The Key to Jewish Unity

URJ president, Rick Jacobs and OU executive VP, Moshe Hauer, ZTL (eJP)

We live in a polarized world. Politically and religiously. I don’t think that’s arguable. And it seems to be getting worse by the day.

With respect to the religious sphere, Judaism is certainly not immune to this phenomenon. I would even hazard to say that we might be leading the charge. Not only denominationally, but even within Orthodoxy itself. Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, where polarization has become so fierce and so angry that it is hard to believe we follow the same basic Halacha and share so many of the same values.

I have lamented this reality more times than I can count, always longing for unity in a world of ever-increasing chasms between Orthodox Jewish camps. To say nothing of the polarization between Jewish denominations, where the divide is so great that hope of any kind of unity seems like a practical impossibility.

With respect to the latter, that reality is understandable. Denominational differences are based on matters of belief, halacha, and the values impacted by them. Matters that cannot be compromised, at least as far as Orthodoxy is concerned. Still, I do not believe this must be an absolute impediment if handled the right way. With dialogue we can achieve a degree of Jewish unity in many important areas without compromising principles. More about that later.

The question is -  and always has been - how do we get there? How can we truly be ‘one nation under God’, unified as a nation known as the Jewish people?

If I knew the answer to that, I might be heralded as the greatest Jewish genius since the Vilna Gaon — or Albert Einstein. I obviously don’t.

But I am intrigued by a Jewish organization that appears to have no denominational sponsor, nor is it an observant one. What intrigues me is its focus on dialogue — and the way it embraces that mission is something I think we could all benefit from. The following excerpt from an article published in eJewish Philanthropy by Tiffany Harris addresses this very subject:

Part of our mission is to be a place of learning and growth for Jewish young adults, and that would be impossible if we become an echo chamber. We have to ensure that everyone in our community, from Mem Global residents, hosts, and rabbis to the staff who train and support them, has the skills to have complex conversations and stay in relationship with one another — even, perhaps especially, when they disagree.

To help us with this critical work, I turned to the Constructive Dialogue Institute. In 2022, we began using their Perspectives curriculum to train our staff in viewpoint diversity so they could navigate complex and often emotionally charged conversations.

Constructive dialogue is not about winning an argument or proving that the other side is wrong. It is about developing mutual understanding without giving up our own beliefs. Constructive dialogue does have its limits: it does not extend to hateful speech or to well-trafficked falsehoods, and it never requires us to legitimize ideas that cause real harm. What it does ask of us is to stay rooted in curiosity and respect when we engage in good-faith disagreement.

I know nothing about this organization - its origins, its ideology, or its religious compatibility. Nor am I suggesting we join it. There may very well be aspects of it that contradict Halacha. I simply don’t know. But I like the approach. A lot. And I think we need to do the same -,, certainly across Orthodox factions, and even across denominations.

The path forward must begin within our own denomination first. To that end, rabbinic leaders from every observant faction of Judaism ought to come together and speak with one another - each recognizing that there are differences that will be insurmountable and issues upon which we will never agree.

But — and this is the important part — we must nevertheless respect the views of rabbis from other Orthodox factions, even when we disagree strongly. We should explore the areas where we do agree and unite behind them, promoting those shared values and ideals together as one – a Jewish nation under God.

Imagine if the leading rabbis of the Charedi world met with the leading rabbis of the Religious Zionist world and emerged united in that way. Or if the rabbis of BMG and YU did the same. What a different world we would live in if that happened. It all comes down to respecting those with whom we disagree - even strongly - while still demonstrating brotherhood and mutual respect.

What about Orthodoxy and heterodoxy? Is there any way to engage in dialogue without compromising principles?

Absolutely there is... 

To continue reading this post - and comment on it - click on this link: substack. To receive substack posts - you must subscribe. It's easy and it's free.

Is This Deception Justified?

Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch

Assuming the information reported here is correct, to say that I am dismayed by what transpired would be an understatement of gigantic proportions:

Recordings broadcast Wednesday evening on Channel 12 reveal that senior Haredi rabbis backing the passage of a proposed conscription law view it primarily as a delaying tactic, with no expectation that it will ultimately lead to the enlistment of yeshiva students into the IDF.

In the recordings, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch explains that he supports the legislation because it would “buy time” for the Haredi community. When asked whether yeshiva students who fall outside existing study frameworks would eventually be required to enlist, he responded unequivocally: “God forbid.”

Addressing the enlistment targets included in the proposed law, Rabbi Hirsch dismissed them outright. “Do they think we will want to meet the target? Of course we will not want to,” he said, adding that he believes the law will collapse after a few years. “In the meantime, we gained time,” he explained.

Rabbi Hirsch also referred to past attempts to create special enlistment frameworks for Haredim under the leadership of the late Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, calling them a mistake. “Our community does not have such compromises,” he said.

Another leading figure, Rabbi Dov Lando, was equally blunt, stating that there is no intention to enlist any Haredim — including those not studying in yeshivot. “What they are talking about is nonsense — it will not happen. We will not go to the army; no one will go to the army,” he said.

Their opposition to Charedim serving in the IDF is not new and should surprise no one. Their strident resistance has been on display for decades. They have consistently argued that those who study Torah full-time should be exempt, because they are the ‘real soldiers’  in the war against the mortal enemies of our people. That it is Torah study, not the IDF, that protects us.

I am not going to argue that proposition here. For the sake of argument, I will concede that perhaps a combination of both Torah study and a physical army is what protects us in our time. Still, I seriously doubt that these leaders truly believe that without a physical army Israel would be protected. On October 7^th -  Israel had both: a standing army and more people studying Torah than at any other point in Jewish history. And yet a massacre of 1200 Jews still happened on that day.

I am not sure how these leaders would answer the question of why such massive Torah study did not prevent that catastrophe. But it turns out that their oft stated reason is not the reason at all...

To continue reading this post - and comment on it - click on this link: substack. To receive substack posts - you must subscribe. It's easy and it's free.

Tragedies and Hate

Hatzalah rescuing infants at a daycare center (United Hatzalah)

Lately, it seems as though the frequency of tragic deaths of Charedi youth in Israel has increased substantially. A few weeks ago, a young teenager was hit and killed by a speeding bus. On Monday, it was reported that two infants died in an unlicensed, overcrowded daycare center. And this morning, yet another Charedi teenager was hit and killed by a speeding bus.

That these deaths are heartbreaking does not need to be said. As has so often been the case when I hear about tragedies like this, I cannot imagine what the families of these young victims are going through.

But I am not going to talk about fault here. There is plenty of responsibility to go around in these tragic incidents - a discussion is beyond the scope of this post. My concern is how the Charedi leadership and their politicians react to such events - placing the blame entirely on their usual whipping boy, the leftist/Zionist court.

Here is how Rabbi Natan Slifkin put it:

Yesterday, following the tragic deaths of two infants at an unlicensed daycare center, Charedi MKs and pundits, along with Likud MKs and other supporters of Bibi’s government, blamed the “Leftist/Zionist” court for recently halting daycare subsidies to Charedim in kollel, claiming that this “forced” Charedim to resort to cheaper, unlicensed, dangerous daycare.

As Natan noted, this daycare facility had been in existence for 30 years and had been widely used during that time because it was cheaper - and, I assume, because parents believed that a daycare center run by religious Jews did not need a license in order to be safe.

What troubles me greatly is the hatred inherent in blaming the court, as though the court’s entire existence were devoted to destroying ‘Torah-true Judaism’, as though leftist/Zionists hate the Torah and hate God. It never seems to occur to these Charedi leaders that many of the challenges they face could be addressed in the same way that non-Charedi Jews address them. Many of those being just as devout.

To these Charedi leaders, everything the government does that they disagree with is seen as an attack on God and His Torah, and therefore are to be hated and blamed for all that has gone wrong in their world.

This is what I do not understand. The idea of hating any Jew simply because they are secular Zionists with a left-wing ideology is morally reprehensible... Even if that ideology appears to be anti-Torah, don't blame the messenger. It is far more likely those beliefs are the result of ignorance of the Torah, having been replaced by modern progressive values. While many of those values are indeed anti-Torah, that is not why they hold them. They hold those values because they do not know any better having been raised with little or no authentic Jewish education.

Such Jews should be viewed as a tinok shenishba - a Jew who was captured as an infant by non-Jews and raised with non-Jewish values presented as truth. Instead of hating them, they should be reaching out to them.

I know this is hard to do when you believe you are in the midst of an existential struggle. But that is precisely the time when one must reach out. There is no telling what even a small act of loving-kindness can accomplish when confronting someone whose values are so anathema to your own.

Hatred and name-calling can only make matters worse. Instead of holding demonstrations against the Zionist Left, there should be dialogue. Let them see the positive side of the Charedi world. The side that exemplifies Chesed - loving-kindness toward fellow Jews. The Charedi world has many great Chesed organizations that help fellow Charedim in times of need. They should expand that help to include secular Jews as well. Not judging them. Not arguing with them. But winning them over as exemplars of non-judgmental loving-kindness. By being role models, rather than screaming, name-calling protesters who blame all their troubles on others and in the process cause a great deal of damage. Both to property and their own image.

The refusal to take any responsibility for these tragedies tells me something about the character of their leadership...

To continue reading this post - and comment on it - click on this link: substack. To receive substack posts - you must subscribe. It's easy and it's free.

They Had to Ask

Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro

There has been a lot of buzz over the last few days about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. It centers on a revelation in his soon-to-be-published book about how he was vetted for the position of Kamala Harris’s running mate in the last presidential election. A vetting that treated him differently than any of the other candidates being considered for that position. Because he is Jewish.

He was asked by a Harris staff member whether he had ever been an double-agent of the Israeli government. Shapiro responded that he was offended by the question, to which the retort was, ‘Well, we have to ask.’

I’m pretty sure Governor Tim Walz wasn’t asked if he was a double-agent for any foreign country. They obviously didn’t ‘have to ask’ him. It was widely reported at the time that Shapiro’s interview did not go well, and that Harris chose someone without the ‘Jewish baggage’ that Shapiro supposedly carried.

This does not mean that Harris herself is antisemitic. If she were, she would never have married a Jew—even a secular one. But it does mean  that she clearly feared losing the support of the pro-Palestinian crowd that was accusing Israel of genocide and chanting ‘Palestine from the river to the sea,’ many of whom were openly antisemitic. She did not want a running mate who was in any way supportive of Israel. Being Jewish was therefore seen as a liability from the start.

Although Shapiro is a Democrat who has been critical of Israel’s current leadership, he has nevertheless been a longtime supporter of Israel. He was not going to be cowed by protesters whose longstanding animus toward Israel predated Israel’s military response to October 7^th. (Interestingly, he was joined in this by fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Senator John Fetterman, whose support for Israel has been even stronger - despite the fact that he isn’t Jewish.

Shapiro’s Judaism was apparently ‘poison’ to Harris, who wanted someone not in any way associated with the Jewish state. So even if Harris was not personally antisemitic, her campaign might as well have been. She may as well have hung a sign outside her VP-vetting office saying, ‘Jews need not apply.’

Be that as it may, things went badly for Harris. She lost the election by a much wider margin than expected. Some political pundits believe that had she chosen the better-known and very popular governor of Pennsylvania, she might have flipped that state and possibly won the election. I don’t know whether that would have been enough. But choosing a far less known governor from a state she would have won anyway clearly did not help her.

It appears that Shapiro is now laying the groundwork for a run for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.... 

To continue reading this post - and comment on it - click on this link: substack. To receive substack posts - you must subscribe. It's easy and it's free.

Feminism and General Zini

Shin Bet head, Major General David Zini (TOI)

Anyone who thinks that the culture war pitting progressive values against biblical values has not reached Israel would be sorely mistaken. I would even argue that the Israeli left often tries to outdo the left in Western democracies to show  just how non-biblical its values are. That may help explain why the very secular Tel Aviv is often described as the most gay-friendly city in the civilized world.

One of the movements that drives the culture war is feminism. Without getting into excessive detail, contemporary feminist values tend be progressive. And tend to look askance at any restrictions governing relations between men and women. Even if they are biblically based. Their primary concern is total equality between men and women. Regardless of what biblically based laws say. In that vein, physical differences between the sexes are often ignored or treated as nonexistent, regardless of the biological reality of human sexuality.

As this attitude plays out in our time, it has serious consequences for religious Jews who follow those biblically based laws. The bible recognizes the nature of human sexual attraction. And therefore dictates laws regarding behavior between the sexes. Upon which the Sages added additional safeguards in order to prevent lustful desires from overwhelming us. The idea is that the best way to avoid immoral conduct is to establish a system of behavior between the sexes that minimizes physical contact. The popular expression for this is Shomer Negiah - guarding against physical contact with the opposite sex.

There is, in fact, a dispute about how far one must go to avoid physical contact with the opposite sex  between two commentators on the Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 21:1). The Chelkas Mechokek rules that any physical contact at all is forbidden, regardless of whether it is platonic or secular in nature. He considers intent or desire irrelevant and forbids all male-female physical contact.

The Beis Meir, by contrast, rules that as long as the physical contact is entirely platonic, it is entirely permitted. This dispute remains unresolved to this day, and depending on which Orthodox community one belongs to, one will find different approaches. Some stringent (Chasidim). Some lenient (Modern Orthodox and Torah Im Derech Eretz adherents). And some being stringent except when it might embarrass someone and then they are lenient (the Lithuanian Yeshiva world).

This is one area in the culture war where feminists and religious Jews collide. As they did in Israel... 

To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. It's easy and it's free.

Liberating Iran

Iranian Americans demonstrating outside the White House (rnz)

There is no doubt in my mind that the regime governing Iran - one that has terrorized its own people for more than four decades - must be overthrown. Even if that were the only reason, it would be sufficient to justify action.

But Iran’s ambitions extend far beyond its borders. Its primary and most immediate target is the State of Israel and its Jewish inhabitants. That goal is not symbolic or rhetorical; it is explicit. And Israel is not the end of the story. Iran understands it could never defeat the United States in a conventional war, but it would eagerly wage a clandestine one - through cyberattacks, propaganda, and terrorism - potentially on a scale that could make 9/11 look like a rehearsal.

At the most basic humanitarian level, a regime that routinely kills thousands of its own citizens for protesting cannot be allowed to endure. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated that this is exactly what it is. Each time its people rise up, the response is brutal and lethal. In the most recent protests alone, credible estimates suggest that between 3,000 and as many as 16,000 Iranian civilians were killed by their own government.

That regime must be brought down. There is no just alternative to ending its 46 year reign of terror.

The real questions are how this should be done, what the human costs will be, and what happens afterward. Should the United States act if the American people oppose it? And if the regime falls, who governs Iran next? Should we even consider nation-building after the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan?

Iran will not collapse quietly. Resistance will be fierce. Martyrdom is central to the regime’s ideology, and the Revolutionary Guard glorifies dying to preserve the Islamic Republic. These are serious and difficult realities. But they cannot override the moral imperative to free an entire people from a murderous theocracy...

To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. But it's easy and it's free.

The High Cost of Jewish Education

Hebrew Theological College

We are living in the best of times and the worst of times. That is how I feel these days - for a variety of reasons. Some of immediate concern having to do with world events. And some of longer-term consequence. 

We, the Jewish people, live at a time of unprecedented freedom and opportunity. Both in Israel and in the United States - where the bulk of world Jewry resides. There is an abundance of opportunities to succeed in just about any endeavor we choose. Whether in education (Jewish or secular), our spiritual lives, or our financial lives, we are free to pursue whatever we want, to our hearts’ content, without fear of being hindered by persecution or discrimination. All it takes is the will to succeed, the hard work and determination to do so. And with the help of God there are virtually no limits to what we can achieve in any field we choose.

The most obvious example of this freedom, as it pertains to us, the Jewish people, is Jewish education. There are more day schools and yeshivas (both here and in Israel) than at any other time in Jewish history. More Jews are studying Torah than ever before. And without getting into detail, there are more tools and aids to help us do so than ever before.

There has been an unprecedented explosion of Orthodox Jewish day schools and yeshivas over the past few decades that no one could have predicted. I am told that in Lakewood, the demand for classrooms is so great that any new school that is built is filled even before completion.

With all of this positive growth, what could possibly be bad?

The answer is that it is precisely this explosion of yeshivas and day schools that has created an unforeseen problem: affordability. Jewish education has become so expensive that it has produced an unexpected byproduct: the reduction of the Jewish birth rate as a means of solving the impossible financial burden of educating so many children.

On the one hand, one might argue that not having more children than one can afford is the responsible thing to do. On the other hand, it is a very un-Jewish thing to do.

Financial responsibility should never be the reason not to have children. And yet, there are families who will not have any children primarily for that reason. They will say, quite simply, that they cannot afford it. And if they want their child to have a significant Jewish education, the problem becomes even more acute.

First there are serious Halachic issues with purposely not having any children - unless it is for health reasons. The details of which are beyond the scope of this post.  How many children one should have is another discussion.  But that too is beyond the scope of this post.

Point being that - not having children is not the way to solve the tuition crisis.

Lest anyone think that birth control has not affected Lakewood, they would be mistaken... 

To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. But it's easy and it's free.

Are Rabbis Still Relevant to American Jewry?

Heterodox rabbis meet to discuss the future of the American Rabbinate (eJP)

I salute their intent, and I understand where their concern about the future of the American rabbinate comes from. Heterodox Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein and co-author Faith Brigham Leener have concluded a study that asked rabbis across denominations what role rabbis will play in the future.

Synagogue Rabbis were once seen primarily as leaders knowledgeable in halacha (Jewish law), whose central purpose was to answer questions from laypeople about what halacha requires in any given situation. While this remains largely true among Orthodox rabbis, even there the role has expanded considerably. Meanwhile, the primary function of answering halachic questions has diminished. Because there are so many other rabbinic sources to seek that information from.

I would hazard a guess that Conservative and Reform rabbis are almost never asked halachic questions at all. Instead, they have primarily become preachers, officiators at life cycle events, pastoral counselors, and advocates for social justice.

The synagogue used to be the center of Jewish life in America. This was especially true among heterodox movements, where for many members their only Jewish experience consisted of once-a-week attendance at shul. Which eventually became three days a year -  2 days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It is against this backdrop of shrinking synagogue engagement that the question of the rabbi’s future role arises.

The result of reducing synagogue attendance to that extent is that rabbis have become increasingly irrelevant in the lives of their members. More so with each succeeding generation. This is reflected in dwindling synagogue membership and in the declining number of seminary applications within the heterodox movements. Most notably, Hebrew Union College—the flagship seminary of the Reform Movement—has permanently closed its Cincinnati campus. Enrollment in the rabbinical program at JTS (Conservative) has also declined considerably in recent years...

To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. But it's easy and it's free.

Should Religious Values be Taught in Public Schools?

Peter Deutsch, founder - Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation (JTA)

There is a culture war going on in this country. Unless one has been living under a rock for the past sixty years, that fact should be obvious. At its core, this war centers on a fundamental question: what should our national ethos be?

Should it be one of total personal freedom - to do as one pleases so long as it does not directly harm someone else? Or should that ethos reflect values beyond the pursuit of personal gratification. Values believed to be rooted in a Power greater than ourselves?

The latter position is generally referred to as religious values. In most cases, that includes rules governing intimate human behavior. In the former formulation, there are no values beyond human understanding and consent. As long as two adults agree, anything goes. There are no sexual rules beyond respecting personal boundaries. Morality, in this view, is entirely subjective and relative.

In the religious formulation, however, there are rules that guide behavior far beyond that limitation. Rules believed to have been issued by a Higher Power. These rules may not always be fully understood, but they are honored nonetheless because they are seen as absolute standards rather than relative ones.

If one believes that these higher standards were recorded in a document handed down to humanity, then that document becomes the benchmark by which one lives. Anything less is considered immoral. If, on the other hand, one rejects absolute morality altogether, then such standards are viewed as an infringement on personal freedom.

That, in short, is what the culture war is all about. And it is not theoretical. It determines what kinds of laws we pass, how our children are educated, and ultimately whether the society we live in can sustain itself.

One clear example is the issue of gay sex. If morality is relative to human experience, then gay sex is no less worthy of celebration than heterosexual sex. Any distinction between the two is seen as bigotry, and moral disapproval is considered an attack on personal freedom. And therefore immoral in itself.

Religious people see this differently. For them, gay sex violates a moral code dictated by a Higher Power and is therefore immoral. This does not mean being cruel or hateful toward gay people - God forbid. That would itself be immoral. It simply means acknowledging that certain behaviors are viewed as impermissible within a religious moral framework.

It is fair to say that the country is deeply divided on this issue. While the cultural momentum currently favors tolerance, tolerance increasingly seems to demand the abandonment of religious principles altogether. Popular culture, in particular, is aggressively amoral. In virtually every form of entertainment, gay characters are routinely portrayed as the most moral and ethical figures on screen. A portrayal that powerfully shapes public opinion.

This raises a critical question in a country that values both personal freedom and freedom of religion: should parents have the right to expect their values to be reflected in the public school system? Or does the First Amendment’s separation of church and state prohibit that entirely...

To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. But it's easy and it's free.

The Time to Act is Now!

The face of evil - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

I am simultaneously in a state of euphoria and dread at the prospect of toppling the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Euphoria, because of the imminent demise of a state sponsor of terror that is either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews worldwide. Euphoria, too, at the thought that a people enslaved by a religious fanaticism - one that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of its fellow citizens since those fanatics took power in 1979—may finally be freed.

But I also dread the heavy toll it may take to get us there. Iran is not going to go down quietly. It will use every means available to survive, including the willingness to sacrifice life and limb for what its leaders believe is a righteous cause in the eyes of God. They have already promised to attack Israel if the United States attacks them. How revealing that their first target of retaliation is not the U.S., which would be attacking them, but a country that would not be attacking them at all.

I have no idea how many missiles Iran possesses. But my guess is that if its leaders believe the regime is about to fall, they will attempt to accomplish the one goal they have repeatedly declared to the world—as a final offering to God before they go under. That could mean heavy casualties for Israel, in all parts of the country. I dread that happening in the extreme!

It appears that a U.S. military attack is imminent... 

Emes Ve-Emunah is no longer fully available here. To continue reading this post, future posts, and comment on them - click on this link: substack. To receive posts - you must subscribe. But it's easy and it's free.