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.