An obsessive preoccupation among many modern orthodox rabbis and educators is dealing with the slackening of Sabbath observance among many of its member’s progeny. Not surprisingly many young modern orthodox people today are using electricity on Shabbat, perhaps not in the traditional sense of turning lights on and off, or operating electrical equipment but text messaging. For many of these young people, staying connected in this manner is a life style choice that they choose not to disconnect from, even on the Shabbat. Many of them not wishing to see themselves as desecrating the Shabbat refer to their observance of “half Shabbat” rather than “whole Shabbat,” mitigating the ostensible sin (I am aware of half hallel and half kaddish, but half Shabbat is something new). Some community psychologists aware of this phenomenon treat it at an addiction thereby relieving the young people of their responsibility, as well as minimizing the failure of the educational/religious institutions. The fact that this has become an issue within the modern orthodox community is indicative of the continued erosion of their viability.
For years modern orthodoxy has been unfortunately but unavoidably on the denouement. Its apex was from 1960 through the early 1980’s, with a downward trajectory from the mid 1980’s onward. This was inevitable because within modern orthodoxy were the seeds of its own destruction sown unwittingly by its founder, Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik. By suggesting that one can be fully engaged in society as a halachically observant Jew and at the same time embrace secular education is a prescription for conflict and failure. The two value systems are mutually exclusive and cannot with any integrity dovetail.
If the purpose for attending college is solely to gain a profession with never the intention to engage in the peripheral arts and humanities available than the conflict is at a minimal. But then again, if that is all the person is coming away with is a profession, than how is that person different than a tailor, plumber or butcher of the pre war Eastern European shtetel. He’s in effect a tradesman, because his skills are limited, lacking the critical intellectual skills necessary for understanding the wider world. On the other hand, if one enters university with the intent of acquiring a profession but in addition wishing in earnest to be exposed to the full panoply of western culture than he is subjecting his modern orthodox value system to challenges that may not be able to withstand the probing questions arising from critical analysis.
A student fully engaged in western ideas and values is proscribed from fully embracing the demands of torah values. These two value systems are tectonic plates butting up against each other with only one able to gain primacy. They clash because each one represents different, incompatible and irreconcilable value systems. Orthodox Judaism rests fully on faith in a creator, the divinity of the Torah as well as the oral tradition. Western value systems rest on philosophic and scientific inquiry where every assumption can and will be tested and examined from every possible angle. It is a value system, which traded faith for science and philosophy; it is the combination of scientific and philosophical inquiry, which has given us this prosperous society, bestowing upon western man, increased dignity, healthier living, and quality of life.
This then is the legacy of western civilization, which modern Orthodox Judaism is hopelessly struggling to engage. For the custodians of modern orthodoxy to preoccupy themselves with youth texting on Shabbat is missing the point entirely. Texting on Shabbat is merely a symptom of a much greater problem these young people are struggling with: the awareness that they have arrived at the threshold of understanding the clash between two societies, two irreconcilable world views, two tectonic value systems pitted against each other.
The true issue isn’t texting or whether they are observing half or whole Shabbat as much has the underlying realization that these young people are products of the 21st century, a generation of children raised totally on and by technology, who not only value it but embrace it. Texting is no more of an addiction than reading used to be an addiction. It isn’t fair to expect from our young people to remain in a state of suspended animation, dangling out there, paralyzed with the inability to choose between the old and the new, Torah or technology. To be sure many will be packed of to yeshivot in Israel for their gap year: some will return home super religious, others will struggle with their faith. What isn’t clear is the percentages. What is clear is that Modern Orthodoxy is on the steady continuum of decline.
Showing posts with label modern orthodox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label modern orthodox. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, May 18, 2009
Kaddish Over Who?
Last week Rabbi Norman Lamm, chancellor of Yeshiva University said with a heavy heart that “we will soon be saying kaddish over the Reform and Conservative movements”. Shocking. If I was a psychologist I might suggest that perhaps Rabbi Lamm was “projecting”, but I’ll get to that later. It’s just mean spirited. Had a reputable hareidi rav said that of the modern orthodox movement there would have been hell to pay. What did Lamm benefit by being so uncouth?
The truth of the matter is that the modern orthodox movement is doomed to the same future as the reform and conservative movements. The numbers, ideology, commitment and intellectual honesty are on the side of the hareidim – unfortunately. Hareidim reproduce prodigiously, are totally committed with little or no compromise to their way of life and have a very deep and abiding belief in “netzach yisrael”. The modern orthodox, on the other hand, are totally confused as to who and what they are. They aspire to be part of the sophisticated, educated and cultured secular world; appear as modernists and wish to apply those standards to Torah values. For example, the reform and conservative movement s have been ordaining women rabbis for decades. It finally hit the modern orthodox that they too could do something like that. All they would have to do is tweak the system. They not only have lagged behind by a few decades and appear to be “knock off” of the two other liberal movements but they are terribly disingenuous and intellectually dishonest.
The modern orthodox are today where the conservative movement was in the 1950’s. A healthy respect for halacha, but in need of upgrading it to fit the times. Then they were sneered at by the orthodox community and there wasn’t much of a hareidi presence in America because they were still recovering from the war and adjusting as freshly minted greenhorns. Today however the conservative movement can hardly be differentiated from the reform. Both are competing for the title of the largest Jewish movement in America – as if numbers really matter. What the reform movement won’t tell you is that nearly 50 % of their membership is either not Jewish by anyone’s standards, converted by reform standards, or recognized as Jews through patrilineal descent.
Logic would dictate that both the conservative and reform movements will ultimately fade away. The question is who will be around to say kaddish for them. I don’t think it will be the modern orthodox because they will be right behind the reform and conservative. (This is beginning to sound like a modern version of Chad Gad Ya). Modern orthodoxy is an experiment that outlived its usefulness. In its inception it had value and purpose. American Jewry was at a significant existential juncture after world war two. The American Jewish community had little direction other than what the reform and conservative movement was offering. Had it not been for the rise of modern orthodoxy as formulated by Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik many would have been lost to traditional Judaism. But those days are long gone and the hareidi community has not only grown but has become mighty powerful economically and politically.
The entire infrastructure of the American Jewish enterprise is dependent on the hareidi community. The entire hechsher system of food products manufactured globally is in the hands of the hareidi community. (The hechsher tzedek, noble as it is and one that I support is “batel b’shishim, a mere drop in the ocean). The hechsher of meat and poultry too is dependent on their administration. They also have powerful lobbyists advancing their interests on the state and national level. Day schools and yeshivos are staffed in good measure by the every same community of totally committed Jews whose sole dedication is “harbazat torah”, the proliferation of Torah. While hareidi men and women devote themselves to the noble task of education (chinuch), the modern orthodox are choosing lucrative careers that highlight status and prestige.
Yeshiva University the bastion of modern orthodoxy, once a pillar of Torah study has been reduced to a footnote within the Yeshiva University complex. It has become an institution of higher learning competing for government grants and funding. Their schools have little to do with the perpetuation of Torah culture and its values but concerned with the academic recognition of their graduate schools of medicine, science and the social sciences. It is no wonder that the message coming out of Yeshiva University and modern orthodoxy is one that is garbled and confused rather than crisp and articulate. The fact of the matter is that modern orthodoxy pales in comparison to the hareidi community. It wouldn’t surprise me if the liberal movements survive in spades the modern orthodox community. If anything the hareidi community will witness the demise of the liberal movements and modern orthodoxy. It would appear that Rabbi Lamm ought to revise his estimation as to who will be saying kaddish over who!
The truth of the matter is that the modern orthodox movement is doomed to the same future as the reform and conservative movements. The numbers, ideology, commitment and intellectual honesty are on the side of the hareidim – unfortunately. Hareidim reproduce prodigiously, are totally committed with little or no compromise to their way of life and have a very deep and abiding belief in “netzach yisrael”. The modern orthodox, on the other hand, are totally confused as to who and what they are. They aspire to be part of the sophisticated, educated and cultured secular world; appear as modernists and wish to apply those standards to Torah values. For example, the reform and conservative movement s have been ordaining women rabbis for decades. It finally hit the modern orthodox that they too could do something like that. All they would have to do is tweak the system. They not only have lagged behind by a few decades and appear to be “knock off” of the two other liberal movements but they are terribly disingenuous and intellectually dishonest.
The modern orthodox are today where the conservative movement was in the 1950’s. A healthy respect for halacha, but in need of upgrading it to fit the times. Then they were sneered at by the orthodox community and there wasn’t much of a hareidi presence in America because they were still recovering from the war and adjusting as freshly minted greenhorns. Today however the conservative movement can hardly be differentiated from the reform. Both are competing for the title of the largest Jewish movement in America – as if numbers really matter. What the reform movement won’t tell you is that nearly 50 % of their membership is either not Jewish by anyone’s standards, converted by reform standards, or recognized as Jews through patrilineal descent.
Logic would dictate that both the conservative and reform movements will ultimately fade away. The question is who will be around to say kaddish for them. I don’t think it will be the modern orthodox because they will be right behind the reform and conservative. (This is beginning to sound like a modern version of Chad Gad Ya). Modern orthodoxy is an experiment that outlived its usefulness. In its inception it had value and purpose. American Jewry was at a significant existential juncture after world war two. The American Jewish community had little direction other than what the reform and conservative movement was offering. Had it not been for the rise of modern orthodoxy as formulated by Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik many would have been lost to traditional Judaism. But those days are long gone and the hareidi community has not only grown but has become mighty powerful economically and politically.
The entire infrastructure of the American Jewish enterprise is dependent on the hareidi community. The entire hechsher system of food products manufactured globally is in the hands of the hareidi community. (The hechsher tzedek, noble as it is and one that I support is “batel b’shishim, a mere drop in the ocean). The hechsher of meat and poultry too is dependent on their administration. They also have powerful lobbyists advancing their interests on the state and national level. Day schools and yeshivos are staffed in good measure by the every same community of totally committed Jews whose sole dedication is “harbazat torah”, the proliferation of Torah. While hareidi men and women devote themselves to the noble task of education (chinuch), the modern orthodox are choosing lucrative careers that highlight status and prestige.
Yeshiva University the bastion of modern orthodoxy, once a pillar of Torah study has been reduced to a footnote within the Yeshiva University complex. It has become an institution of higher learning competing for government grants and funding. Their schools have little to do with the perpetuation of Torah culture and its values but concerned with the academic recognition of their graduate schools of medicine, science and the social sciences. It is no wonder that the message coming out of Yeshiva University and modern orthodoxy is one that is garbled and confused rather than crisp and articulate. The fact of the matter is that modern orthodoxy pales in comparison to the hareidi community. It wouldn’t surprise me if the liberal movements survive in spades the modern orthodox community. If anything the hareidi community will witness the demise of the liberal movements and modern orthodoxy. It would appear that Rabbi Lamm ought to revise his estimation as to who will be saying kaddish over who!
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