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Speech

February 25, 1998

For OU Talk (1998)

Yitro Jewish Unity
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Note

Ideas for Clal Talk (1986)

Differentiate between pluralism as a fact and as a value. Perhaps also – between legitimacy (i.e., legal permissibility, even in a social and not only juridical sense) and validity (in the sense of truth). The acceptance of pluralism, whether as fact or as value, must not be equated with ethical or religious relativism, the proposition that because there are many kinds of "things" or points of view, and that all have an equal right in a democratic society, that they are necessarily equally valid. I accept pluralism as a religious value only within clearly circumscribed parameters. Otherwise, pluralism slides off into nihilism. Many Orthodox Jews react all too predictably to issues of current controversy – but the non-Orthodox have no monopoly on openness, thoughtfulness, and profound reflection. What is the prevailing view here, in this hall, on the following array of topics: "Who is A Jew?" / The Mormon Center in Jerusalem / Soccer Games in Israel on Shabbat / Civil Marriages in Israel / Interfaith Services in the United States / Abortion / Arranging Reform Services in a Synagogue in Cracow, the seat of one of the most eminent halakhists of all time whose rulings made the Shulchan Arukh acceptable to Ashkenazi Jewry, etc., etc. One of the not-so-unspoken themes of this conference is: Opposition to religious legislation in Israel. Other than pious rhetoric, I have heard no clear formulation of how to keep Israel Jewish, no substitute for the wholesale rejection of all the profound thought that has gone into religious Zionism from the days of Reines, Kalisher, and Kook to our own day. If the Orthodox sin on the side of authoritarianism, vesting too much spiritual power in the decisions and judgments of the gedolim, their consensually accepted halakhic decisors, then too many non-Orthodox Jews would deny authority in matters spiritual to mere mortals, effectively endow popular liberal opinion with the same authority, and imagine that following the crowd instead of i…
Jewish Unity

Synagogue Sermon

Bar Mitzvah Talk (1952)

Now that you are Bar Mitzvah, and have attained your majority, Jewish Law holds you legally responsible for all your actions. You are now expected to act as a mature member of your people and to do your duty as an adult Jew. But you are not beginning on this new venture of a fully responsible Jew as a raw recruit. You have been trained for this role many years. Your stay at the Religious School, your home environment and your parents’ guidance have all been directing you towards this high goal. You have had a basic training for your actions as a good Jew.One of the things which you will be expected to keep and observe, and for which you have been trained for all your thirteen years, is one of the Ten Commandments which we read this morning. כבד את אביך ואת אמך, “Honor your father and mother.” This is a well-known commandment, and which goes to the very root of all family life and respect. But this commandment is different from the other nine of the Asseres Ha’dibros in a special way. The other commandments merely tell you what to do and what not to do. This one adds something – it tells you what the reward is for abiding by this law – למען יאריכון ימיך, it is the promise of longevity, long life, “that thy days may be long.” Haven’t you ever wondered, Julius, why this mitzvah above all others is accompanied by a promise of long life, long days?Well, I want to give you an answer to that question which my grandfather gave me on my Bar Mitzvah day, and which he heard from his father on the same occasion in his life.It happens many times, Julius, that because of lack of experience in life, you start out upon a venture which may last a day or a month or a year or many years, and which you later regret. At the end of a certain period of time, you look backwards, and think to yourself, Oh, if only somebody had warned me beforehand that a course of action of this sort was bound to end in failure. If only somebody with more experience than me had opened my eyes and directed …
Yitro

Speech

OU Dinner 1998

Rabbi Lamm discusses Jewish unity in a fractured denominational world.
Jewish Unity