RCA and OU Tisha B'Av Call for Mutual Respect

 originally posted July 16, 2013

July 15, 2013
 
PRESS RELEASE:

RCA and OU Tisha B'Av Call for Mutual Respect
 
In the shadow of the mournful fast of Tisha B'Av, a day which marks the destruction of our sacred Temples in Jerusalem and the onset of countless years of tragedy for the Jewish people, the Rabbinical Council of America issues a heartfelt plea. We call upon all Jews throughout the world to reclaim the glory of our people by refraining from language that divides us and promoting language and deeds that unite us.

Recently we have witnessed a frightening exacerbation of internal discord and an ominous intensification of inflammatory rhetoric. We have heard vile insults, offensive name calling - including the inciteful invocation of the name 'Amalek' -- and vicious personal attacks emanating from all sides on the various troublesome issues which we now confront. We have even witnessed physical violence.  Indeed, in recent months we have seen precincts of Jerusalem's Old City - in the shadow of the destroyed Temple for which we mourn today - become a venue for provocation and insult, rather than a place of unity for the global Jewish community.

We urge all Jews to celebrate the diversity of our Torah community, whatever our ideology or choice of headcovering. Each of us, men, women and children, is a cherished member of our people and we must educate all members of our community to honor and respect each other. We pray that all will one day soon glory in the rebuilding of our nation and our Temple.

We recall the teaching of our sages who noted that the Second Temple was destroyed due to the sin of "sinat chinam" - unprovoked enmity. We therefore, on this eve of Tisha B'Av, call on all individuals and organizations to join us in in seriously dedicate our efforts to creating a world filled with "ahavat chinam" - unqualified love for one another.

May each of us who this year mourns the destruction of Jerusalem, merit to see it rebuilt speedily in our days.


Best Regards,
RRW

Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha'atzmaut

Originally published 5/7/08, 10:55 PM.

From Rabbi Davdi Wiliig of the Morasha List
A very touching story.

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:13 AM, Rabbidw@cs.com wrote:

Yom Ha'Shoa and Yom Ha'Atzmaut

Immediately following Pesach there are two holidays, which within the span of one week take the Jewish people from the agony of the holocaust to the triumph of the birth of the State of Israel. I believe that we all can understand the magnitude of the holocaust, but I think that, living sixty years after the fact, and most of us coming to consciousness after Israel was born, it is difficult for us to understand what the birth of Israel meant and still means today. One of the most astonishing books to come out of the holocaust is a multi-volume work, in rabbinic Hebrew called Questions and Answers from the Depths, a collection of responsa, questions and answers pertaining to halacha. These were written by a Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who was in the Kovno ghetto until its liberation in 1944 and was able, after he was liberated, to gather his notes and eventually publish his five volume work. A one volume version has been published in English under the title Responsa from the Holocaust.
I would like to cite some of the questions and answers from his work.

• Can we recite the blessing thanking God for not making us a slave?
• Yes, because the blessing is formulated for spiritual, not physical liberty
• Does a ghetto dwelling need a mezuzah?
• No, because ghetto dwellings are considered temporary, like a sukkah.
• May one build a sukkah with lumber stolen from the Germans?
• Yes, because the Germans stole lumber from the Jews.
• Can one say a Mi Sheberach for a non Jew? What about Kaddish?
• In both cases the answer is yes, God allows us to pray for the worthy, Jew and non-Jew alike.

Some of the questions came from people who were not religious until they were moved into the Ghetto. A young man, a former atheist, found his religion in the ghetto and was heartbroken when the Germans cut off his left arm, because he was now unable to put on tephilin, phylacteries. Rabbi Oshry ruled that someone could help the young man put the tephilin on his right arm. The man rejoiced in being able to fulfill the mitzvah.

I cry when I read through these questions, and I ask myself how these people cared about the minutiae of Jewish Law when all around them, their friends, neighbors and family were being killed. The answer is they believed that the mitzvot were a sign of Gods love for us and to reject the mitzvot is to reject God's love. Sometimes it is up to us to reach out to God, not to abandon Him, even though it appears that He has abandoned us.

And three years after the holocaust we had the miracle of the birth of Israel. And it was a miracle. Truman overrode the opinion of General George Marshall, who threatened to resign over the recognition of Israel, as well as the Arabist State Department. Truman, came under the influence of Chaim Weizmann, (and you all know the story of how Truman's old business partner Eddie Jacobson called in all the chips of his long friendship with Truman to prevail on Truman just to see Weizmann.) Weizmann, old and blind, and being pushed out of his leadership by the young, ambitious David Ben Gurion, used all his powers of persuasion to convince Truman to vote for the partition. Once Truman decided to back partition he went over Marshall's head and put the full force of the State Department to work so make sure he was backing a winner. Various countries changed their vote, and one Foreign Minister was replaced in the days leading up to the vote as foreign aid was used as a bargaining chip to get the necessary votes.
And who would have anticipated that the antisemitic Joseph Stalin would not seize this opportunity to play the Arab card, and with this decision would go the votes of the entire Communist bloc. Had he voted against partition that would have killed all hopes for the necessary two thirds vote. And the unexpected victory of an untrained and unequipped Jewish Army (Jewish Army - that term itself seemed like a joke) over the armies of five neighboring Arab States.

I think the short time between Yom Ha'shoa and Yom Ha'atzmaut is symbolic of how rapidly God can work. We should understand this in our own lives as well. As bad as we may feel one day, with God's help they can turn around the next. As we celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut, which the Rabbi's have proclaimed to be the beginning of the process of redemption, we should continue to hope and pray to see the redemptive process unfold to its completion, speedily and in our day.

Rabbi David Willig

--
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe@Gmail.com

YouTube Debate on Messianism

With our thoughts on the recent passing of Rabbi Immanuel Schochet, in memorial, we direct you to one of his debates against a Jewish Christian.

Rabbi Imanuel Schochet Debates Dr. Brown, a Messianic Jew
"Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG26JPXZVx0


Best Regards,
RRW

Abraham Geiger - The Founder of Reform was the Skeptical Scholar

«Reformer -

In the Germany of the 19th century, Geiger and Samuel Holdheim, along with Israel Jacobson and Leopold Zunz, stood out as the founding fathers of Reform Judaism. Geiger was a more moderate and scholarly reformer, seeking to found this new branch of Judaism on the scientific study of history, without assuming that any Jewish text was divinely written.

Geiger was not only a scholar and researcher commenting on important subjects and characters in Jewish history, he was also a rabbi responsible for much of the reform doctrine of the mid-19th century. He contributed much of the character to the reform movement that remains today. Reform historian Michael A. Meyer has stated that, if any one person can be called the founder of Reform Judaism, it must be Geiger.»

Abraham Geiger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Best Regards,
RW

Facing the TWO Fronts

We have highlighted two issues facing the Modern Orthodox or Centrist Orthodox world on Nishmablog over the past few weeks.

We have noted how, mostly in Israel, the world of the the Da'ati Leumi world is pitted against the world of the Haredim.
See such posts as:

• Koshertube: Interview with Rabbi Dov Lipman
• Jerusalem - Rabbi Dov Lipman: Time To Tell The Truth
• the entire Hareidism vs. Centrism series, with perhaps a focus on Part III

We have also noted that, mostly concentrated in the New York area of the United States, the greater population of this world in in conflict with those more to the left. See such posts as:

• UTJ, YCT, etc.
• From Open O to Neo-Cons 
• Just What is Orthodoxy Anyway?

Many people may not realize that these two conflicts may respect a larger war. Modern Orthodox seems caught between two opposing forces.  The comparison to a physical war with fronts on two opposite sides -- East-West or North-South -- may be very real. The Centrist World fights one battle in one direction. And then, it seems to fight a second battle in the exact opposite direction -- and the challenge of this battle is often times not even recognized. This is not to say that this two front war is inherently inappropriate or problematic. It, though, needs to be recognized and truly understood for what it is.

To be more explicit in this regard, notice how, in either one of the battles, those fighting against the Centrists on one side are their allies in the battle on the other side. In regards to the issue in Israel, for example, in the battle with the Haredim, those to the left are allies even to the extent that some of the issues in the very battle with the left can be ignored. Centrists take offense to the idea of inter-branch relations in the U.S. as expressed by, for example, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, but the statement of Rabbi Dov Lipman regarding generic Torah study in the Knesset is still met with applause -- even though this would include the involvement of Prof. Ruth Calderon whose theological leanings would be similar to the more non-traditional branches of Judaism. The focus on the battle with the Haredim may lead to Centrist Orthodoxy wavering in its battle with the left -- but is that acceptable? It must clearly force the Centrist world to reconsider the issue on the left.

The Haredim are the allies when it comes to the U.S. issue of how to relate to Yeshiva Chovivei Torah. Centrists even take Haredi arguments to bolster their own challenges against the left -- for example, also using the term Mesorah almost dogmatically -- even though they dismiss such usage in the argument in Israel. The focus on the battle with the left may lead to Centrist Orthodoxy wavering in its battle with the Haredim -- but is that, again, acceptable? It must also force us to reconsider the issue with the Haredim.

Clearly, there are differences between what is happening in Israel and what is happening in the U.S. Arguments can be made for the differences in approach on the two fronts. The challenge, though, is whether people even see the inherent issue of these two fronts.
Do we see the wavering? -- not that these waverings are inherently wrong but rather that they should really be forcing us to truly think about the overall issues.
Centrist Orthodoxy's is now truly caught in the middle. The two fronts are battles Centrism must wage to be true to its essential perspective.  It is time that we started to recognize the true challenge of this dialectic and challenge.


- Rabbi Ben Hecht

UTJ, YCT, etc.

A comment:

«Actually, if you look at the UTJ vs the now-defunct Edah, many will tell you that what doomed the UTJ from greater growth was its reluctance to embrace the "women's issue" as a cause celebre. that cost them hundreds of thousands, if not 7 digits in potential donations. the other reality was that since it was founded by non-Orthodox though halachicly-based disciples of R Saul Lieberman, tz'l, it would never have captured even the mainstream Left of Orthodoxy to fully embrace it.
over the years, many of its members have traveled comfortably between Edah, YCT, Drisha, JOFA, etc. Truth is they all approach halakha very similarly ...
in my view, UTJ will never receive the full credit it deserves for its Mi Yehudi proposal, its Pesach Hotline, Kosher Nexus, Lieberman yahrzeit program (hope they revive that one), and its interesting Tomeikh K'Halakha, which provided a more moderate halackicly-based responsa before there was YCT or the Inst for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. but it is equally clear that many of its ideas were embraced and more successfully marketed by others.»

Halachic Template For Women's Ordination Isn't New | The Jewish Week


Best Regards,
RRW

From Open O to Neo-Cons

R Asher Lopatin:

«But my dream is to have Hebrew Union College, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hadar, and Chovevei on one campus, to move in together. We'd each daven in our own ways, but it could transform the Upper West Side.

R Avrham Gordimer:

«There is not much more to say. The path to total abandonment of Orthodoxy has been set in motion, and the ball is in the court of Open Orthodoxy's leadership. Serious introspection and swift action are indeed needed.»

From Openness to Heresy | Cross-Currents



Best Regards,
RRW

Israeli Chief Rabbinate Election

History:

«First, the rabbinate. Israel has two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi, the other Sephardi, elected for ten-year terms by a public council composed ostensibly (very ostensibly) of representatives of a wide swath of the public. How did this arrangement come to be?

The Chief Rabbinate was created in 1921, during the years of the British Mandate. Following established colonial practice and building on both the Ottoman system and traditional post-Napoleonic European practice, the British wanted a body to which they could farm out things like religion, charities and domestic relations. The Zionists wanted a respectable religious leadership to represent them in public and give religious sanction to their revolutionary enterprise.»

Mud-Slinging for the Sake of Heaven: Religion and Politics in Today's Israel - Yehudah Mirsky - The American Interest Magazine



Best Regards,
RRW

Hassidei Ashkenaz, The "Other" Mystical School

«The leaders of the community of the Chassidei Ashkenaz movement were descended from the Kalonymos family of northern Italy, a family that had immigrated to Germany in the 10th century; and the Abun family of France, among others, according to the sacred books they wrote at the close of the 10th century. The movement was known for its strict, almost religious observance, asceticism, and its mystical doctrines. Some posit that its theology fits into the general canon of Jewish mysticism. It certainly parallels other Jewish mysticism; however in other ways it was very original. The extent of this community's effect and influence during Middle Age German Judaism has not been studied.

NB: ("Hassid" should not be mistaken for the Eastern European dynastic movement started by the Baal Shem Tov in the 18th century. »

Chassidei Ashkenaz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chassidei_Ashkenaz


Best Regards,
RRW

Interview with R Moshe Meiselman Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, Yerushalayim - "Our society demands that we be more than observant secularists."

«In what way was the army to impact the culture and atmosphere of the country?

The army served the purpose of allowing Ben Gurion and the Zionists to impose their anti-Torah lifestyle, philosophy and ideology on the thousands who would serve in Tzahal. One must understand that being in the army means that soldiers must totally subjugate themselves to the rules and orders of their superiors. This enables those running the army to create a new social identity.

This was the reason that the gedolim leading the chareidi community insisted very strongly that bnei hayeshivos not go to the Israeli army. They rejected the new social identity that the Zionists were trying to impose on the residents of the country.

Was this the reason that the gedolim felt that joining the army at the time was "yeihoreig ve'al yaavor"?

Indeed. We can now understand the famous story of the Brisker Rov zt"l refusing to sign a statement that sheirut leumi was yeihoreig ve'al yaavor. The Brisker Rov said that if he would sign it, it would sound like only army service/sheirut leumi for women was yeihoreig ve'al yaavor, but not army service for men. --> "In fact, the Brisker Rov felt that even for men to go to the Israeli army was yeihoreig ve'al yaavor. We can now appreciate why this is so, as the Israeli army was meant to create a new social identity to replace any commitment to Torah life, and it would therefore be yeihoreig ve'al yaavor.

How effective was Ben Gurion's plan?

It is important to realize that Ben Gurion's plan was, in fact, successful to a large extent. Thousands of previously religious immigrants were successfully indoctrinated with Zionism through the army and ultimately lost their commitment to Torah. Even those who remained shomer mitzvos were given a new identity that was antithetical to true Torah values and a true Torah lifestyle. Our society demands that we be more than observant secularists. Torah is also a whole outlook on life that encompasses the whole personality.»

Yated Newspaper - "The Identity of the Israeli People is at Stake" - Understanding the Current Situation in Eretz Yisroel


Best Regards,
RRW

Hareidism vs. Centrism III

«Israel - Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters gathered in Jerusalem and in Bnei Brak on Thursday to support the right of Ashkenazi Hasidic parents to keep their children in classes segregated from their Mizrahi peers.

Ultra-Orthodox officials made a last-ditch effort on Wednesday to keep parents in the settlement of Immanuel from being arrested and jailed for refusing to implement a High Court of Justice ruling requiring the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi girls to study in the same classes. ...»

Israel - Tens of Thousands of Charedim Rally for Right to Segregated Education [photos] -- VosIzNeias.com

A case of Austritt in that it calls for separation from even fellow Orthodox.

Best Regards,
RRW

Hareidism vs. Centrism II

 The first entry in this series is at Hareidism vs. Centrism I
* * * * *

"You (written in the plural) deserve a big Yasher Koach on your activities to save the Torah world, and your vigilance to protect and defend the principles of Yiddishkheit in Eretz Yisrael against those trying to limit our ways," Rav Auerbach is quoted as saying.

Rav Shmuel Auerbach Commends Both Satmar Rebbe's For Organizing Manhattan Protest [UPDATED] | Yeshiva World News



Best Regards,
RRW

RCA Condemns Ultra-Orthodox Anti-Israel Rally

Originally published 6/12/13, 7:07 pm.

«The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the largest Orthodox rabbinic group in North America, deplores the attempt of a small but vocal group to undermine the image Americans have of strong, unshakable, wall-to-wall Jewish support of Israel. Two chassidic communities well known for their rejection of a Jewish state have agreed to a joint rally in Manhattan on Sunday, June 9.»

http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=105756


Best Regards,
RRW

The Lubavicher Rebbe

Originally published 6/12/13, 11:17 am.
In honour of 3 Tammuz

«Pinchas Hirschprung

Rabbi Pinchas Hirschsprung, Chief rabbi of Montreal, who shared a very close relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe and served as Rosh Yeshiva at the Chabad yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Montreal, wrote a lengthy letter about Chabad Messianisim to Baruch Frishman, executive director of Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools (AARTS), in response to efforts by some Haredi rabbis to decertify Oholei Torah/Oholai Menachem (a major Lubavitch yeshiva in which the messianist belief is proclaimed) from this organization (see below). In the letter Hirschsprung wrote that there was no shadow of a question in halacha about (the permissibility of) the singing and proclaiming of the Lubavitcher Rebbe as the messiah, that it was based on clear passages in the Talmud, Zohar, and Kabalists whom the Jewish people all rely upon for contemporary halacha. He also pointed to the fact that the Rebbe himself used such references on his father in law Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and that he himself was someone to rely on. He also praised the efforts of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his followers in the task of bringing Jews closer to Judaism, saying "who knows this work better than them".[74]»

Chabad messianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chabad_messianism


Best Regards,
RRW

Israeli Haredis View their American Counterparts with a Measure of Condescension

«The "Primacy of Torah" was an apt phrase for the motto for the azkarah, as it hints that there is something else that serves as a necessary supplement to the study of Torah, namely, making money. The pragmatic approach of Lakewood stands in stark contrast to that of the Lithuanian Haredi community in Israel, where the prevailing ideology is one of, "Only Torah." Yeshiva students there are expected to devote their entire lives to the study of Torah; secular education and jobs are actively discouraged. According to Dr. Benjamin Brown, a Hebrew University lecturer whose research focus is Orthodox Judaism and Haredi society, Israeli Haredis view their American counterparts with a measure of condescension: The bourgeois lifestyle of American Haredis may be acceptable "for them" in America, but not in Israel, where the Haredis hold themselves to a higher, less compromising, and more austere standard. Torah study itself in America is also considered by Israeli Haredis to be on a lower level, which Brown believes is supported by the fact that "American bochurim [unmarried yeshiva students] come to learn in Israel, not vice versa." The same perspective was shared with me by Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, a Haredi religious court judge in Jerusalem. According to Pfeffer, the "mainstream" Israeli Haredi "looks upon his Lakewood counterpart as being part of the American experience of affluence and luxury and generally believes that Torah greatness cannot emerge from America—even from Lakewood."»

More From. Tablet Magazine



Best Regards,
RRW

How Lakewood, N.J., Is Redefining What It Means To Be Orthodox in America

By David Landes
June 5, 2013--Tablet Magazine

«...The much-repeated theme of the many encomia to the yeshiva's late founder was that Kotler, a refugee from Eastern Europe, fundamentally changed what it meant to be an Orthodox Jew in America. Kotler insisted that it was possible to establish in the treife medina—a social environment inhospitable to the values of Torah study and Orthodox Judaism—a community of scholars whose purpose in life would be the study of Torah "for its own sake," without concern for livelihood, and at the level of the great yeshivas of Eastern Europe destroyed in the Holocaust. But for the arrival of Kotler, the narrative goes, serious Torah study could never have developed in America.

The small yeshiva Kotler founded with 14 students in 1942 is now a mega-yeshiva with 6,600 students and satellite institutions spread throughout North America and beyond. ...»

Tablet Magazine


Best Regards,
RRW

Hareidism vs. Centrism I

Which ideologies separate the Hareidi Hashkafah from the more Modern or Centrist Orthodox Hashkafah?

1. Autonomy

Hareidim think that authority trumps autonomy. Forcing people to comply is OK, and koffin oto ad she'omeir Rotzeh Ani is normative.

Centrists see a more autonomous nature as ideal. Authoritarianism is dangerous. Power tends to corrupt.

This might parallel the same issues that divided the Roman Catholics from the Protestants.

This is lav davka black and white, just a trend in thinking.

More Later BE"H

Best Regards,
RRW

Yo'atzot vs. Maharat

Shloymie: how does the ordination of the Maharat's differ from the confirmation of Yo'atzot?

RRW: Quick answer:

Yo'atzot = Evolutionary
Maharat = Revolutionary


Best Regards,
RRW

The Times they are a-Changing - Orthodox Shul opens door to Female Spiritual Leader

«"In contemporary modern Orthodox synagogues, women fill many roles that would have been unheard of just a few short decades ago," Rabbi Barry Freundel of Orthodox Kesher Israel Congregation, in Washington, said in a statement. "Women speak from the pulpit (offer divrei Torah), teach any and all Jewish subjects, respond to questions of Jewish law from within our sacred sources, provide pastoral guidance to congregants, serve in leadership capacities up to and including synagogue president and more. Even though some of these remain somewhat controversial, there is a strong body of Orthodox rabbinic opinion that supports and encourages these developments. Some synagogues who are able to do so have employed women in positions whose job descriptions include many, if not all, of these items. Nonetheless the Rabbinical Council of America, the world's largest Orthodox rabbinical organization has publicly indicated that ordaining a woman or having her serve in a position that reflects ordination is beyond the legitimate halachic (Jewish legal) limits of our tradition (mesorah)."»

Orthodox shul opens door to female spiritual leader -
Washington Jewish Week - Online Edition - Rockville, MD
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=133&SubSectionID=273&ArticleID=19389


Best Regards,
RRW

The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue

Originally published 5/30/13, 11:18 AM, Eastern Daylight Time.
«Guest post by R. Yonatan Kaganoff

Rabbi Yonatan Kaganoff served for many years as a Rabbinic Coordinator in the OU's Kashruth Division and was the founding Online Editor of the journal Tradition. He has semikhah from RIETS, studied Jewish philosophy at the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and serves on the Board of Advisors of K'hal Adath Jeshurun in Washington Heights.

*****

 The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue

Introduction
....

While every synagogue has its own unique internal dynamic and features, I would like to propose four distinctive characteristics for the post-Yeshiva synagogue. I further suggest that these characteristics represent an attempt to redefine their synagogue as a Bais Ha-Medrash; a house of study, and its member and participants, therefore, as people who are associated with a Bais Ha-Medrash rather than a synagogue; a house of worship.

These four characteristics are:

The use of chairs and tables instead of benches or stadium seating.
The Rabbi's speech is moved from before Mussaf to before Kerias ha-Torah.
Kiddush is not recited on Friday night.
The elimination of Anim Zemiros from services on Shabbat morning.»

The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue - Torah Musings - Jewish Ideas Daily


Best Regards,
RRW