[net.religion.jewish] Where Are the Non-Orthodox

mvm@whuxk.UUCP (MASON) (08/03/84)

What follows is a serious problem inviting, I hope, serious
discussion.  It is meant neither to antagonize nor to offend;
and if it does either, I apologize in advance.

I have noticed that net.religion.jewish attracts correspondents
who identify themselves with what is normally called Orthodoxy,
and that few--if any--individuals on the net identify themselves
as having Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist affiliations,
whether though congregational membership, interpretation of
law, or any other criteria that might be imposed.  Frankly, this
troubles me.

People who consider themselves aligned to the three non-Orthodox
"branches" of Judaism spend immense amounts of time complaining
that Orthodoxy "controls" Jewish education, the Jewish press
(not the Boro Park newspaper), and the serious discussions that
take place formally and informally over issues of religious
law and observance.  This complaint might extend to net.religion.
jewish as well.  However . . .

As a self-identified Conservative (and I'll be happy to explain
why--calmly and dispassionately, via my login--if anyone wishes
to know) who started out in and has some familiarity with
Reconstructionism, I have a considerable problem with the fact
(not a word I use lightly) that non-Orthodoxy has virtually
abrogated its responsibility to itself and to its own fears for
the future by walking away from such items as Day Schools, the
Jewish media, and the halakhic arena (though this is changing:
witness the issue of ordaining women in Conservativism, and the
rather brazen conversion/Jew-defining of Reform).  I have known
people who started their childrens' educations in "Day Schools"
(i.e., yeshivot--why the reluctance to use that term?), but who
pulled the kids out and put them in public school when the education
began to become "too Orthodox" somewhere, I assume, around the
second or third grade.  

I cannot question the right of Orthodoxy to teach according to
its normative beliefs in Torah from Heaven, observance of the
mitzvot, etc.  What I find somewhat irritating is 1) the reluc-
tance of Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist parents to
even CONSIDER Day Schools for their kids; 2) their dependence
on Orthodoxy if they opt for the Day School route; and 3) their
toothless complaining about the yeshivot when they, in their
turn, haven't attempted to broaden the base of Schechter schools
and others of a more liberal bent.

Now extend the problem to include the Jewish media, which I would
interpret to include this net.  Where is the Conservative equiva-
lent of The Jewish Press?  Where is the ability to fight back when
attacked?  Certainly The Jewish Press is not reticent about throw-
ing punches--some of them well-aimed--at non-Orthodoxy.  Is
non-Orthodoxy willing to absorb these punches and not fight back
through media which will represent its point of view?  Or are
Orthodox Jews the only ones who give enough of a damn to read
Jewishly-oriented publications?

The latter point is the one that scares the hell out of me.  

I would like people's opinions of the problem.  I fear it goes
beyond singular issues of yeshivot, newspapers, and the net.
Indeed, it may extend into the very guts of practical non-
Orthodoxy as it exists in the community, not in the halls of
Hebrew Union College, Jewish Theological Seminary, or the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Scholarship is terrific,
but if it isn't applied and if no one bothers to read it, then
are non-Orthodox Jews "handing it over" to Orthodoxy, and leaving
ourselves nothing but the Complaint Department?

Unless I'm in some form of cherem, please respond to:

	Kenneth Wolman
	Bell Communications Research
	MO 2D-209
	(201) 898-1177
	whuxe!ktw

yba@mit-athena.ARPA (Mark H Levine) (08/06/84)

The non-orthodox are right here.  The orthodox maintain a body of culture
and knowledge, not to mention law.  Who knows what contains needed wisdom
or the color of a Jew?  It all stays alive as long as some keep it alive.

As for taking issue, don't be silly.  Those who believe they have the word
of God directly from God, with His approved annotations by men, cannot
argue meaningfully with those who think those same men have the word of
mere men.

Whether it is God or random chance that has endowed you, you are given a
mind to think with and a heart to feel with.  There is no way for you to
find out from whence these came by using them.  So practice as you feel
you must, and don't do to anyone else what you would not suffer him to do
you.

I would send my kids to an orthodox Chedar (any transliteration you like)
so they learn who they are descended from and what our people believe.
I intend for them to choose their own way.  I hold a lot of hope for
Zen Judaisim.

You should find hope in the fact that experts disagree....

-- 
yba%mit-heracles@mit-mc.ARPA		UUCP:	decvax!mit-athena!yba

harry@ucbvax.UUCP (Harry I. Rubin) (08/08/84)

I suspect that many of the individuals who affiliate with non-orthodox
movements, or do not affiliate with any but consider themselves non-orthodox,
do so because it is more convenient, it interferes less with leading an
"American lifestyle" (whatever that is). It requires less time, energy,
and commitment.

There are real philosophies involved in the non-orthodox movements,
many of them good, none of them trivial, and some people choose their
movements according to philosophy and belief. Do not take this note as
a denigration of the movements or the people in them in general. The
point I am making is that some people, I believe many people, choose
the movement to affiliate with according to convenience and not according
to philosophy.

I have a friend who frequently laments that the big problem with the Reform
movement is that Reform parents will bring up their children with a Reform
Jewish education. This includes relatively little Judaica, and so, as
he puts it, "these kids won't know what they are reforming from." In 
only a few generations most of Judaica would be lost.

						Harry I. Rubin
						harry@berkeley
						...!ucbvax!harry