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Correspondence

January-February 1970

Exchange with Ronald Jasper about "Modern Orthodoxy's Identity Crisis" (1970)

Modern Orthodoxy & the Charedim

1. Ronald Jasper to R. Lamm

1. Ronald Jasper to R. Lamm (Jan. 29, 1970)

1. Ronald Jasper to R. Lamm (Jan. 29, 1970)

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קראתי היום בפנים אל פנים כתבה על נאום שנאם כבוד תורתו בתל אביב, וראשם הדברים היו שמלאכי עליון רבי שמעון בר יוחאי ובנו היו חב וחלילה בעל חרס וחורבן בעם ישראל, וכאומרם גם גדולים... מקבל מרותו, הרי חס וחלילה חרס וחורבן בעמנו.
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Exchange with R. Schonfeld about Modern Orthodoxy and "The Cave" (1997)

Dear Fabian: It was wonderful to spend a few days in your company in a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere than is possible elsewhere. I do believe, however, that we need to get together on a smaller scale to review the Conference and its many suggestions. The one comment that I made to you personally I want to repeat in writing. Your well known speech regarding “The Cave” has been appreciated by many and misinterpreted by some. It is very much in line with the order given by Hashem to Noach after the deluge of מִן־הַתֵּבָה צֵא אַתָּה. It seems to me, as I conveyed to you in person, that many of our Musmachim who have followed your thought process, which is so amiti, left the cave and are creating their own oases by holding intellectual isolation and thus escaping the responsibilities towards the established Jewish community. There is now an elitist intellectual isolation which permits the very people who preach communal involvement to do so in public forums and in public sessions but do not do so in their private lives vis-à-vis the established community. I am not saying that they should not attend Minyanim of their own liking, but certainly ought to identify through membership and community participation with the aims and purposes of the established Kehillah in the community in which they reside. I do believe that this is one of the most important and pressing matters that we have to face. Furthermore, permit me to suggest again that we dispense with the labels that we attach to ourselves. If we are committed to Torah at its highest level and need not apologize for it, nor do we need to define ourselves any further. With regard to your views on the Chief Rabbinate in Israel, I think it needs further clarification and deserves more in-depth discussion. Again, let me state what a pleasure it was to spend Shabbat with you and Mindy and I am looking forward to seeing you shortly. With kindest regards, sincerely yours, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld
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Letter to R. Yaakov Jacobs about the Emerging Moderate Tone in The Jewish Observer (1969)

Dear Rabbi Jacobs: As one who has in the past expressed to you some rather harsh criticism of the Jewish Observer, I think it only fair for me to let you know how pleased I am with the change that has taken place in your magazine in the recent past. The improvement was especially noticeable in the last several issues and in the current one most of all. It is a sign of maturity that you were able to overcome the shrill, combative tone and the excessive polemics that once characterized the Jewish Observer. Your present posture, which is far more restrained and patient, is much more convincing to your readers. For all that I may disagree with some policies expressed in the Jewish Observer — some not all, of course — I now feel much more sympathetic and anxious to read what you have to say. My [hebrew illegible] and good wishes for the future. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm
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