abeles@mhuxl.UUCP (abeles) (04/09/84)
I attended a talk by Rabbi Dr. Irving/Yitzchak Greenberg last week which to my mind has gone further than any other exposition in addressing the basic questions often swept under the rug by some Orthodox Jewish vocabularies and rhetoric. I personally believe that his perspective on the subjects which I'll summarize below are crucial to understanding the past and the future of Judiasm and therefore crucial to analyzing one's own commitment (or lack thereof) to the Jewish religion. Rabbi Greenberg is a Modern Orthodox Jew. To him, a central question con- fronting Judaism is, "In a world in which we are not powerless, how do we pray?". This is a deep question, and it alludes to the fact that we really have entered a society in which we are not at the mercy of hard cruel limitations but rather are able to shape our own lives. This is true both in the technological sense of the great benefits brought to us by technology, and also in the sense that we live as free men and women. Incidentally, that technology and science which we have benefitted from so greatly is effectively viewed by centrist and right-wing orthodoxy as goy-ish and therefore not appropriate for a Jewish person of quality who should first be committed to spending his time "learning" (i.e., Torah). The question recognizes the reality that because of a tremendous increase in our power to determine our own lives it is inappropriate for us to ask G-d for assistance and help in many of the same areas as before. We can and do rely on ourselves. Modern orthodoxy basically was formed from those elements among the orthodox who favored the formation of the state of Israel. In general, orthodox Jews and orthodox Jewish groups were staunchly opposed to the formation of Israel in 1947 because among other reasons they knew that it would be a secular state because of a minority of religious Jews. Nevertheless, Israel has become a center for religious Jewish values and today a wide spectrum of orthodox Jews do support the existence of Israel. But according to Rabbi Greenberg, the modern orthodox groups squandered their credibility with the other Jewish groups by using their influence to gain a number of significant concessions for the other orthodox, such as exemption from the responsibility for serving in the Israel Defense Forces. One main issue is whether as orthodox Jews, we see ourselves as the only true Jews or as the extreme right wing (as statistically, we in fact are) among all Jews. History has shown that certain extreme right wing Jewish groups such as those who lived in Qumran about 2000 years ago died out, and did not contribute directly to the furtherance of the Jewish people; this because of their inflexibility and refusal to deal with contemporary issues, preferring instead to practice excessive "chumrah's" and demand the same from others. (For those who are not acquainted with this talmudic Aramaic term, a chumrah is a restrictive interpretation of a religious law which may be chosen by some in order to assure compliance with the basic law, even knowing it may be too strict). In short, his message is that we must deal with questions of modern life rather than adhering too strongly to what may be dangerously out-of-date traditions. Judiasm is not an immutable religion, though it is practiced that way by those who only follow decisions of the g'dolim rather than deciding any issues for themselves. (Another comparatively recent innovation in the history of Judiasm was to defer all questions to authority.) A second point is that though orthodoxy has expected the demise of Reform Judiasm for 100 years, it has not come to pass. But it seems that the orthodox attitude amounts to hoping for that demise! This is inappropriate--to hope that a large number of Jews becomes less observant! Furthermore, he contests the assertion in many quarters that orthodoxy is growing in numbers. Rather, while it may be that 10% of Jews are orthodox (loosely defined), only 4.5% in the below-35 age group are. And campaigns to bring "mechitzah's" to synagogues in the southern U.S. of the last 10 years which were touted as being so successful are misleading because for every 5 shuls which existed before, there is only one today, albeit with a mechitzah. Has right-wing orthodoxy succeeded in shoving committed Jews aside in order to get just a few who will daven with a mechitzah? We must answer not the question, "Is it good to have Jews davening with a mechitzah", but rather the real question, "Would it be better to have 20% of the present number of Jews davening with a mechitzah if that means alienating the remaining 80% or would we rather maintain the status quo and keep 100% as Jews?" This is the type of question that extreme right-wingers refuse to acknowledge at all. Is there any interest in Rabbi Greenberg's views in net.religion.jewish? If so, I can elaborate. I prefer to keep the discussions of these points public so try not to send me mail. --Joe Abeles mhuxm!abeles