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| Rav Aharon Feldman (Baltimore Jewish Life) |
‘Judaism looks negatively at homosexual activity, but not at the homosexual nature.’
It takes a man of great courage
to express a view that at the outset might seem to go against the grain of the Charedi world he is a part of. A view that does not differentiate between the gay individual and the gay behavior. Rav
Feldman is right of course. I have expressed the same view many times when
discussing the subject.
I said ‘I was a fan’. I no longer am. It appears that his
moderate approach to gay people does not extend to other areas. There have
been numerous instances where Rav Feldman has shown his ‘extremist’ side. One which mimics that of Satmar. Or the late Rav Shmuel Auerbach.
As I noted last week Rav Feldman supports public
protest (even violent protest if necessary) against the Israeli government’s requirement for Charedim to register
for the draft. Which they require before issuing a deferment - as long as they
continue to study Torah full time.
He has expressed this view in spite of the fact that the two recognized leading
Charedi Gedolim -one of whom is Rav Chaim Kanievsky - saying otherwise. Choosing the path of peace by registering
and avoiding conflict.
And as noted last week he has come out with strident opposition
to voting in the ZOA elections. Even though voting in them has been endorsed by 2
of the current Charedi Gedolim - one of whom is the same Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
What makes this particularly egregious is Rav Feldman’s selective approach to listening to Gedolim that are recognized by the very community he inhabits. When Rabbi Natan Slifkin’s books
attempting reconcile Torah and science were banned by Rav Elyashiv, ZTL, Rav Feldman was taken aback since he had endorsed those books.
He traveled to Israel to
meet with Rav Elyashiv in order to ascertain that he had actually issued that ban. Which Rav
Elyashiv assured him that he did. He came back duly chastened and proceeded to
drop his approbation and explain why he changed his mind and now considered those
books to be heretical.
But this time he has defied them. He instead issued his own Psak explaining his own mind on the subject. Which he failed to do with Rabbi Slifkin.
Here is the latest development.
According to VIN, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky who has advocated voting in the WZO election had written
a detailed letter to Rav Kanievsky describing the WZO’s historic anti religious
outlook, what is currently at stake, and whether it was OK to vote in their election. Rav Kanievsky said that there was absolutely
no Halachic or Hashkafic problem with voting in the WZO election despite their historic anti religious identity.
As noted Feldman rejected that Psak and issued his own forbidding a
Jew to vote in an organization that is so openly anti religious. He says it would imply support for that organization.
I understand why he feels that way. It is pretty much the
same rationale used for not standing on the same stage with a Reform rabbi
because it lends legitimacy to their illegitimate version of Judaism. But I’m
sure that Rav Kanievsky is well aware of that argument and has still supported
voting in the election.
The difference between the two cases should be obvious to Rav
Feldman. In the ZOA case, voting not only helps divert some of their funds towards religious
organizations - it reduces the amount of money the Reform movement will be able to use
to undermine Orthodoxy in Israel. A cause they have openly promoted and promised to achieve. Rav Feldman is
therefore in essence helping them do that.
Rav Feldman is not stupid. He has to know that his ‘Psak’
will have a negative impact on the very thing he wishes to oppose. And yet he seems to believe in symbolism over substance - against the advice of someone greater than himself.
This is only the latest disappointment I’ve had in him.
He has disappointed me in two other
instances that I recall in which he showed his extremist side (besides the above mentioned support of even violent resistence to the Israeli draft).
One was at a
Torah U’Mesorah meeting where he said that the brightest students in the
American Yeshiva world should avoid any secular studies at all because it
hinders their ability to achieve greatness in Torah at an ealy age. For which
he used his own Israeli grandson as an example - saying ‘By age 16 he knew every
Tosepehos in Kesubos by heart!’ ‘How many Yeshiva students in Americca do that?!’
Fortunately he was put in his place by another great rabbinic leader,Telshe
Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Avrohom Chaim Levine, ZTL telling him that he would match the Torah
Knowledge of his own Talmidim in Telshe (which b’shita offers a secular studies
curriculum in high school) against any students in Israel he would put forward.
The other disappointment was his vehement criticism of Zionism
in any form - including religious Zionism. About which he said the following (in a Jewish Action article quoting
from his book):
“enjoying the unstinting support of the vast majority of religious Jewry” (p. 3) seems enigmatic. This anomaly is both befuddling and threatening, as it raises the specter of mass apostasy and the prospect of resultant retribution, variously described in Tanach. Hence, we are told that in order to ward off potential calamity, it was essential to reject the Zionist ethos in toto. “It is out of love for the Jewish People that I found it necessary to expose the vacuity of Zionist ideology”
One does not need to be a religious Zionist to be outraged
by this attitude. Thankfully he was taken to task in that article by his childhood friend,
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, ZTL.
This latest incarnation of extremism seems to be a pattern
of going from bad to worse. In
forbidding action that will help heterodoxy achieve their anti orthodox goals, he becomes a partner in that crime. I therefore
believe it is essential for the entire Orthodox community to do what Rav
Lichtenstein did, reject Rav Feldman's advice and vote in the ZOA
elections. And pray that he does Teshuva and returns to the previous respect he
had for religious leaders that are greater than him. And to common sense as well.
Vote here.
