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March 24, 1968

A Jewish Response to the New Morality (1968)

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Speech

Judaism and the Moral Revolution (1970)

In discussing the setback in personal relationships in contemporary life, mention the scene in ״The Bald Soprano,” by Eugene Ionescu: A man meets a woman, engages her in polite conversation, and they discover to their surprise that they came into New York on the same train from New Haven that morning. Further conversation reveals that they live at the same address on Fifth Avenue. As time goes on, they leam further that they share the same apartment and have the same seven year old daughter. Husband and wife meet, never having known each other beforre. Thus: Lo tov heyot ha-adam levado . Marriage has as one of its two goals affectionate companionship, the banishment of anomie and alienation, not levado. In further discussion of code morality add, that without code morality we have nothing. But does that mean that once we do ob-serve the rules, that Paradise will materialize, that automatically there will become love and "meaningful personal relationships?"No, obviously not. The case for code morality can not be based on illusion or propaganda. First, love and relationship are certainly cherished in Judaism, but not as the highest goal. People who for psychological or cultural reasons can not be "turned on" are no less valuable, nor is their life any less meaningful. Human beings who have made the greatest contribution to history have not necessarily been those who have developed deep relationships. One of the secular saints of our time was Albert Schweitzer. Yet a woman who worked as a nurse with him, volunteering to bexvk סיץ \,Av*\q told me a couple of years ago that she never saw a more dedicated man -- and a colder, more tyrannical and impersonal human being. He gave his life for others, and treated those others in a patron-izing and condescending fashion. Is Schweitzer to be condemned to the limbo of those who could not live up to the misunderstanding of Buber’s I-Thou? (Mention Ramban on ve-ahavta le-relakha kamo-kha -- that it is haflaeah to expect it in the…
Marriage & Sexuality

Synagogue Sermon

The New Morality and the Crisis in the Jewish Family (1973)

Norman Lamm, Rabbi of the Jewish Center in New York City and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University, will be exploring an area of immediate concern, the Jewish family and how it is being affected by movements now referred to in the terms of Youth, the New Morality, and Alternate Life Styles. Dr. Lamm is the author of several works including "A Hedge of Roses", "Jewish Insights Into Marriage and Married Life", "Faith and Doubt" and "The Royal Reach." He has traveled widely, lecturing
Marriage & Sexuality

Article

The New Morality under Religious Auspices (1968)

That the Western world finds itself in the midst of a continuing moral crisis is a self-evident fact which needs no documentation. Completely appropriate to our contemporary situation is the plaint of R. Haninah of Sepphoris: “Zimri was only one in his generation, and because of him 24,000 of Israel died — and we have so many Zimris in our generation!”[1] The traditional moral restraints that have prevailed for centuries in Western civilization are crumbling, and Jews are not the least of those affected by the moral and spiritual rootlessness of our generation. Indeed, we probably feel the consequences of this massive displacement even more than do others, for the fulcrum of Jewish life and continuity has always been the family, and it is the family that is the first victim of moral delinquency.[2]Nevertheless, for the sake of perspective it is good to remember that such anti-moral impulses are not new in history. The statement of R. Haninah itself is indicative of moral laxity in third century Palestine. There is considerable truth in a recent assertion that there is a permanent revolution against traditional Jewish sexual morality, but that the style and form and intensity of the revolt change in different historical epochs.³There are several strands discernible in the fabric of the current protest against traditional morality, that known as the New Morality. One of the most interesting aspects of this New Morality is the paradox of what is (by previously accepted standards) immoralism having its genesis in an excess of moral fervor. But this calls for some preliminary remarks. In speaking of the New Morality, we must distinguish between two layers. One is that associated with the name of **Hugh Hefner**, founder of that famous American institution known as the “Playboy Club.” This profitable commercial enterprise is accompanied by the exposition of a totally immoral “philosophy,” and made to appeal mostly to professional bachelors who prefer the pleasures of mar…
Marriage & Sexuality