What happened to Choshem Mishpat?!

Sometimes I wonder whether some religious Jews (obviously not the majority) consider mitzvot bein adam lechavero to be helpful suggestions rather than commandments. Such people make me shake my head in wonder at how one could learn Torah, and forget basics like "Lo Tignov" and "Lo Tonu Ish et Re'ehu".

Allow me to start from the beginning: My Obiter Dicta posted about a tefilin store in Meah Shearim that sells "cheap" tefilin in more ways than one - including barely kosher parshiyot. This story itself was bad enough, but it turns out it was only the warm-up for the clincher. In the comments on this post, Rabbi Mordechai Scher of Santa Fe described a reality of endemic fraud among many of the stores in that area.

Apparently, at one of the places, they had no problem directing fluent Hebrew and Yiddish speakers to average mezuzot. "Tourists" on the other hand (i.e. people who don't speak Hebrew/or Yiddish fluently), were shown barely kosher mezuzot at the same or higher prices?! To add insult to injury, apparently there is a phenomenon of people stealing other people's tefillin and re-selling them!!!!!!! God only knows what else goes on?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!!?!?!

We're not talking about a case of the rule of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware and check). This isn't even an issue of the attitude towards medinat yisra'el (i.e. paying taxes). These are clear cut, unequivocal examples of theft and fraud. The fact that Rabbi Scher was told that he would be risking his life if he publicized the issue is simply jaw-dropping. Imagine, a frum God-fearing Jew publicizing about Torah violations risks being killed by other God-fearing Jews for publicizing the fact.

Forgive my french, but....WTF?!

Houston, we have a BIG problem (Racism against Arabs)

I'm sure by now you've all heard of the scumbag known as Yaacov Teitel on the news. He who murdered two Arabs and attempted murder on several occassions has been caught. Good riddance, you SOB, I hope you rot. Many a representative of the DL community has rightly disavowed this guy, though some haven't.

In any event, it is not of him I wish to speak. There is an elephant in the room in our community which we have been ignoring for far too long: racism, more specifically racism against Arabs. Now, before you all gang up on me, I am in NO WAY saying we created this guy. Every society has its fringes - the Charedim have their Neturei Karta, the secular their anarchists and so on. We do not possess, nor do we wish to posess, the kind of social policing capabilites that would allow us to "handle" such things in house. We are a big tent group, and that tent unfortunately has its share of uninvited guests who won't leave.

So why do I bring this up? Because for too long we have allowed covertly and overtly racist ideas about Arabs to infiltrate much of our society. The line between considering one to be an enemy and considering that enemy to be subhuman is a fine one, and far too many in our circles have crossed it. Terms like "Arabush", "Aravim Masrichim (dirty Arabs)" are far too common in daily discourse. I was horrified when my younger siblings told me of open Arab hatred and racist attitudes in their schools (outside of the classroom, mind you).

Now, I am not and probably never will be a member of the "let's all just be friends" humanist lovy-dovey croud. I know full well that the overwhelming majority of Arabs wish the state of Israel would cease to exist. So I am not one to advocate parents teaching kids with fatuous, naive rhetoric about "Kavod ha'adam" and the importance of unconditionally loving the Other. Such teachings will only convince the convinced and will not be taken seriously by those of us who live on Planet Earth. I would like to suggest, instead, that we learn that Arabs are just regular people with whom we have a serious fight. They too have to pay the bills and raise families. Just because we are enemies doesn't mean we can't have mutual respect.

Ah, but how can one do that with those who send suicide bombers and spew the most hateful rhetoric about us? To this I reply, I'm not asking that you love them, just act correctly and politely. Say Hi when you pass them on the street. Don't jeer at or assault them. Maybe wish them the appropriate Chag Sameach when Ramadan or Eid El-Pitr comes round. Maybe, especially in the case of Israeli Arabs, hire some for a job you need. Show that you're capable of not stooping to the level of base hatred shown on Palestinian TV.

Small gestures like this can help calm tensions and let adults and children learn to treat Arabs as something other than "Arabushim" you pass on the highway. Best of all, they don't require selling the proverbial store. There is no need to give up your belief in the rightness of our cause, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum.

The tolerance of racist attitudes in our community has got to stop - NOW. No ifs, no ands and no buts. No more turning a blind eye to this stuff. Racism needs to become a complete, unbreakable taboo at least on the level of Chilul Shabbat. For our own sake if nothing else, we need to be mekayem the Mitzva of Ubiarta Hara Mikirbecha (roughly: and you shall remove the Evil form your midst).

Musings of a Principled Centrist

• The true centrist learns from, and fights with, both the Right and the Left in equal measure.
• The true centrist does not see his position as a wimpy cop-out compromise, but a principled merging of the good of all positions, plus a heavy dose of reality.
• The true centrist is a lousy debater, because he can not talk in easy-to-understand sound bites.
• The true centrist will be genuinely conflicted when faced with dillemas. He will recognize that often the "right" choice is really just the lesser of two evils.
• The true centrist is a puzzle to idealogues of all stripes. He wouldn't have it any other way.

On Labeling, Fair and Unfair (On Ne'emanei Torah Ve'Avodah)

Seth Kadish brought up an important point, one which I hope to deal with at some point - that of the halakhic and hashkafic boundaries of MO. In the meantime, however, I wish to address another issue. I stand accused of "paslanut" - of deligitimizing and mislabeling the Ne'emanei Torah Ve'Avodah movement as "hard left". With regard to the first charge, deligitamization, I emphatically plead "Not Guilty". If I were interested in deligitamizing them, I would have used terms like "neo-Reform", "de-facto Conservative" and all the other well-known epithets. I did not say they are not part of us, merely that they are very far to one side. As for the second charge, I still answer with a slightly more qualified "not guilty", and stand by my argument that they are on the far left of the MO spectrum.

It is true that SOME of Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah's public policy positions are indistinguishable from what used to be mainstream but a few decades ago. Minimizing of seperation of sexes unless halakha specifically calls for it, integration with the rest of Jewish society, an open and positive attitude (albeit a guarded one) towards secular studies and sciences - these are indeed issues with which they and I share a common ground. They are also quite brave in trying to face many of the questions we have not yet dared to ask. Nevertheless, it is at this point that the common ground ends, and here's why:

Ne'emanei Torah Ve'Avodah has no real boundaries to its left religiously, in much the same way the Charedi community has no real boundaries to its right. You will often find them in the news bashing (often rightly) the right-wing of our community for its segregationist tendencies and lack of opennes. I have yet to see anyone in that group make anything resembling the anti-Right effort against people in the religious left along the lines of "that's going too far". This in spite of the fact that the group has existed since 1978. Read any given issue of the NTV journal De'ot and you will read articles written by people who are absolutely enamored with liberalism, individualism, pluralism and any and all Jews to their left - traditional, secular or otherwise. The same cannot be said with regard to their views of halakha or hashkafa, or Jews to their right. The old Mafdal was divided into "right", "center" and "left" groups that often counterbalanced one another. NTV seems to be made up of people who are left and more left.

This is to say nothing of their persistent ideological myopia, a bygone product of another age. They speak in slogans and general lofty principles, but they either ignore or dismiss fears regarding religious fortitude. The issue on education exemplifies this approach, cherry-picking cases of educated (both Torah and secular studies) MO teachers as an example of how things were pre-Noam and Lamerchav, even though most of the teachers of that period were actually grossly underqualified. The period of integrated schools is portrayed as a veritable paradise, completely ignoring the massive "horadat kipa" that took place at the time. Some even celebrate it, "pluralism" being a principle that overrides all else. One would have expected a more hard-nosed realist approach to the subject, specifically addressing and developing coping methods for maintaining religiosity. Instead, they pay merely lip service to it, ultimately only preaching to the converted.

It is no surprise, then, that NTV boasts a vocal fringe that constantly pushes the religious boundaries leftward or crosses them outright. Two examples will suffice: In the articles dealing with Biblical Criticism, no-one even so much as tries to defend the traditional position. Instead, the Documentary Hypothesis in whatever variation is either partially or completely accepted (to be fair, Rav Breuer's shitat habehinot is given a fair hearing as well). A letter to the editor of the journal even waxed poetic about the beauty of the "allegory of Sinai". This is to say nothing of the positions of Dr. Moshe Meir, member of NTV's executive. From questioning revelation to endorsing an idea of a "secularized religiosity", his positions as espoused in De'ot and Maqor Rishon are quite radical. Don't get me wrong - a lot of the questions they raise deserve serious attention. But to claim that these are "mainstream" or "centrist" ideas is to close one's eyes to the truth.

When they are called on things like this, NTV members often get defensive, throwing curveballs to deflect from the problem. "I'm just as religious as you" or "stop judging people with a 'dos-meter'" are two of my favorite feints. Obviously, neither argument addresses the problem - NTV's almost cavalier attitude towards halakha and Ol Malchut Shamyim as contrasted to their fervent defenses of liberalism. It is as if Torah is completely subservient to Avodah (all the "-isms"), and at most a personal issue.

I wish I was wrong in my diagnosis. I wish non-fringe NTVers would come down from the clouds and realize that reality, especially religious reality, is messy, difficult and dangerous. I wish they would switch Martin Luther King (I have a dream) for a bit of Churchill (I have nothing to promise you except blood, sweat and tears). I wish they would show anything resembling empathy towards those of us who have real reason to fear the dissolution of what's left of halakhic Judaism.

Since none of that seems to be in the cards, I hold fast to my position that NTV is hard-left. Ve'hamotzi me'chavero alav hara'ayah.

What's in a name? On the term "Modern Orthodoxy" in Israel

"Eizehu Chacham? Halomed Mikol Adam (Who is smart? He who learns from all people)" - Avot 4:1

Today I discussed blogging about Modern Orthodoxy with a colleague at work. While interested, she recoiled from the word "orthodoxy", stating that she preferred the tried and true "dati le'umi" (national-religious) instead. While I suggested a few alternatives such as "dati moderni" (modern religious) and "dati leumi moderni" (national modern religious), I had to concede that she had a point. Thinking it over, I realized that this might not be the best term to describe MO in Israel.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that the word orthodoxy (pronounced "ortodoxia" in Hebrew) is not very friendly-sounding; in fact it's quite scary when you think about it (it has a tough, German ring to it). Moreover, Orthodoxy is a term used more often by its opponents than its adherents (who preferred terms like "Torah-true"), both when it first came on the scene in Europe and nowadays. Its purpose was, then as now, to seperate adherence to halakha from the term religion, with the idea that they are merely one religious strain among many. While "Orthodoxy" as a concept is well-established and comfortaably used in America, its use here is of relatively recent vintage. Until a couple of decades ago, you were either Charedi (ultra-Orthodox), "religious" (moderate Halakhic/Orthodox), traditional or secular. Conservatives and Reforms were identified by strain, religious Jews were not. Now, when it IS used, it is almost always meant as a term of derision and distance, as in "I'm not one of THEM". I have to wonder whether it would be playing into the hands of such people by using that term, so harsh to the untrained ear, to describe our world-view.

The second reason is that most non-English speaking Jews in Israel have little to no understanding of what Modern Orthodoxy is. What understanding they have is often skewed. For instance, in the comprehensive Hebrew language website on Israeli society, Modern Orthodoxy is identified almost exclusively with would be known in America as the "hard left" of MO - academics like Profs. Noam Zohar and Moshe Halbertal, Ne'emanei Torah Ve'Avodah, and so on. The problem is not that there IS a hard-left wing, but that anyone identified with "Modern Orthodoxy" would be immediately "tagged" as such, thus delegitimizing them in the eyes of others (like the "neo-Reform" slur).

All this may sound like pointless semantics; in truth, it is anything but that. Keep in mind that if we want to be more than a small, insignificant American curio in these parts, we are going to have to do more than win "hearts and minds" among the Hebrew-speaking religious Jews in Israel. We will eventually need to gain both visibility and legitimacy in the general popular (Hebrew!) Israeli discourse, and like it or not, "labels" and "user-friendliness" count for a lot here.

So should we still stick with Modern Orthodoxy and change the public perception of it? Or maybe we should try another term? Suggestions are more than welcome.

Don't Just Preach, Practice (Part I: Less Observant Jews)

My Obiter Dicta has begun a critical discussion regarding the importance of introducing Modern Orthodoxy into Israel. I thought I might join the discussion from time to time and add my take on the issue from one specific vantage point - the issue of doing, not just believing. This time round we will discuss the issue of less observant Jews, often referred to as "traditional/masorti" Jews.

Orthodox Jews in Israel have a strange love-hate relationship with masorti Jews, many (though by no means all) of whom come from the Middle East and North Africa. On the one hand, we fought tooth and nail to ensure that many receive minimal religious education in the early years of the state when overwhelming secularism was the rule, both in the classroom and on the street. We count them among our "allies" in the debates regarding the Jewish nature of the country. Yet when it comes to accomodating them on a societal and individual level, we have failed them miserably. Abandonment may sound like a strong word, but it is apt in this situation.

Dr. Matityahu Dagan, a former head of Religious Education for the state, described in his panoramic book how exactly we did that. Put bluntly, Jewish educators in the Masorti-majority schools made little effort to improve the lax religious education given there. In the first generation of the state, Ashkenazim and Masortiyim were geographically seperated, with the result that most Ashkenazim learned with their peers and Masortiyim did likewise. When Masorti Jews started to move into better neighborhoods, the "frumer" and better-off Ashkenazi Jews panicked. The sight of their children learning with kids whose parents didn't keep Mitzvot, and whose children's observance was often lax, triggered the same Pavlovian reaction that led them to protect their children from the hard-core secularist Jews. "Private", "exclusive" and "highly selective" schools - both elementary and secondary became the norm. The latest uproar over education of Ethiopian Jews is simply the latest expression of that fear.

Make no mistake, I believe in the idea of a "khinuch dati". I hold no truck with fantasists who claim that if only we had ensured the same type of education for everyone (a pet peeve of Haaretz and the liberals) then all would be well. There is an unbridgebale chasm between those who believe in God and the Torah and those who do not. To pretend that both can be given the same exact education (necesarily the lowest common denominator) without massive defection to the secular majority betrays a stark naivete about the facts of life. This is not to say that we do not have common ground, or that we cannot fruitfully coexist. It is just that certain differences can not be bridged.

But the idea that living and learning alongisde Masorti Jews is the same thing religiously as doing so among open atheists and secularists is to me a horrible Hillul Hashem. It is also a declaration that we are just as pathetically spiritually weak as the Haredim, many of whom make every effort to avoid people who are not "Me-anshei shelomeinu". Apparently, for all our alleged openness, we are just a bunch of cowards. Anyone who doesn't cover their hair or dress tzniut enough, plays soccer on Shabbat or doesn't make it to shul except on holidays is the equivalent of an apikores lehach'is. Our children, even when they're teenagers or in the army, are so pathetically weak spiritually that the first contact with anyone not like them will make them drop the kipa like a piano. If that's the case, what the hell was the point of all that Torah study?!

So what does all this have to do with doing? It's simple. Stop blabbing about "Achdut Yisra'el" and put your money where your mouth is. Live in places that have a wide scale religiously, especially in the North and the South. Stop hiding in a bubble. Invite Jews over to your house for Shabbat even if it means they might drive (leave the option for not being mehalel Shabbat open). Let your kids play with them. Let them come to your Shul even if they don't show up with a kipa or in jeans. Accept them with open arms and help them rather than scorn them if they falter. Wish them a Shabbat Shalom when you pass them by. Channel Rav Aryeh Levin rather than the Brisker Rav.

I can hear the objections coming out already. My children will stop being religious. I'll be mesaye'a yedei ovrei aveirah. Neither argument works with me. Your children are at risk of stopping to be religious the minute they are born into a world dominated by kefira, both of the low (te'avon) and high (philosophy) variety. It is your job as a parent to work on his/her spiritual well-being and not "take the easy way out" by trying to shunt him into a glorified incubator. At least that's what you should do if you genuinely consider yourself non-Haredi. As for mesaye'ah yedei ovrei aveirah, I have two responses to that: 1) "Chalel alav Shabbat echad cedei sheyekayem Shabatot harbeh" - you never know whether your actions will encourage people to come closer to Judaism or at least ensure their children receive a religious education 2) Kidush Hashem - Even if that doesn't pan out, just causing people to say "zo Torah vezo sechara" or some variation thereof with delight is reward enough.

There is no need to give sins a liberal-religious rubber stamp. All we need to do is keep the door open, standing in front with a tray of cookies, a siddur and a smile on our faces.

UPDATE: Dov makes an important point, one I wish to discuss. Obviously issues of serious halakhic import such as Jews driving on Shabbat can not be solved simply with the conceptual statements I quoted above. My point was more to give an ideological underpinning to halakhic kulas that might allow for inviting Jews like that under certain circumstances. It was not, h"v, to replace halakha but to reinforce a certain way of halakhic thinking against the "always be makhmir" types.

OTOH, no offense, Dov, but I think "solid Torah learning" is a cop-out. Who makes the call when it comes to "solid Torah learning"? The Charedi-exclusivist camp that calls the Rav "JB" and spits on and insults every Rav, no matter how great, who dared to be pasken lekula, especially in our community (just look at the assault on Shabbat elevators, which were allowed based on solid Torah learning but unacceptable to the machmir croud)? Just what would constitute acceptable "solid Torah learning"?!

I think this kind of thinking is exactly what paralyzes us - the fear of "ma yomru". "Solid Torah learning" should be halakha and hashkafa solidly grounded in the sources, but not afraid to openly and unapologetically go in other directions if the situation calls for it. We need independent poskim (poskim, not "wooly-headed left ideologues", as you so quaintly put it), even mavericks, who can help us wade through the difficult territory that is MO.

UPDATE II: Quite a number of comments have come up on the education integration issue. While I agree that it is a serious challenge, doing nothing but kvetching about the situation doesn't help. If anyone who reads this post has better ways of reaching out to Am Yisra'el MO style than what I suggested, then by all means, share with us.

Remember, it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

More Nobel Prize Idiocy

OK, now I know who's going to be the new darling of the left-wing for the next decade and a half.

Remember, folks, being brilliant in one area of knowledge does not prevent you from being completely a complete neophyte in others.