 |
| Noah Feldman |
Moshe Grylak’s editorial is actually a description of a wonderful
experience he had spending time with Chilonim (secular Jews) in Israel He noticed something
that many of us already know which has been reported in the Jewish media many
times. He noticed that Chilonim actually are not anti Torah. In fact it’s really incorrect to
define Chilonim as irreligious. Many of them are fact religious albeit not
fully observant. He noticed that when he went to the Kotel on fast day of Tzom
Gedalia. What he saw surprised him. From the editorial:
At two a.m.on motzaei Tzom Gedaliah, I was at the Kosel. It was an amazing sight — the Kosel plaza was packed with people as if it were midday. So many had come to recite Selichos, you could hardly move. And the lion’s share of them weren’t even frum, according to our accepted definitions of the term — which brings the accepted definitions into question.
Indeed. This was quite an admission from someone who proudly
represents the Charedi perspective. I give Rabbi Grylak credit for his
intellectual honesty. This is not the first time I have seen it. I recall an
earlier editorial where he praised the fact that the Kenesset now has more traditionally
observant Jews than at any time in its history. Even secular parties, he noted,
seek religious Jews as members of their party.
However there is one part of his editorial I found to be an
unnecessary slam at fellow Jews- many of whom might be found among those he saw
at the Kotel that day. And even more outrageously at fellow observant Jews. Here
are the offending words in the opening paragraph:
While a gang of Torah-haters who are wielding power in the government (for the time being) have caused much pain and anxiety recently with their relentless persecution of chareidi Jewry…
Torah haters? Why does anyone who challenges the status quo
of Charedi life have to be labeled a Torah hater?! Especially when some of
those who are making this challenge are not only observant, but in one case a
self described Charedi and in another a former Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbis Dov Lipman and Shai Piron are surely not Torah haters. How in good conscience
can Rabbi Grylak imply that they are?
Perhaps he did not mean them but their mentor, Yesh Atid
leader Yair Lapid. I realize that they blame him for all the pain the Charedi
community in Israel is feeling. He is the one who designed
the severe budget cuts that impacts on them more than any other segment of
Israeli society – and he advocates the future conscription of Charedim into the
military.
Even if Rabbi Grylak feels that Lapid is wrong, why assume
that he is a Torah hater? Has he not repeatedly said that his goal is not to
destroy them but to better their lives? That the Charedi world thinks that his
ideas will destroy them doesn’t mean this is his goal. True - Lapid has made some outrageous comments
about them. But can you blame him they
constantly vilify him – as has Rabbi Grylak right here in his editorial?
Lapid should not be judged by a few offhand comments spoken in angry response to being constantly
attacked as a Torah hater. He should be judged by what his stated goals are.
Goals that I support… and that Charedim may themselves privately support – that their poverty should be alleviated by
being able to go into the workforce better prepared to support their families.
Rabbi Grylak has every right to disagree with them. But he is so terribly
wrong for vilifying them. Doesn’t he realize that the very people he praises in his
op-ed are those who very likely voted for Yesh Atid… or at least support their
goals with respect to Charedim? I think it would be prudent for him to re-think
his vilification of themas Torah haters. For the
most part they are not. (Although I suppose there may be a few exceptions.) He
ought to instead consider their real motives and agree to disagree respectfully.
You can certainly win more Chiloni friends
and influence more Chiloni people by doing that than by vilifying the people
they voted for.
In that same edition of Mishpacha Eytan Kobre has an interesting
review of the recent Pew survey on American Jewry. Strangely enough I agreed
with some of what he said – which is beside the point I want to make. In what
has to be the most out of character way of making his point about the flourishing
nature of Orthodox Jewry he quotes Noah Feldman’s salute to Lakewood that was published
in Bloomberg.
The point Rabbi Kobre makes is that Feldman who was raised
in a Modern Orthodox home and attended Modern Orthodox schools wrote an article
that was highly critical of Modern Orthodoxy but sees the future of Judaism in
a place like Lakewood.
The problem is that Noah Feldman has a more famous (or should
I say infamous) claim to fame. He married a non Jewish woman. She did not
convert. His children are not Jewish. This
is a man who went off the Derech in the ultimate way by marrying out… someone
that Charedim would hardly use to make a
point. It’s like quoting the Al Capone about the beauty of following the law.
Who knows… Maybe Charedim don’t think marrying out is so bad. At least not so
long as they say nice things about them.
