Purity and Uprightness in the Camp

Guest Blogger:
Alan Krinsky
*****

A few weeks ago, the Jewish Press published an article by Alan Krinsky entitled "Purity and Uprightness in the Camp". See http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/purity-and-uprightness-in-the-camp/2012/06/13/0/ 

In discussing the article with Alan, I mentioned that I thought he was on to something but felt that there was a need for further clarification of his concepts. In this regard, I offered him to post a follow-up to his article that further defines his terms on Nishmablog. This, I mentioned to him, also would offer him a chance for some feedback and discussion.

In response to my request, this is Alan's addendum to his original Jewish Press article. We truly invite your comments.
RBH
 

A few weeks ago, The Jewish Press published my essay on “Purity and Uprightness in the Camp,” my reaction to the gathering at CitiField to address the threat of the internet. As you can read in the essay itself, I expressed concern over the very concept, or at least the heavy emphasis placed upon the concept of “the purity of the camp.” I raised two questions or sets of questions and hoped (and still hope) to elicit a discussion: (1) Is my analysis, in its description of the situation, accurate? That is, in recent years or decades has there been an increased focus on this idea of purifying the camp of the people of Israel? And furthermore, is this value central to our tradition in any sense, or far from it, perhaps even foreign? and (2) Am I correct, or at least on to something, in suggesting that this emphasis on the purity of the camp among some segments of the Orthodox world can help us make sense of a number of phenomena, including the banning of books and a certain hostility to converts? For example, was the attempt to annul retroactively thousands of conversions in some fundamental sense done out of an anxiety over the purity or impurity of the camp? And has there been a new hostility to potential converts and the erection of barriers to conversion never witnessed before?

After the fact, it strikes me that perhaps I did not make clear enough just what I meant by purity. Therefore, let me take this opportunity to elaborate. I think the purity distinction I meant to highlight, and probably did not do so explicitly in the published essay, is that between the purity of the group and the purity of the individual. That is, I can understand and see in our tradition the ideal of individuals working on their own purity, their own self-improvement, the purity of their religious life and discipline, maybe even one’s neshama, but I think the entire idea of the purity of the camp, of this larger entity, should be viewed with suspicion, and one of my questions is whether or not this value plays a central role in the tradition (and enough to call for a gathering of tens of thousands of individuals). So, I understand how pornography could be a challenge to individuals, but I think the purity of the camp ideology is more directed at ideas (book bannings) and converts (potential and already in the fold) and schools (seeking hashkafic narrowness among fellow students and families).

And maybe one of the distinctions is that a notion of purity based in mussar is where I am concerned with my own purity and growth, whereas with the purity of the camp, one is much more concerned with the purity of others (and how their impurity poses a danger to me)?!

Related to these matters, I think it would be worth taking a look at differing notions of chosen-ness and the Jewish soul; whereas some of us might favor a view that chosen-ness is fundamentally a challenge and responsibility and that Jewish neshamot are not different in any essential way from non-Jewish ones, I suspect those of the purity of the camp group would tend to view chosen-ness as a privilege and Jewish neshamot as essentially different and “better” (and maybe this is why converts and “false” or “insincere” converts are experienced as such a threat).

So, if I am on to something, where, when, and why did this anxiety over purity and impurity arise? And if we can name it and identify it, can the dynamics within the Orthodox world be shifted?

Alan Krinsky