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April 1999

Modern Orthodoxy at the Brink of a New Century (1999)

Noach Passionate Moderation Europe Biographical Material
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Leader of Modern Orthodoxy Speaks to Students (2002)

An unusual silence pervaded the Isaac Levinstein Synagogue as formally dressed students and faculty stood anticipating the arrival of Rabbi Norman Lamm, the leader of Modern Orthodoxy and president of Yeshiva University. A sign posted on the stage read, “Your eyes should follow your teachers,” and indeed the students’ eyes did just that as the entire Judaic faculty escorted Rabbi Lamm into the room. After greeting the Frisch community, Rabbi Lamm proceeded to address a question that the Modern Orthodox community tackles daily: How do Jews take the best of Western culture and science—Madah—and connect it to Torah? His speech offered new insights and confirmed old ones for students, stimulating further discussion throughout the Frisch community. Rabbi Lamm explained that before one can achieve an integration of Torah, “the center of Jewish life,” and Western culture and science, one must first master the basics of each independently. He emphasized that if Frisch students integrate their Judaic and general studies, utilize Torah and Madah, respect other denominations in Judaism, and behave with dedication and integrity, they will be a source of pride and pleasure to the Jewish nation. Dr. Kalman Stein expressed his satisfaction that Rabbi Lamm chose to speak about the importance of linking secular and Judaic studies, noting that the school must “give students the opportunities to think about Torah and Madah in an integrated way.” According to Tali Fishel (’04), Rabbi Lamm’s speech “put into perspective the fact that the Torah we learn every day in school and elsewhere does not contrast with or limit our lives—it simply provides guidelines by which to live them.” Dr. Stein added, “The real challenge is not learning Torah and Madah separately, but figuring out how we can be part of an exciting world while deciding which of its attractions can be kept and which need to be filtered out.” To help Frisch students accomplish this integration, Dr. Stein announced plans to es…
Biographical Material

Speech

Modern Orthodoxy at the Brink of a New Century - Speech (1998)

This is a bitter-sweet occasion for me. It is bitter because it confirms for me psychologically what I already know rationally, namely, that Isaac Bernstein is no longer with us. And it is sweet because the memories are sweet and inspiring. Rabbi Bernstein was my successor at The Jewish Center in New York City. We became not only colleagues but fast friends. I was enchanted by his sparkling sense of humor, in awe of his range of knowledge and interests – from Torah, of course, to mathematics to opera – and I simply adored the man's dazzling personality. Because of this combination of talents – scholar, orator, wit, darshan – I invited him to teach at our Stern College for Women, where he won a string of loyal students who speak of him with a reverence that survives to this day. One of his great strengths was his interpretation of the parashat ha-shavua, the biblical portion of the week. In deference to him, I shall present my theme as he would have done it – homiletically, by discoursing on this week's parasha, which happens to be Noach, and, last Shabbat, Bereshit. The great floods covered the face of the earth and finally begin to recede. Noah, ensconced in his ark, was not quite sure what to do. He took the raven and sent it out as a test: if the raven does not return, that will be a sign that dry land is available and he can prepare to leave; if it does come back, it means there is no dry land and he must continue to stay in the ark. R. Velvel Soloveitchik of Brisk zt"l asks why this bird was sent out in the first place: even if the bird came back with olive leaves, implying that Noah may leave – or if the bird did not return at all, signifying that land had been sighted and he should prepare to leave the ark – he would not be permitted to leave. Why? Because just as he entered the ark on God’s command, so would he not be permitted to leave until he was instructed by divine command. R. Velvel offers no answer to his question. I humbly offer my own solution: No…
Noach Passionate Moderation Europe Biographical Material

Speech

The Theme of Moderation in Modern Orthodoxy (1989)

I begin on two contradictory notes, one apologetic, the other not only not apologetic but anti-apologetic. The apologetic note concerns my uneasiness in using the term Centrist Orthodoxy, but it is a term which I prefer principally for one reason, which I shall elaborate presently. Critics of the term assume that Centrist indicates that we locate ourselves at some midpoint between orthodoxy and assimilationism, and claim that territory as our religious home. But that is nonsense. Only slightly less absurd is the idea that centrist orthodoxy is the mid-point between Satmar and the few intellectuals who occupy the ground called the Orthodox Left. That is also inaccurate. It is no compliment to our intelligence to imagine that we who declare ourselves Centrist walk around the religious terrain with a yardstick, calipers and a calculator measuring the exact distance between Neturei Karta and Humanistic Judaism - so called - in order to locate the exact middle or centre. We are not, and do not aspire to be ideological geographers or spiritual statisticians who search out the exact centre between right and wrong, religious and non-religioua, mitzva and avera, and settle upon that as our religious goal. It may be wrong, but I submit that our centrism is not really that simple minded and religiously asinine.What of the title we have been called all along, Modern Orthodoxy? I am uncomfortable with that label because it is a combination of two highly infelicitous words. One is arrogant, modern: I'm modern, that makes me better than anyone else in the past. The other is inaccurate because orthodoxy implies ideological blindness and constricted thought, and that is not correct.Of course there are those who say that we should do away with all adjectives and simply identify ourselves as orthodox jews, period. It does away with the whole problem of labels, or it seems to. In fact if we did that that would leave 90 percent of this audience and all those who have come to the Sympos…
Passionate Moderation