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July 8, 1986

Do Not Let the Center Collapse (1986)

Vayetze Torah Umadda Passionate Moderation Zionism
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Speech

Closed Minds & Open Hearts: Tolerance and its Limits (1996)

This lecture on tolerance is totally non-political, and yet – may be the most politically relevant one I've ever delivered. I have no partisan end in mind, I do not refer at all exclusively or even primarily to political controversies that sweep this country with the regularity and ferocity of the hurricanes hitting the US East coast during this season. But I believe the theme to be germane to the Israeli scene as much as it is to the American and, indeed, it was occasioned by the most intolerant act in recent Jewish history, namely, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.As a result of that traumatic event, I appointed a group of scholars and educators to constitute the Commssion on Judaism and Human Values, to study and report on the sources in Judaism and all our sacred lietrature on the themes of tolerance, democracy, and the ethics of dissent. That commission has been assiduously at work and should report to me within the next few months.This present lecture=introduction to the theme—in anticipation of what I expect will be a far more exhaustive treatment of the subject. This evening's presentation is not a systematic treatment, but effort to sketch ideas on role of tolerance in sources of JudaismFirst: tolerance is not an absolute. There are things and ideas that are intolerable to any decent, civilized person. And therefore, there are examples aplenty of intolerant attitudes in Torah: ג״ע שפ״ד ע״ז are good examplesas are עיר הנדחת ובן סורר ומורה. So is לה״ר ורכילות in most instances. Nor, in contemporary life, should we tolerate in our midst rapists, drug-pushers, and muggers.W.V. Quine (Quiddities pp. 206210־): "delicate balance of tolerance." Thus, restraints on terrorism or violence; yet—not excessive, keep regard for due process... So with regard to religion, every other subject...Helen Keller (1880-1968): "Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle."4.1 n…
Vayetze Passionate Moderation

Note

On Moderation and Excess (1996)

Many years ago, Rabbi Hyman Tuchman ע״ה commented to me that he wondered about a slight difference between the Christian and the Jewish expressions of aversion to Satan – which may or may not reflect deeper attitudes. Thus, Jesus says to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23), implying that Satan is a menace only when he is in front of a person. Whereas the prayer in Judaism is, as expressed in the hashkiveinu prayer of the daily ma’ariv service, v’haser Satan milfaneinu u-me’achareinu – “remove Satan from before us and behind us” – implying that Satan is a danger whether in front or in back of us. (The hashkiveinu blessing is already mentioned in the Talmud [Berakhot 4b] as an ordinance of the Sages which resonates with the theme of the previous geulah blessing – the two together thus comprise what the Talmud terms geulah arikhta, a “long redemption” blessing. Eliezer Levi [Yesodot ha-Tefillah, Tel Aviv 1952, p. 186] therefore argues that the hashkiveinu blessing is a later addition, appended to the geulah. Some much earlier authorities argue that the content of the blessing is ancient in provenance and articulates well with the redemption theme – thus implying a co-equal status for both blessings even chronologically [see Sefer ha-Eshkol, Hilkhot Tefillah u-Keri’at Shema, p. 17]. The particular expression v’haser Satan milfaneinu u-me’achareinu occasioned comment by a number of rabbinic writers, such as Abudrahm, R. Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg in his commentary Iyun Tefillah, and R. Samson Raphael Hirsch – but none of them offers the explanation which follows.) Now, some forty or more years later, it occurs to me that the position of “Satan” relative to the human victim of his evil designs sheds light upon his function. In front of a person, the tempter misleads and misdirects him – into a life of sin and degradation. When Satan is behind one, he does not direct or misdirect him; he merely pushes him harder in the direction he is already going. Why is thi…
Torah Umadda Passionate Moderation

Article

Radical Moderation (1988)

A wave of extremism is sweeping the world. America and the American Jewish community – to say nothing of the Israeli community – have not remained unaffected by it. Indeed, the pressures of a resurgent extremism affect every facet of our lives – political, social, religious, educational. In this dangerous climate we must ourselves become radicals and reassert our Centrist position with all force and vigor. What Yeshiva University has taught – the joining of Torah learning and Western culture under the rubric of Torah u’Madda; openness to the environing culture; ahavat haTorah plus ahavat Yisrael; the appreciation of tolerance and the abhorrence of bigotry; a critical but loving commitment to the State of Israel – all this is a deliberate philosophy of life, not a compromise foisted upon us. In the language of halakhah, this approach is le-khatḥilah and not be-diʿavad. As a le-khatḥilah we must project ourselves as the standard bearer of moderation in Jewish life. We must stand not only for Torah u’Madda – a broader and more comprehensive vision of Torah as expressed in a particular curricular philosophy – but also for sanity and for moderation; for the conviction that Maimonides’ “middle way” applies not only to personal dispositions and character traits, but also to communal conduct and public policy; for an appreciation that life is filled with ambiguities and complexities and resists black-and-white simplism.We of the Centrist community are often chided that our policy of Centrism and our philosophy of moderation contain implicit hidden dangers. This is true; the study of worldly culture can sometimes lead questioning young people astray. An openness to non-observant Jewish neighbors, or to non-Jews, implies that they are as human as we are, and that can sometimes have a negative effect on our attempt to maintain our traditions. Agreed. But all life is dangerous, and unless one is determined to raise one’s child in a hermetically sealed Skinner box, safe from ge…
Torah Umadda Modern Orthodoxy Passionate Moderation