Originally published 7/25/07, 8:23 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.
The article, "Orthodox Paradox", by Noah Feldman that appeared in last Sunday's New York Times has received much attention across the Modern Orthodox world (and beyond). I would just like to take this opportunity to add some further insights.
As expressed below, much of the attention has focused on the conflict between modernity and Torah that seems to be at the root of Dr. Feldman's thoughts. He, thereby, criticizes his Modern Orthodox education for presenting the reality of this conflict and the potential values within the embracing of this conflict but, in turn, rejecting his specific way of living with this conflict which includes intermarriage.
Dr. Feldman is wrong on two points. First, the teaching of the conflict of values within Torah goes beyond the issue of modernity and Torah. It is inherent in Torah as Torah itself teaches the reality of conflicting values. All Modern Orthodoxy has really done is highlighted the extent of the issue as Modern Orthodoxy embraces a wide spectrum of values and embraces a wide spectrum of values -- but it is all within Torah. A major mistake that is often made is that Modern Orthodoxy is embracing values that really are outside of Torah and trying to figure out how to include these values in the world of Torah. This is incorrect. What Modern Orthodoxy sees is the enormous spectrum of Torah values and recognizes the Torah value in certain aspects of modernity -- but the value issue is within Torah.
Viewed this way, one further recognizes the important second part of the halachic equation. Torah does not just teach us to see the wealth of human existence and view the world as filled with a multitude of values; it then declares a process by which one can make decisisions in this world of complexity and, yes, declare what one must do. This is what would seem to have been missing in Dr. Feldman's analysis. The prohibition against intermarriage is not just simply our method of balancing conflicting values - so clearly brought out in this article - and in Rabbi Shmuely Boteach's supportive article, "Stop Ostracizing the Intermarried", in the Jerusalem Post. It IS the Torah decision and the demanded, legal conclusion whose negation has its own consequence.
I also wonder how much the acclaim that Dr. Feldman seems to have received as the boy genius may have affected his later decisions and views. There is another dialectic in Torah between humility and proper praise/encouragement of talent. Often, we must stress the latter to overcome a negativity in the former. Sometimes we need to stress the former. The real message of Torah is that we must present both simultaneously.
1 comment:
Excellent blog on this. I'd like to add a few bits.
The body of knowledge we call "Torah" contains values as well as processes and precedents for weighing those values in real situations when those values come into conflict.
This means choosing one Torah value at the expense of another Torah value. Some situations require choosing A over B, and others require choosing B over A.
Sometimes, the actions taken to perpetuate or expand membership in Orthodox Judaism have a price, in terms of harm to other Torah values. Nonetheless, after careful consideration, Rabbis make the hard choice.
Unfortunately, regardless of how learned or experienced a Rabbi or Posek is, it is usually impossible to predict all of the effects and side-effects of one's choice. Nonetheless, one is forced to choose because that is the nature of the world we live in.
One important type of Wisdom is knowing how to make decisions in the absence of complete information. One may study for years, ask good questions, gain real world experience, expose oneself to many arguments and perspectives, but in the end, every situation is different and we can only predict certain immediate and obvious effects of our actions.
The value of Humility requires that we recognize that many people struggle to learn and do what is Right, to discover Truth in a world of confusion and misleading ideas and conflicting information. We must be cautious about Judgment of others who struggle, as we ourselves do, to understand the truth. Their choices may be different from ours, but we must understand that we live in a time of Hester Panim, without prophesy or overt miracles. Making decisions in such a time, including theological ones, is not easy, even with high intelligence and years of learning.
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