Torah and Fervency

By Rabbi Alan Yuter
Posted Wednesday, August 2, 2006

The Ultra Orthodox world has succeeded in portraying itself as "fervent" in its Orthodoxy and the media has adopted this perspective. Implied is that the Modern Orthodox are either closet Conservatives, given the inattention that they are portrayed to pay to correct practice and doctrine, or they are the sinful adherents of real Orthodoxy "lite." Those who are modern Orthodox and fervent are the worst heretics precisely because they cloud the issue. The observe Torah, but with a personalized touch, they are Zionists, college educated, and believe that Judaic studies, particularly referencing canonical documents, must be studied with the tools of the modern age, These Jews will not submit to the intuitions of the self-proclaimed fervent Orthodox who claim that only they have correct tradition, which is expressed not in a "scientific" reading of the canon but in the intuited Tradition of Daas Torah, the challenge of which is an act of impudence, ignorance, and arrogance. No one can please the Holy One except by obeying them.

Some definitions are in order. Torah means "the world of God" [Isaiah 2:3] and refers to the documents of the Written and Oral Law. Prophecy is not Torah and rabbinic opinion today is not Torah either, unless we make the problematic claim that the right reverend rabbis read the revelation of God by intuition. Fervency is the mood of warmth, desire, passion, commitment and sincerity which, for the Judaism of Tradition, is directed towards God. The so-called "fervent Orthodox" are seen to be fervent toward God and those Orthodox lite do well to recognize the real thing in their deference and in their donations.

Fervent modern Orthodox Jews believe that the Tradition is recorded in canonical books and is not the culture we necessarily inherited from our ancestors. It is Torah law and not communal convention that is the object of our fervency. One Baltimore Rosh Yeshiva is reported to have asked a young man, "did you ask your rabbi for a dispensation before you went to college," implying that Jewish law forbids college education. For a society that fervently wishes that its rabbis possess the monopoly of influences, ideas, thoughts and models, a college education is a terrible experience to undergo. The fervent modern Orthodox Jew remembers mEduyot 2:2 and Bet Yosef Yoreh De'ah 1:1, that unless an act is explicitly forbidden it is implicated authorized, or permitted. This embarrassing factoid of piety has not been taught in our religious schools. After all, Judaism cannot really believe in "autonomy" because [a] that is a Reform doctrine and [b] we cannot control people who know too much. Fervency must be directed to the right address.

Fervency refers to shaking or quaking before the Lord or the Torah of our God, at least according to Hebrew Scripture. The Quakers of Pennsylvania and the Shakers of Cleveland were the heirs of this idea in Pentecostal Christianity. They dressed in black
clothing, wore black hats, distanced themselves from modernity, imposed this distance on members of their community, and shook when they pray. According to Jewish law, one does not shake when one prays, but stand erect before God with hands folded in front of one's person. Does the fervent Jew obey the law or follow the heart and eyes of the community? Is religion, at its core, about God's approval or people's approval?

Three Torah examples will illustrate the point. Pinehas the priest saw an Israelite man and a Midianite woman copulating in public, violating standards of decency and the sin of religious pollution. Most Hebrews wept impotently, not knowing how to respond. Pinehas took the law into his own hands and killed the couple, staving off God's anger and saving the Israelite community.

On one hand, our rabbis were unhappy with Pinehas's fanatic affirmation of religious standards. On the other hand, God was happy with what he did. For his act of violence, he was awarded a covenant of peace. Some would say that it is forbidden to watch TV.I have found not such restriction. But TV presents challenges. TV teaches that improper copulation is not sinful, but only "fooling around." Who is fooling anyone with these not so innocent euphemisms. Yet theft remains a betrayal of society. In Torah, adultery is not foolish, it is a betrayal of the marital bed and the Sinai Compact. Fervency, if honest, must be applied and not hidden.

Rabbi Goren, the Chief Rabbi of Israel's army and then the State, was fervent. His actions matched his beliefs. One could disagree with his rulings and his politics, but his concern for all Jews, religious or not, made him everyone's rabbi. In one case, he invalidated a conversion in order to save the marriages of two siblings, he abolished distinctions between Sefardics and Asheknazics in the Israeli army religious services, and would not allow religious Jews to earn privileges for piety. By denying religious Jews to become a ghetto within Israel, Rabbi Goren offended those who claim to be fervent, but he affirmed the rule that "one must not separate oneself from the community."

Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, by all accounts an Ultra Orthodox Jew, was also authentically fervent. While anti-modern, he was fanatical about justice. He recognized both God and the image of God in people. He would not allow the affluent to have privilege. He rejected the golden rule. If you have the gold, then you have the right to rule. For Rav Chaim, the rabbi must be involved in justice, in right, and doing good. It is insufficient to be looking good and remaining silent when others are acting badly by acting wrongly. Real religion, the religion that God demands of us, is doing right, acting kindly, and walking humbly before God. Real fervency is expressed in challenging the status quo when it violates the canon. One Ultra Orthodox group preaches that we should nullify ourselves because we are too insignificant relative to our great rabbis. Another rabbi, writing in a collection of essays, argues that modern Jews are too biased to have opinions, and should submit to the intuitions of the truly fervent.

The Torah allows disagreement with anyone except the Supreme Court of Torah, the Great Sanhedrin. The Torah does not know of a doctrine that requires that we walk humbly before people or submit to the conscience of others. God gave us, all of us, a Torah of truth and we obey the words of the Torah, oral and written, fervently. When there are gaps in the law, where the law is silent, we apply our own Torah informed conscience.

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