Chabad and Satmar submitted a thorough federal civil rights complaint detailing the discriminatory practices of the New York City and State Education Departments targeting their yeshivas. They complain that “the discriminatory conduct pervades every aspect of yeshiva education,” and explain that if the City and State got their way “they would no longer be Jewish schools.”

If these allegations are true, then I agree with the lawsuit. Governments in a free society have no right to impose their own cultural values upon a community whose religious values differ from theirs. If that is what they mean by saying that if the City and State got their way “they would no longer be Jewish schools.” Then they have every right to sue and maintain their culture.

My only problem is with another lawsuit being brought against the state requiring that a core secular curriculum be taught in those schools. For reasons beyond the scope of this post, I am on the side of the government on that one.

But I’m not sure exactly what the government is asking of them here; and why they are objecting so much. The fact that this lawsuit is being brought solely by only 3 (albeit major) Chasidic communities makes me wonder why non Chasidic communities haven’t joined them. I suspect that’s because their schools have not experienced this kind of discrimination. 

Which makes me suspect about their assertion that if the City and State got their way “they would no longer be Jewish schools.”  If other Orthodox parochial schools are being left alone, it must be that they are somehow in compliance with these government requests. And yet I don’t see any of them complaining that they are in danger of no longer being Jewish schools.

There is another facet of this that is troubling as well. Which goes beyond just maintaining their own values. It veers into crossing the line into actual curriculum requirements. As Rabbi Aaron Twerski notes:

Their refusal to recognize Jewish studies as part of a satisfactory curriculum is abhorrent. Their actions would lead to the destruction of Torah education in our school...

Among the charges is that New York has targeted Jewish Studies (limudei kodesh) classes for discriminatory treatment; prohibits yeshivas but not public schools from teaching required classes in a foreign language…

“[I]f you do go to a school where they say we have great history instruction and it’s actually happening in the morning in our Talmudic class, and you go to see it and it is in Aramaic, that would not qualify” as credited instruction.” 

With all due respect to Rabbi Twerski, I don’t understand. First, I don’t know why a religious curriculum should be recognized as part of a secular studies curriculum . Secondly - a history lesson in Aramaic? Is there any Yeshiva that teaches the history of any people or culture in Aramaic? Learning Gemarah (which is in Aramaic) where occasionally one comes across certain historical events hardly qualifies as teaching history. If the state requires history to be taught, it ought not be in the form of an occasional passage in the Talmud.

On the other hand there is this:

(New York) seeks to force yeshivas to use texts that they and their parent body find objectionable…

Robin Singer (a  New York City Department of Education employee)  has explicitly directed yeshivas to assign texts that are unacceptable to them. She explained that the purpose was to make sure that yeshiva students were “exposed to a range of materials that their parents and schools wouldn’t otherwise permit them to read.”

Here, I would agree with the complainants. If the texts and materials being required are designed to expose these Chasidic Jewish children to values that are objectionable to them religiously, then this is an infringement of the rights of parents to teach their children their own values and not expose them to values that violate their religious teachings.

But once again, I have to ask if this is the case, why haven’t all the other non Chasidic schools joined them in this lawsuit?  I suspect the answer might be that they have not been forced to use those textbooks or materials. Which makes me wonder why only the Chasidic schools are being forced to do so?

What may be happening here is that since these schools do not offer a mandatory core secular curriculum, the government is going to force them and provide the texts and materials for it. And they have self righteously chosen culturally progressive books and materials to do so. Had these schools already had a secular curriculum, with books and materials that are not objectionable, they would have been left alone. As were those non Chasidic schools. That doesn't make the state right. But it makes it understandable.

It troubles me that it is being framed in such dire terms – as though the state and city of New York have declared war on Jewish education. I don’t think they have.   

As much as I support the right of parents to educate their children with their own values that differ from those of the general culture, I do not support dodging a core secular education. Because (among other reasons) it denied their young a myriad of opportunities they might otherwise enjoy had it been made available to them. The same opportunities that non Chasidic schools that offer a core curriculum do -without affecting their Torah leaning at all.

Some Hopeful News and Some Bad News

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Steve Witkoff (VIN)

First the (almost) good news. I say ‘almost’ because it isn’t a done deal yet.  I’ve heard it all before. Too many times. A cease fire deal that included releasing hostages home was on the verge of being made only to fail at the last minute (usually because Hamas decided to reject the deal). So it’s hard to take the latest version of a deal seriously. But still my hope is that this time it will happen. There seems to be more optimism this time than there was in the past. And details of the deal appear to be more positive.

There is no way of knowing for sure why there seems to be more optimism, but the one thing that’s different this time is that the US is about to have a change of leadership and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy as been involved in the negotiations.

According to VIN here is what the deal looks like. 

Hostages will be released in stages. During the first phase Israel will withdraw from several areas, and their residents will return to them.. Humanitarian aid will be increased.

In the second phase for every Israeli female soldier released, Israel will release 50 female prisoners which will include 50 terrorists serving life sentences. And perhaps most significantly:

Egypt and Qatar have committed that Hamas will not return to rule Gaza and that a new mechanism will be put in place to manage the Strip. Additionally, the agreement includes a “tactical withdrawal” of the IDF from several sites in the Gaza Strip, which will allow it to attack any activity considered to have a military nature. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has already agreed to this deal. It’s up to Hamas. One can only hope that this time will be different and they will agree. If they do the biggest winner politically will be the prime minister. He will have achieved his goal of vanquishing Hamas from Gaza and getting the hostages back. And that his tactics and strategies in war were for the most part successful. 

The only downside has already happened. Which is  condemnation of Israel for committing genocide against Palestinians. Israel’s ‘friends’ in Europe and in some cases even the US are leading that charge

Which brings me to the the bad news. Last night on the highly popular and well respected CBS television news magazine, 60 Minutes, I watched with horror as reporter Cecilia Vega presented the worst hit piece against Israel I have ever seen on network television. I could not believe what I was watching. Hamas could not have done a better job smearing the Jewish state and the US government under President Biden. That’s how bad it was.

This 60 Minutes segment was about officials that resigned from the State Department in protest over US support of Israel’s war in Gaza. painting it as genocide. (Of course they didn’t use that word themselves but said that is how many others saw it.).

Vega began by nearly doubling the number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel to 75,000. Hamas says there were 45,000. She referred to the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered 1200 Jews as ‘militants’.  

Vega treated these former state department officials as heroes that championed the cause the poor Palestinians suffering purely at the hands of Israel and their enablers, the US. As though innocent Palestinians were targeted on purpose for no reason at all. They blamed Biden for giving Israel the means to murder the 75,000 civilians that were mostly women and children murdered by Israel through indiscriminate bombing. Thus accusing Biden, Blinken, Sullivan and company of willfully supporting Israeli genocide. Israel was also accused of continually preventing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

There was not the slightest attempt to present the Israeli side or even the US side. It was a pure blood libel by former state department officials. Aided and abetted by CBS.

Not a word was said about how this war came about. Or why there were so many civilian casualties. Or that many of those casualties were actually Hamas terrorists - not innocent civilian even though Hamas counted them that way. Or that Hamas’s own figures were 45,000 casualties - not 75,000. Or that Hamas terrorists embedded themselves among civilians in highly sensitive areas like schools and hospitals in order to maximize civilian casualties. Which they had been caught admitting to publicly . 

Or that humanitarian aid was in large part not well distributed because Hamas terrorists took it for themselves. Or because of Palestinians gangs and assorted thugs looted the food trucks and sold it back to desperate civilians at exorbitant prices.   

And finally it was suggested that the US as a target on its back because of its support for Israel.

I might have understood 60 Minutes presenting the Palestinian side had they balanced it with the Israeli side. Or even the US side But they didn’t. They presented it as the singular truth about Israeli genocide and US complicity in it.

Normally I would just write off such extremist yellow journalism for what it is. But as noted this news magazine is one of the oldest and most respected news sources in the US. A lot of people trust what they see and hear on that program. Their influence on public opinion cannot be understated.

Needless to say, this report sickened me. But it shouldn’t have surprised me considering their primary foreign correspondent reporting on the war is a former Al Jazeera reporter who always made Israel look as bad as possible.

I have lost all respect for CBS as a reliable news source. They were once the most trusted news source in the broadcast news industry. But they have morphed into the right hand maiden of Hamas terrorists.   

CBS can deny it all they want. But this 60 minute piece tells an entirely different story.  Honest journalists all over the world ought to condemn this report - and anyone that had anything to do with it. They ought to all be drummed out of the news reporting  business!

Quality Jewish Education and How to Pay for It

The tuition crisis facing Orthodox Jewish parents is not going away. If you want your child to  get a Jewish education, unless you are a multi millionaire the cost will be oppressive. We live in unprecedented times with respect to Jewish education. Between the new programs, state of the art facilities, and paying for good teachers in both religious and secular studies, Jewish education is at an unprecedented and very depressing  crisis point.  The demands made by parents of their schools keep increasing. Along with those demands so too does the cost of providing them. 

We are now at a point where the typical Orthodox Jewish family cannot afford to pay for the actual cost of educating their children Jewishly. Even upper middle class families with 5 children whose earnings have broken the 6 figure barrier cannot afford to pay a typical $20,000 (after tax) per child tuition. It would leave them with no income at all and lots of debt. And many parents have more children and even less income.

Most parents get scholarships. Leaving the schools to make up the difference. As costs increase, the ability of parents to pay more generally does not rise proportionally and deficits increase. At some point fundraising that difference will become impossible. All while parents are already struggling to pay even their reduced tuition bills. This is an untenable situation that was passionately discussed in a recent issue of Mishpacha Magazine and carried forward in subsequent issues. 

None of this is new. I have discussed it all before many times. But there are solutions. One of which I suggested a long time ago has gained some currency. As noted here.  More about that later.

One of the silver linings of the war in Gaza and the increased antisemitism borne of it is an increased interest by secular Jews in Judaism. Since October 7^th  there has been an increase in enrollment at Jewish religious schools. That has likely increased deficits even more. No religious school worthy of the name will deny a child a Jewish education for lack of parents affording the tuition.

How do we get out of this mess? How do we get to the point where tuition becomes affordable and school budgets are being met?

Jewish Philanthropy has a radical idea which goes beyond affordability. How about free tuition?

I don’t know that we will ever achieve that. But I think with the right combination of sources we can come close.

First there ought to be a concerted and unified effort by all Jewish Federations in the US to push for voucher programs in every state. It has worked in every state where it has been tried. Parents love it. All parents, not just parents of parochial school children. Vouchers allow them to send their children to the school of their choice using taxpayer money they all paid into the system but – until vouchers – were made available only to benefit public school parents.

That will relieve some of the financial burden of parochial school parents. But not all of it. However, there is another important component: Jewish philanthropy. As noted:

Jewish philanthropists gave the two largest gifts of the year: Ruth Gottesman’s $1 billion gift to Albert Einstein Medical School, and Michael Bloomberg’s similar contribution to Johns Hopkins Medical School, which made both institutions tuition-free for medical students. 

Of course there are not enough Jewish billionaires to endow all religious Jewish schools to make them tuition free. But imagine if similar endowments would be made to a superfund that would distribute its earnings to all the schools.

There is a lot of money available among Jewish philanthropists that – if donated to Jewish education would go a long way to relieving the excessive burdens faced by all parochial schools - and parents. How much money are we talking about? As noted in the article - over the next 25 years Jews are projected to give $13 trillion to charity. 

The problem is that Jewish philanthropists are not donating to Jewish causes:

Half of America’s 25 most generous philanthropists are Jewish, but few donate significantly to Jewish causes; and nearly 90% of money given by Jews goes outside the Jewish community.

This is what has to change. Imagine the possibilities if tuition to state of the art religious schools with top teachers would be affordable to the point where a middle class Jewish family wouldn’t have to struggle to pay for it.  Imagine the ability of religious schools to do what religious schools in the UK do:

In the U.K., for instance, where government subsidies support private education, 66% of Jewish children attend Jewish schools  

The percentages are even higher for South Africa and Australia. Imagine the impact educating 66% of American Jewish children would have on reversing the trend of so many American Jews abandoning their Judaism!

What about Orthodox Jews? I have been told that there 12 or 13 Orthodox Jewish billionaires. And many more that are close to it. We can start an endowment fund with mega donations from them. 

And then there is the rest of us. Do Orthodox Jews have the ability to raise many millions of dollars? You betcha. That actually happened a short while ago where over $75 million was raised almost instantly to support Yeshivas and Kollelim in Israel. The money is there. If we want to save quality Jewish education for the masses we need to start somewhere. Doing it this way is a good way to start. And doing it now is as good a time as any to start.

Has the War in Gaza Diminished US Support for Israel?

ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan (JTA)

Anyone who thinks that Israel is losing US support because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership in the war against Hamas, might want to consider what the US House of Representatives just did. JTA reports the following:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would sanction officials of the International Criminal Court or anyone who supports its effort to prosecute Israeli leaders for war crimes.

The Republican-led bill passed with the support of 45 Democrats. It comes after the ICC, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The United States had condemned the charges, and an earlier version of the bill passed the House last year but did not advance further. Thursday’s bill is expected to be brought to the Senate floor, where Republicans have a majority.

The bill freezes the property of, and denies U.S. visas to, anyone who helps t.he court in its effort “to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute” a citizen of the United States or any ally who is not a signatory to the court. Neither Israel nor the United States are signatories.

I don’t think this bill will have any problem being passed by the Senate.

I kinda feel sorry for all you Netanyahu haters out there. I know how much you want to get rid of him... how much you think he has harmed Israel’s relationship with the US. But that just isn’t the case. The American electorate through the vast majority of their representatives in congress feel otherwise. It appears so too does the Israeli electorate. Polls show Netanyahu’s popularity rebounding.  

This should put to rest the machinations of Canada’s highly unpopular Prime Minster, Justin Trudeau. He has promised to arrest Netanyahu if he ever sets foot in Canada again. I don’t think he is going to make good on that promise. I doubt he wants Canada to suffer any of the sanctions the bill provides if he does. 

But that may be moot point anyway since Trudeau has lost the confidence of his own party and Canadian voters. He will soon resign as prime minister as well as Liberal Party head. The next prime minster will hopefully have a little more common sense about the credibility of the ICC as an objective court. Which is zero. 

As such the ICC should be completely defunded. Their thinly disguised antisemitism is evident and should be acknowledged by the entire world. Those nations that recognize the indictments and issuance of  warrants against any of Israel’s leaders testifies to the deep seated antisemitism that is in the genes of those foreign leaders. And speaks to the deliberate ignorance of reality by the ICC upon which they base their case. 

Thankfully the majority of US leadership on both sides of the political aisle understand that reality. Which is why they condemned the ICC’s decisions here and why the House passed a bill (soon to be passed by the Senate) that will sanction anyone implementing those ICC directives. 

To the chagrin of the ‘blame Israel for everything’ knee jerk progressives whose misplaced empathy has led them astray, they must think the worst thing that can happen is if Trump makes good on his promise. I don’t know what he means when he threatens Hamas with ‘hell to pay’ if the hostages are not released by the time he takes office in a few days. But I can't wait to find out. Hell is where Hamas belongs.

But it will not surprise me that whatever that ends up being - that the ICC will indict him and issue arrest warrants against him, too. To the cheers of all the Trump haters, no doubt.

But that’s OK. Trump is used to being indicted.

The Fires of Hell and Carter's Legacy

Bulldozing abandoned cars in LA blocking fire escape route (NBC)

First I wanted to offer my sincere sympathy for the victims of what seems like the fires of hell taking place in Los Angeles right now. The images being broadcast on the television news are shocking.. 

Entire city blocks in famous neighborhoods (like Pacific Palisades and Malibu) are engulfed in flames. House after house! Block after block! Residents are scrambling to get out by car as flames chase them down, and then abandoning their vehicles in the middle of the highway in a panic. Fearing the flames will catch up with them and they'll be burned alive. 

Hundreds of abandoned cars are now blocking emergency vehicles - including fire trucks - from getting through to the affected areas. Bulldozers are being used to clear a path. 

Thousands of people have lost everything in an instant. Homes that many of them had been living in for many decades (as well as valuable possessions) now lay in ashes. One moment it was all there. The next - gone! It's like watching a horror movie! Only it’s real and being played out in real time. And quite shocking. May God have mercy on all these poor innocent people suffering right now.

While this tragedy carries on, eulogies were being held for former President Jimmy Carter in Washington. 

(As an aside, just before the eulogies began, it was amazing to see former President Obama and President-elect Trump chatting as though they were good friends. Even sharing a laugh together. Considering the pure venom they use when they each speak about each other, you would think they wouldn't be able to look at each other, much less have a amicable conversion. But I digress.) 

As I said in a recent post, Carters views about Israel were extremely biased. Favoring by far the Palestinian cause and blaming Israel for all their problems. But unlike my past judgements about him, I no longer believe he was an antisemite. 

In the eulogy given by Stuart Eizenstat who is Jewish and a long time close freind and confidant of  Carter, he pointed out that Carter respected Judaism and mentioned numerous examples of that. But his attitude about Israel was based on empathy gone estray. This is how Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman sees it in a RIETS Kollel Elyon publication and I agree with him:

(The) empathy he apparently displayed was no barrier to him becoming a pawn of forces of pure evil. Also clearly true is that there are many thousands of others whose natural instincts have been exploited and manipulated by terrorists such as Hamas, and innocent and good people all over the world are paying the price…

One who feels empathy will be moved to build houses for the homeless, and that is a wonderful thing. Further, empathy is an end unto itself, rather than a means...

Where empathy falls short is as a policy maker, especially for those who carry the weight of complex decisions that can affect the lives of millions, and that requires dealing with people who are not necessarily what they seem and will exploit any weakness.

The trait of rachmanut, which could be identified with empathy, is indispensable for Jews; the Talmud says its presence is one way to identify a descendant of Abraham. But it also cannot exist by itself; the Talmud also warns that those who display rachmanut to the cruel will thereby act with cruelty to those who truly need rachmanut.

Crucially, the Talmud actually requires three traits to establish lineage from Abraham: two being rachmanut and the practice of chesed, or kindness... Rachmanut is the instinct to act on behalf of those who appear to be suffering; chesed is the benevolent act itself, having been rationally verified as the right course of action, in consideration of all factors in balance. The first is needed to move one to act; the second is to assure that the act is good.  

The third criterion is bushah, shame, what may correlate to a sense of humility. This is the controlling factor of the other two; the recognition that it’s possible to be wrong, that one’s initial instinct may not be providing the whole picture, that even the most virtuous impulse may be misguided. If the loudest cheerleaders of Hamas, be they former presidents or ivy league students, had more bushah, the world may actually be a better place.

Even though he was renowned as a great humanitarian the world over, Jimmy Carter lacked the humility to consider that he might be wrong about where he placed his compassion when it came to Israel and the Palestinians. And oblivious to how he arrived at his compassionate views about Palestinians and whose fault their plight was. That was a tragic flaw that might have otherwise left a glorious legacy for him in Israel and for the Jewish people.

Religious Fervor and Violence

Leaders of the two opposing factions in Poenvezh (TOI)

It pains me to say this. But one of the biggest problems plaguing the world right now is religious fervor. It pains me because I consider myself to be a fervently religious Jew. But I do not believe my religious fervor to be a plague on anyone, much less the entire world. How does  this contradiction make any sense? 

I was moved to make this comment and ask this question after reading a story in the Times of Israel about what is going on at Ponevezh, one of the most prestigious Yeshivos in the world. In brief there is a war going on between factions in that Yeshiva that has come to serious violence many times. The recent death of Rav Asher Deutsch,  Rosh Yeshiva and leader of one of those factions has once again brought about violence. 

There have been so many instances of violent clashes between the two sides in Ponevezh that a lot of Charedi parents have passed up opportunities to send their children there. Not that Ponevezh wants for any students. They have a pretty full Beis HaMedrash. But the desire to attend that Yeshiva has been severely diminished. Parents do not want their children to be hurt in violent clashes. Which are almost guaranteed to happen after their children pick a side.

I think it is safe to say that people who are most fervent believers are often the most zealous. Willing to take violent action on behalf of those beliefs. They see it as a legitimate tactic in a their war for God. 

I have mentioned this kind of thinking when it comes to Islam. Islam,is where fervent beliefs combined with determined zealotry is played out to the maximum. It explains ISIS,  9/11, October 7th and just about every suicide bomber. The more fervent the Muslim the more likely they would be willing to blow themselves up in that mission.

But we have our own version  of fervent zealotry. They may not go to the extremes that Islamists do. But there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that they will resort to violence in the belief that doing so will achieve an end desired by God. This is what motivates some extremist settlers that want to cleanse Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) of Palestinians. Whatever it takes to get the job done including violence and mayhem, they are going to be zealous in trying to get it done. They see their mission as holy. And could not care less what other - even religious Jews say about it.

To say that Charedim are fervent believers is to overstate the obvious. And violence is clearly not beyond some of them in doing the will of God. Which is why the 2 factions in Ponevezh have been at each others throats ever since the death of Rav Shach. Each side believes God is on their side and have come to blows in order to prove it.

So if I am a fervent believer why am I not like that? That’s because I believe in Elu V’ Elu - a fundamental principle of Judaism which states that when legitimate arguments are made by both sides of an issue that are inconclusive - each side has to respect the other side even as they continue to disagree. And that violence surely solves nothing

If all religious people would have this attitude, it would be aa better world. Sometimes that means compromise. Which could have clearly been a solution to the latest dispute in Ponevezh. As it could be in so many other issues like Charedi enlistment in the IDF. 

But it never is. 

Unfortunately religious fervor and the  zealotry to back it up seems to get in the way every time. So we will continue to see violence being perpetrated by the most fervently religious zealots of mankind until messianic times when God’s truth will be revealed to all.

Returning Conservative Judaism to its Roots

Schechter Queens/Queens Hebrew Academy (JTA)

The Conservative movement has always fascinated me. Especially since its very name was meant to reflect its reason for being. Which was to conserve Judaism for the masses. The movement was founded after the infamous Treif Banquet by HUC - the Reform rabbinical seminary - celebrating the ordination of its rabbis.

Long story short, some of their ordainees were outraged by that and decided to create JTS (the Jewish Theological Seminary). Which would train American rabbis raised in the culture that were loyal to Halacha. Some of its founding faculty members were great Talmidei Chachomim - trained in the finest Yeshivas of pre-war Europe.

As it was originally envisioned, it sounds much like what Yeshiva University would later become. But for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this post, that changed as did the entire movement.  It is no longer considered legitimate (if it ever was) by any segment of Orthodoxy no matter how left wing.

Because of its liberal ‘look the other way’ approach to violations of Halacha by their members, it  grew very quickly to become the dominant movement in America. By the late 50s and early 60s they were growing by leaps and bounds. Orthodoxy was  declared an ancient relic of a dead past.

That was the melting pot mentality of that time. A mentality to which Orthodoxy did not adhere. Most Jews at that time just wanted to chase and live the American dream. Without the obvious impediments of Halachic observance. Conservative Judaism made that easy for them..

But as is rather obvious by now, Orthodoxy did not die. It has grown  exponentially with every passing generation . Mostly because of its strong emphasis on family.

Conservative Judaism is going the other way. Synagogues are either closing or merging with other synagogues membership dwindles at what seems like an ever increasing pace

They now realize that America’s  melting pot culture that helped them grow has morphed into multiculturalism that encourages diversity. Retaining one’s cultural heritage is now celebrated. 

At some point they also realized that without educating their youth about Judaism and completely ignoring observance, there is no way Judaism would ever have any real meaning to their children as adults. So they looked to the successes Orthodoxy was having with their day school movement (through high school) and they tried to emulate it with their own version of a religious school system. that led to to the founding of Solomon Schechter -  the Conservative religious school system. 

By the early 70s there were quite a few schools like that. But by that time it was too late. 70 years of allowing the members to ignore Ha;alcha had taken its toll. Parents were not were not sufficently committed to pay the prohibitaive tutions demanded by those schools.

Meanwhile the movement is hemorrhaging Jews at a record pace. And Conservative leadership isabout scratching their heads about how to stop it. Some wnat to go futher left and join Reform. Others insist on retaining its original mission. 

For the former. moving leftward to a Judaism without Torah (that is Reform) - can in no way be considered authentic. But there is hope for the latter.  As the NY Jewish Week announced in a headline:

First-ever Solomon Schechter day school in North America goes Orthodox.

You read that correctly. What seems to be happening is that the original intent of the movement’s founding principles are finally being realized. Instead of constantly changing their identity and structure to fit the times, this school has decided to return to the  tradition of their forefathers. Which if you think about it, actually does fit the multicultural times in which we live:

The changes at Schechter Queens reflect both demographic shifts in the school’s neighborhood and the diminishing tency of the Schechter brand, once synonymous with a thriving network of day schools. They also mean that New York City will be without a Schechter school for the first time in seven decades, after Schechter Manhattan closed last year following a period of declining enrollment.

One might say that this is a unique situation because the demographics of that particular neighborhood reflect a culture that never identified with Conservative Judaism. A culture that even for those that were not fully observant always thought of Orthodoxy as the only legitimate form of Judaism. 

But that does not  by itself explain why there is not a single Solomon Schecheter School anymore in the city with  - by far - the largest population of Jews in America. Compare that to the number of Orthodox Yeshivas and day schools in that city.

If there is a listen to be learned here it is that if the Conservative movement wants to be true to its founding ideals they should join us as Orthodox Jews. We will be happy to have them and work with them to build more schools like this one.

Are Frum Podcasts Dangerous?

I’m glad to know that I’m somewhat of a dinosaur. I actually kind of knew that. Bloggers like me are pretty much going the way of the dinosaur. (But I carry on.)

Strangely enough that point was made by Rabbi Avrohom Birnbaum. Who is a hard core adherent of the defacto infallibility of Charedi Daas Torah and a columnist for the the very hard core ‘Lithuanian Yeshiva style Daas Torah’ newspaper, the Yated. 

He therefore clearly believes that the internet should be avoided as much as possible. And yet he is knowledgeable enough to know exactly what is going on in that world in what seems like great detail. I suppose he might say he has to know as a matter of teaching the Torah world what to avoid. (That’s kind of like saying he has to look at porn in order to teach the Torah world how bad it is. But I digress.)

Be that as it may, in a recent Yated column Rabbi Birnbaum attacked what he called ‘Frum’ podcast. Describing many of them - not only as not so Frum but even dangerous. The pertinent parts of his article were excerpted at VIN. Some of which is as follows:

Over the past several years, an entire industry of frum podcasts has emerged... There is one thing that is very troubling and even dangerous about these frum podcasts, and that is that there is no standard. Anyone who wants can just make a podcast and espouse whatever they want. There are those who say, “Great! Let the free market decide who is good and who isn’t.”

On some level, perhaps that sounds fair, but it is also like saying, “Let anyone decide what food is kosher or not.” …

Sadly, podcasting in the frum world is like the Wild West. There are harmless podcasts, harmful podcasts, and insidious podcasts that, under the mask of frumkeit, bring all kinds of opinions that are not, to say the least, in the mainstream of frum opinion…

In truth, podcasts should be treated no differently than newspapers. When one picks up this newspaper, they know more or less what they are getting hashkafically, and in the event that we, on occasion, err, we get grief from the best, most discerning readership in Klal Yisroel. So too, there must be some kind of standard when it comes to podcasts.

What  he in essence is saying is that if the views expressed are not those of his Daas Torah, they harmful a even if a Frum Jew is behind it and espouses views that are perfectly acceptable according to Halalcha and quite mainstream even though they are outside  of his narrow worldview. So that if, for example a Relgious Zionist Rav who is a Talmud Chacham had a podcast, he would consider that dangerous.

I get that lines have be drawn. Even though I hate censorship of any kind, Halacha requires that we not expose ourselves to heresy unless it is to refute it by those who might challenge us with it. This requires knowledge about what it is you are refuting and knowledge about how to refute it. (This is a principle known as Da Mah SheTashiv). But Rabbi Birnbaum would have us believe that anything other than His very right wing Charedi Hashkfa ought to be banned as dangerous material. As far as i am concerned it is his view that is dangerous.

If for example there are podcast about the worldviews of the Rav, his brother R’ Aharon, or R’ Aharon Lichtenstein it would be tragic to consider that dangerous for the Torah world. He doesn’t quite spell it out that way. But I know the kind of thinking that goes on in that world. 

By the same token it would be just as tragic if the Modern Orthodox world would consider dangerous podcasts that feature the worldviews of R’ Shach, R’ Elyashiv, or R’ Kanievsky.

Bottom line is that knowledge is power. And Tora knowledge is Torah power. If there are legitimame mainstream Orthodox worldviews we hve an obligation to know what they are and be  able to choose the one which makes the most sense to us.