I wanted to share some of the responses that I received on Ideas 31. First of all, some readers were interested in the nature and timing of the last career crisis referred to in my introduction:
After having Bnot Chayil close down in the summer of '01, due to enrollment problems resulting from the security situation, there was talk of major cutbacks at Midreshet Rachel for the exact same reasons. Midreshet Rachel (the women's division of Shapell's) had become my largest part time employer in 01-02. Around May of last year, Deena, myself and several other teachers were formally given notice. In the end, students came and we were both asked to stay on. In the interim, however, this tenuous situation gave me reason to question the long term issues involved with working for others in the very volatile and competitive field of Enlish-language Torah education in Israel. I considered a variety of options and discussed them with several people, whom I felt could offer their experience and wisdom. In the end, I decided to start my own institution (something I was hoping to do in the longer-term, in any case), which ended up bringing me into partnership with Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo under the aegis of his preexisting organization. We have been working together since the end of the summer, and I have found it to be very rewarding and exciting. As for the ideological background and the nature of the project, that is precisely the topic of the three-part essay.
Now to the mailbag:
From Aviva Zahavi-Asa:
EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!! Boy, do you sum up what I've been thinking and feeling about (especially) modern orthodoxy and the educational system. The educational system focuses very little on matters of faith, doesn't teach the kids why they should daven (only how), and seems to me to often miss the point when it comes to teaching many religious issues. Modern orthodoxy, in my small opinion, seems to be stricken with spiritual malaise, as can be seen by what is not happening in most shuls. Matters of the heart (faith) are relegated to an unimportant place, while matters of the intellect are highly valued. Well, for a lot of kids (and adults) this approach doesn't work and we risk losing them altogether to any sort of religious connection.
From Joel Hecker:
I am always happy to see friends grappling and, in your case, industrious grappling. It is the footnote below that, for me, was the most interesting piece. I often tell people (that are willing to put up with my rantings or are foolish enough to think that I might say something enlightening) that I am not committed to orthodoxy per se but rather sustenance of commitment, thick religious culture', and the like. To my mind, Judaism can, theoretically at least, go in lots of different directions; the question is, what's going to have staying power. Given that assumption, (if you will go that far with me) what might be the changes that you would like to see?
Voices in modern orthodoxy that advocate certain models of Torah u-Mada often do not strike me as sufficient for our day. Reading secular philosophy and other forms of theological thinking are wonderful but I think that the issues before us today have to do with historical and political questions, most particularly the status of women. It is for this reason that the Torah u-Mada model is tiresome for me. I would imagine that in Israel it's more potent than here because Jews are living in history there. Here we're looking at historical studies or other kinds of halakhic investigations that more or less re-inscribe the status quo.
Maybe we just need new powerful leadership . . . . maybe we need to wait until the present denominationalism sufficiently fractures us into different peoples/communities that something fresh will be born of the crisis.
And from a reader who asked to remain anyonymous:
I just read the article available under http://www.shemayisrael.com/jewishobserver/archives/fringe/rkaufma.htm and see many of the same words and issues as in Nataf's "ideas 31".
Clarifying..
Not everyone drops out of Judaism. They do however drop out of the community. Kaufman talks about partnerships between parents and school.
What if the Rabbe'im are the one's dropping out? If only they would leave if they "drop out", but they remain in their visible positions and the damage is compounded. At that point, what does the parent do? Everyone is flying through rote mitzvos left and right while looking darn good doing it, tsitsit flying, the right hat, hats on top of wigs, etc., but down the middle there is callousness, abuse, and corruption.
It's not *everyone*. But how does a "religious" Jew walk into such a place and daven in a meaningful way? Does he go the same way into the reform place with miniskirts and microphones on the bima? It's not a question of which is better. They're both bad. One is visible and marked as bad by the frum. The other isn't visible and is "grumbled" about by those people outside the fold who "just don't get it." Maybe those people get it and just choose to stay home, remain "religious" Jews who quietly cry over the state of their community?
A brief reaction:
Joel Hecker asks for the type of changes I would like to see. I believe that the main two issues are already correctly identified in his letter and that from Aviva Zahavi-Asa.
1) If I understand Joel correctly, I would concur that we must address issues of history. For me, that means that tradition must engage Modernity. Modernity is based on certain intellectual and social assumptions about man and the best way to organize his society. By and large, the Jewish people have either capitulated to or pretended to ignore these assumptions. I believe both to be untenable. I consider Rav Kuk and Rav S.R. Hirsch (and incidentally not Rav Soloveitchik) as lonely voices that have truly tried to engage Modernity. Lonely voices, in the sense that I don't see serious continutiy to the thought of either of these visionary leaders.
2) I concur with Aviva that we see an unhealthy focus in the Modern Orthodox world on scholarship, at the expense of what she refers to as "matters of the heart". One could substitute ritual or learning in place of scholarship to include the Chareidi world. To succeed, Judaism must be able to address our emotions as well as our intellect or actions. Moreover, one of the most basic assumptions of modernity is the value of each individual. Such a value is likely to undermine an elitist culture, wherein the only serious religious role for most people is to admire, imitate and/or support our intellectual elites. Meaningful religious experience for the masses must be developed to sustain the vast majority of our people who are not built for sophisticated learning/scholarship. In this, I see Chassidut as a model but not an answer (see Ideas 3 availablle at www.tzemachdovid.org/ideas and soon to be on the Cardozo Academy website).
While dealling with these two issues will not completely eliminate the lack of sincerity found in our communities as per our anonymous contributor, I believe that such grappling will mitigate the spiritual numbness that is often at the root of the behavior described.
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(The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of Tzemach Dovid)
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