Time to say Kaddish for the non-Orthodox?
In its current issue, New York magazine reports that Phd. applications to the Jewish Theological Seminary have doubled this year. That statistic, presented in the context of a story about the recession's effect on the city, probably says more about the dire straits of the job market and the search for meaning in rough economic times than it does about the state of Conservative Judaism.
The movement, we well know, is suffering from -- pick your poison -- malaise, failure of nerve, lack of transparency and inclusivity, hemorrhaging of members. The situation is said to be so bad that Rabbi Norman Lamm, the chancellor of Yeshiva University, told the Jerusalem Post this week that we should say Kaddish for both the Conservative and Reform movements.
"The Conservatives are in a mood of despondency and pessimism. They are closing schools and in general shrinking," he said.
"The Reform Movement may show a rise, because if you add goyim to Jews then you will do OK," added Lamm, referring to the Reform Movement's policy, starting in 1983, of recognizing patrilineal descent.
The National Jewish Population Survey of 2001 found that of the 46 percent of US Jewish households belonging to a synagogue, 33% were affiliated with a Conservative synagogue, a 10% fall from the 1990 survey. In contrast, the Reform Movement was up from 35% to 38% and Orthodox Jews rose from 16% to 22%. Two percent were affiliated with the Reconstructionist Movement and 5% with "other types" of synagogues.
Sociologists familiar with US Jewry believe that similar trends continue.
"Reform is out of the picture, because they never got into the picture, and the Conservatives are getting out of the picture," Lamm said.
"The future of American Jewry is in the hands of haredim and the modern Orthodox. We have to find ways of working together."
Rabbi Andrew Sacks, director of the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, responded on his blog.
I would take no solace in knowing that the numbers of any Movement were in decline, for each Movement has a valuable contribution to make to our people. But the Conservative Movement is well served by new dynamic leadership in almost all of its branches.
Its Day Schools, summer camps, and Rabbinical Schools are at full capacity. The number of teens who visit and study in Israel is a source of pride.
I am not comparing numbers with the Orthodox Movement or with the Reform Movement. Sociological circumstances impact on these statistics. Numbers can be misleading and Rabbi Lamm has fallen into the numbers trap.It is the dynamic nature of Masorti/Conservative Judaism that will ensure a bright tomorrow not only for its affiliated members, but for all Jews.
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Matt:
Amazing! Somebody who actually acknowledges this! Now, if only more Orthodox would, they would perhaps return to Rambam’s Hilchot Avodah Zarah and learn it as practical law.
I hang out with science-fiction fans, among whom are numerous neopagans (we follow the Old Religion, which was invented by Gerald Gardner in 1944). About 18 years ago, a friend wrote a piece in the newsletter of the Jewish Science Fiction Society noting this trend, and calling for people to learn the laws of dealing with idolators.
Now, one has to understand a lot of these people are actually monotheists as well. Hinduism, for instance, worships idols, but the idols all represent aspects of the One God. Buddhists, well, the Zenny ones people run into in the US are pretty much not god-centered, but many versions in Asia really are polytheistic. Goddess-worshipers, as well, are often monotheistic.
But yes, the laws are still operative, nobody takes them to be “figurative” - the problem is lack of awareness of the actual beliefs of a lot of people in American society. Still, even in NY, most Asians we come into contact with are Hindu, Catholic, or Muslim - all of which are monotheistic (more or less in the case of Catholicism). So it’s still not that huge a problem for most people. And there’s no real issue with doing business with idolators most of the time.
And nobody can obey all the mitzvot because some mitzvot only apply to certain classes of people. I can’t follow the mitzvot that apply to kohanim, most of us can’t follow the mitzvot that apply to thieves, or divorced men (there’s a mitzva to remarry your divorced wife, provided she hasn’t married anyone else in between), or people who have contracted various forms of tumah.
The Chofetz Chaim’s “Concise Guide to Mitzvot” lists fewer than 300 mitzvot which are even operative today, because so many are dependent on having a working Temple and having the majority of Jews living in Israel on their ancestral tribal lands, which most of us don’t know any more.
The difference between you and me is not in being “honest about not being able to obey all the mitzvot to the letter”. The difference is that I am aware (to some extent) of the breadth of the Jewish legal system, and have some clue as to which mitzvot are operative under which circumstances. You, however, look at a dead-static list and scoff because you think some of the laws are outdated (rather than not operative, or ignored through unawareness, or whatever).
Perhaps many Orthodox Jews are not aware that some of the “outdated” mitzvot have become relevant again. By the same token, though, many heterodox Jews are not aware that Orthodox Jews do their best to confront their duty to God and His Torah, and don’t feel free to discard mitzvot that seem “outdated.” It’s not “blind submission to outdated crap”, it’s conscious confrontation with difficult ideas.
Wait, Jonathan, but you’ve dodged my question. I live in a society with Hindus, Shinto, or Native Americans who believe in their traditional faiths, and so on. I live in a society with polytheists, pagans, and, yes, people who construct idols and pray before them, whatever they choose to say about what they’re doing. Look at that list of mitzvot I presented. Am I to burn these peoples’ towns and reservations, to hate them, and so forth?
And am I not to fear murdering “false prophets”? And for heaven’s sake, what do you do if you happen to meet a guy who happens to be able to prove thay his ancestors were one of the Canaanite tribes, or, gasp, the Amelekites?
You show me one guy who literally obeys these laws. Say that you are interpreting these rules “in context”, or “figuratively”, or whatever rationalization you choose. But don’t try to pretend that you’re not rationalizing. Please. You’re not fooling anybody.
To the author: Congratulations on selectively quoting R. Lamm. You left out the opening quote, which puts R. Lamm’s comments in a much different light:
“"With a heavy heart we will soon say kaddish on the Reform and Conservative Movements,” said Lamm, head of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.”
And you left out the final quote, which sheds light on the fact that when R. Lamm says “we have to find ways of working together,” he’s not just referring to the various strands of Orthodoxy, but to all parts of Judaism:
“He supports outreach to Reform and Conservative Jews, “but not by watering down what we believe and not by demonizing them either.” “
It’s a shame that you, Ben Harris, have chosen to portray the words of a well-respected and open-minded Rabbi in your own light to suit your own purposes. For shame.
Matt:
Clearly you have no interest in what real Orthodox Jews do or have to say about Judaism. Pick up a Rambam, learn the laws of dealing with pagans, and then we can talk. Suffice it to say, Judaism was constructed in a society where Jews had to live with, and work with, real idolators and pagans, including syncretistic, Hellenistic Jews, and managed to do so successfully.
Audio lessons: http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/585887/jewish/Laws-of-Idolatry.htm
Book text: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/MadaAkum.html (in English).
Learn the laws, understand that Orthodoxy is not Heterodoxy, but a living, functioning Judaism. Until then, you have little standing to vituperate.
I’m pretty certain that nobody can prove descent from Amalek. The wars against Amalek and Canaanites were just that: they had to be declared wars, declared by a king (you see a Jewish king around here?) and ratified by the Sanhedrin and the local prophet. You see any of those around, I got a good psychiatrist to recommend. If you, a private individual, try killing such a person, you’d be liable for murder under Jewish law as much as under US law. You might be able to get off with an insanity defense, because claiming “The Bible told me to do it” is pretty insane. The Bible is not the totality of Torah.
All of this is laid out quite systematically in Maimonides Code, which is very closely derived from the Talmud. But you’d rather kvetch than learn. I get that, it can be deceptively satisfying.
Nobody “literally” obeys the laws, as I said to Mr. Pressman, we are not fundamentalist Christians who read the Bible literally. But yes, I do obey the laws on idolatry. 17 years ago, at Pennsic XXI, the national convention of the Society for Creative Anachronism, someone was doing a pagan wedding in a nearby encampment. They asked to borrow some honey. I thought about it, and realized that I cannot do so, because of these laws that you claim we take “figuratively.”
So now you can say you’ve met (or at least corresponded with) someone who takes these laws seriously.
You need not act as though I’m ignorant of Maimonides and his works. From the Thirteen Principles of Faith to the Mishneh Torah to the Guide for the Perplexed, I’m far from a Rambam scholar, but I’ve been through the gamut before.
The funny thing is that the most important things I’ve taken from the Rambam often seem completely opposed to what has been taken by most of the Orthodox I’ve personally encountered or whose words I’ve read. You know how many Orthodox I’ve met who insist that the world is actually, literally 6,000 years old? Or even those who accept it’s 13.78 billion years old, but insist that evolution is false? Here’s what the Rambam said about science:
“All this is part of the science and astonomy and mathematics about which many books have been composed by Greek sages… But since all these rules have been established by sound and clear proofs, free from any flaw and irrefutable, we need not be concerned about the identity of these authors, whether they were Hebrew prophets or Gentile sages… we rely upon the author who has discovered them only because of his demonstrated proofs and verified reasoning.”
The Rambam also wrote that Nature was G-d’s second book, and thus to deny the lessons of Nature was to commit blasphemy. And yet you have travesties committed by the leaders of Orthodox movements like what befell Natan Slifkin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natan_Slifkin#Controversy
Maimonides emphasize the importance of work and contributing to society, having spent his years working as a doctor, and yet the haredim of Israel don’t hold jobs and don’t serve in the armed forces.
Maimonides, like others before him and the Tanakh itself, demands that Jews love other Jews (with all the sinat hinam brewing both in Israel and America, especially between the branches, let’s not even go there), but also to love the convert. Yet the converts I have known or heard have spoken of deep distrust and suspicion for many years from their supposedly fellow Jews. There is no love without trust.
Maimonides broke ground with the controversial idea that G-d was not like a human being, that G-d was formless and intangible and, indeed, could only be comprehended through those features that he did not possess. He also propagated the view that upholding the principles of Judaism was an end to itself, that it carried people into a state of sacred holiness, and that none of it was about avoiding punishment from G-d. But the Orthodox individuals I have known acknowledge this only in passing, while deep down treating G-d like a humanoid imaginary friend who gets “angry” and casts “judgment” on people when they misbehave or violate the laws.
The fact that Shlomo Carlebach is still spoken of with great honor in many Orthodox communities is perhaps all that one needs to recognize the rank hypocrisy going on, the placing of religion ahead of morality and ethics. Tzedek tzedek tirdof is perhaps the most important principle in all of Deuteronomy.
The most important lesson I learned from Judaism was that some principles are simply more important and holy than others, and that one must view the lesser laws through the light of the greater ones. And the highest laws that I’ve learned from Judaism make me believe that many Orthodox are often living in a state of hypocrisy, of focussing on the smallest laws and avoiding the bigger morals.
So when any member of the Orthodox branches insists on casting judgments on the Jewishness of the non-Orthodox, I am justifiably angered and disappointed. We are, all of us, imperfect Jews. And there are among all the branches and movements of Judaism plenty of individuals who are trying to be the best Jews they can be, according to their understanding of what it means to be a good Jew, and understanding that ultimately rests not with any rabbi or the Shulkhan Arukh but with G-d, whose mind, according to Maimonides, was unknowable to mortal human beings. I have known even Reform rabbis who know the holy texts backwards and forwards, inside and out, better than most of the Orthodox; their beliefs come not out of ignorance, but out the struggle that is written into the very name Yisra-El.
At least the other, non-Orthodox movements are honest and humble about this struggle, about reconciling Judaism with the real world and rationalizing when they have to, and don’t act like they’re superior to other Jews because they haven’t “watered anything down.” Yeah right. Call it splitting hairs, or parsing words, or interpreting in context, but at the end of the day, it’s all rationalization. It’s all about finding excuses not to obey the laws that would be too inconvenient today. We all do it, so let’s just be honest.
Look, don’t get me wrong here. My point is not that the Orthodox are somehow not true Jews. They are. And I’m proud that they exist as part of the rich diversity of the Jewish people today. I hope their numbers stay strong, and that they continue to prosper and flourish.
What I am saying is that the sinat hinam must stop. The Orthodox must stop using the “reformim” as bogeyman to frighten their children to stay in line. They must learn to be secure enough in their own identity that they don’t feel the need to attack and cast judgments upon the non-Orthodox. They must stop treating others Jews as being inferior. They need to demonstrate the kind of love and respect for their fellow Jews that is central to Jewish teaching. They must learn that diversity breeds strength, resilience, and adaptability, and that rooting for the demise of other branches of Judaism is foolhardy in the extreme. And, above all, they must learn some humility. Full stop.
That’s enough of that. This conversation has run its course. Back to work.
Ah, Matt can’t win on law, so he switches to bashing the Other on philosophy. And there, there’s no arguing because everyone is subjective about it. If you can’t argue the law, argue the person. If you can’t argue the person, bang on the table.
I think my work is done here.
Somehow I knew you had to try to have the last word. By all means, I’ll let you, but only after one last comment, which I’m sure you’ll avoid dealing with again.
I’m not “bashing” “the Other.” I’m saying that “the Other” isn’t really “the Other” at all, at least in any fundamental sense, despite their wanting to pretend to be “the Other.” I’m saying that we Jews are really all in the same mess, and that the divisions many of the Orthodox foster between themselves and the non-Orthodox are absurd and insupportable, aside from their being ultimately self-destructive.
My point was that everybody---Orthodox and non-Orthodox---play games with “the law.” “The law” is an ambiguous and self-inconsistent mish-mash, much of which is furthermore too inconvenient to be practiced today. So Jews of all stripes deal with this in their own way.
The Orthodox are no different, with their endless hair-splitting, deferring to the rabbinical establishment, and rationalizations for why the laws don’t apply here or why they can’t be followed there. It’s all the same, and this holier-than-thou attitude among some of the Orthodox that they alone are the only “real” Jews because they alone follow the laws as written is a sham and a farce. They’re not fooling anyone, and they do not have a monopoly on what it means to be Jewish.
My point is not that the Orthodox shouldn’t practice Judaism as they wish. That’s their right, and it brings diversity to Judaism. My only point, again and again, which you and they seem to be unable to see, is that the games they play with “the law” are just as fundamentally arbitrary as anything done by the Conservative movement, for example.
For instance, the Conservative movement believes that kashrut means more than just a static list of food classifications, that it requires adherence to ethics in how food is made and how the food-makers are treated. Heksher tzedek is their attempt to fight back after the Orthodox brought the heinous Iowa Agriprocessors debacle on our heads. Meanwhile it was the Orthodox establishment, following their arbitrary understanding of “the law,” who were standing up for the Agriprocessors. Hypocrites. Who says the Orthodox were truer to “the law” than the Conservatives?
The Orthodox just have found ways of convincing themselves that the games they play with “the law” and the rationalizations they use are superior to those used by other Jews. Well, they can believe whatever they want. That’s their right, too. But it ain’t the truth, however you want to slice it. And they’re still hypocrites for accusing other Jews of playing around with “the law.”
That’s the argument, take it or leave it. But this is done. By all means, have the last word, though. I won’t stop you.
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Matt
05/12/09 09:42 PM
Give me a break Jonathan! Who do you think you’re fooling? You write that “the rules about idolatry stand, but as most of us live among monotheists, rather than worshipers of pantheons which inhabit idols, they aren’t of much practical nature.”
Do you really believe that? I don’t know where you live, but I live in the United States, in a society filled with people who follow non-monotheistic and polytheistic faiths, including some that involve idols. My town has Hindus and Buddhists in it, not to mention, for heaven’s sake, Wiccans! And I’m not even counting all the materialists who worship objects and money rather than G-d.
The mitzvot say that I should hate these people, that I should burn their towns, and so forth. How can I possibly take those mitzvot literally? I’d be in prison!
The difference between you and me is that at least I’m honest about not being able to obey all the mitzvot to the letter. The rest of you can come up with whatever rationalizations you want, but you’re not fooling anyone. Give me a break already.