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August 2, 2007

A Response to Noah Feldman (2007)

Modern Orthodoxy Combating Assimilation
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Note

Response to The Challenge to Modern Orthodoxy (1984)

Berkowitz makes the same mistake that the Conservative always did – the insistence upon institutional self-definition as if that alone created a legitimacy for a movement. But I see no need for an ideological pushing of the elbows in order to make room for institutional "space." We do not and should not consider ourselves a separate "movement" in the sense that we are different from classical Orthodoxy. We are Orthodox – but with a new-old interpretation. As such, we have no need to rue the fact that "our" people consult "their" Gedolim. The institutional and even ideological differentia must not be mistaken for rigid lines – even though the Right may look upon us with contempt and condemn us to irrelevancy.2 - Berkowitz is inconsistent. In one point he asserts that we have no differences in Halakhah, and in another he resents the fact that nowadays the "Modern Orthodox" do not allow mixed dancing at their weddings...3 - Additionally, Berkowitz mistakes goals and reality, the ought and is. The aspiration of "Modern Orthodoxy" is not to insinuate the trappings of modernity into the Jewish framework, but, identically with the Right, to create a "kehillah kedoshah" in the fuller sense, one in which Talmud Torah takes priority.4 - Where we do differ is in these respects:a) Torah Umada. He is correct in his criticism that we have compartmentalized the two, and that we must make an effort at synthesis which will be meaningful. However, even as we are we are still miles ahead of the Right for whom the entire enterprise of secular study is a bediavad, and legitimized only because of "parnossah."b) Of critical importance is the element of tolerance. We believe that in order for a Jewish community to prosper in a democratic society there must be mutual tolerance and an absence of bigotry. They do not.c) Flowing from this is the question of authority and authoritarianism. As opposed to the movements of the Left, we do believe in authority: that is our whole commitment to Hal…
Modern Orthodoxy

Article

The Arrogance of Modernism - article (1969)

The French Catholic thinker, Jacques Maritan, has coined a new word which deserves wide currency: chronolatry, the worship of what is latest in time, the idolatry of “modernity.” That such chronolatry is an unspoken presupposition of our culture is self-evident. And it is an irritating phenomenon at best, and a dangerous one at worst. I beg the indulgence of the reader for sharing with him my allergy to the word "modern." I find infuriating the smug and complacent am ha-aretz who says: "How can you be Orthodox when you so modern? How can you refrain from smoking or driving on Shabbat, or eating non-kosher good, or fasting on Yom Kippur, in this 20th century." I am similarly annoyed when I hear people saying, "He is re-ligious-ligious but modern," in almost exactly the same tone as one would say, "He is slightly insane but sincere" as if modernity can save the benighted religious soul from the damnation to which the unsophisticated are foredomed. I even confess that I am uncomfortable with the title "Modern Orthodox". There is an arrogance about this assertion of modernity which should give offence to any in- telligent and sensitive man. There is no better term that I have By Rabbi Norman Lamm found, but I shudder when pronounce the words. Campus Shul: The Technion Israel Institute of Technology, has a new campus synagogue. It was dedicated recently at a festive ceremony at Technion City. youth-orientated or secularistic or "with it". Beyond time Judaism maintains that truth does not depend on time. The Maharal of Prague observed that the festival of Shavuot, unlike all the others, is not appointed by the Torah to a special date on the calendar. It is only in-rest of us are benighted, we are behind the times. Most religious folk labour under the heavy burden of an inferiority feeling because they are not sufficiently modern. This should not be taken to imply that all that is modern is bad, and that as observant Jews we are against modernity. That would be as absurd …
Modern Orthodoxy Combating Assimilation

Correspondence

Exchange about Noah Feldman's "Orthodox Paradox" (2007)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, The silver lining of clouds like those blown in by Feldman is that it provides an excuse for people to talk to each other who otherwise might not have one! I appreciated the conversation Friday morning, and of course even more appreciate the response to Feldman. I've decided at the moment not to blog further about it. By Wednesday last week, people were clamoring "enough already!" Unless there is a spike of interest based on the revelations of Thursday-Friday and the OU's call for Feldman's dismissal from the Times, it might be better to just move in.On the other hand, if you notice any criticism of that one line, please let me know, and I will somehow find some time while at Mammoth to write what I had planned, which would work something like this: "I cannot speak for Rabbi Lamm, but based on personal conversation in the past, what I am pretty confident he meant is..." That way, you can still use the original formulation for those who need it, while I can get a different nuance out there for the frum consumer. So if you see the need for it, just yell.Kol tuv,[redacted]
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