Geese, Ganders, and the Goblins of Pluralism

By Rabbi Alan Yuter
Posted Monday, January 8, 2007

The Orthodox Union has vigorously protested a recently proposed bill submitted in the Israeli Knesset by MK Pines-Paz that would outlaw Jewish outreach to unaffiliated youth and adults in Israel. Apparently, Pines-Paz does not want Orthodox rabbis to corrupt the youth of Israel as Socrates corrupted the youth of Athens.

We are told that Mr. Stephen J. Savitsky and Executive Director Rabbi Tsvi Hirsch Weinreb protested the proposed banning of Orthodox Outreach. Now, "Outreach" is a euphemism for trying to convince non-affiliates to Orthodoxy to adopt Othodox Judaism as the one and only legitimate Judaism, to the exclusion of all other pretending ideologies. Orthodox Judaism "reaches out" to touch others to [1] have the world accept it as the sole authentic Judaism, to [2] adopt its dogmas, doctrines and directives, and to [3] practice the rituals, gestures, and folkways, some of which are and some of which are not commandments of the Written and Oral Torah. By attracting converts, Orthodox Judaism, like other evangelical movements, not only deepen their coffers with philanthropic largesse, they are validated by those who accept Orthodoxy by choice. According to the Orthodox Union's statement, Jews ought to be free to engage in free conversation religious conversation . Opposition to Outreach is, for the Orthodox Union, a rejection of "Israel as a Jewish State." Orthodox Outreach in Israel is an attempt to make Israeli Jews more Jewish and Jewish Israelite society, more religiously legitimate.

The renowned anthropologist, Mary Douglas, teaches her readers pay attention to "implicit meanings." Implied in the OU protest are two contentions: [1] the freedoms of speech and religious conscience ought not to be restricted, [2] the one and only Jewish Judaism ought to have the right to advance its cause among Jewish Israelis. Therefore, freedom to evangelize must be accorded to instutionalized. But there are Israelis with their own vision of Judaism that views Orthodox evangelism to be threatening. The attempt to stifle Orthodox evangelism reflects a deep-seated fear of Orthodoxy and it s vibrancy. Within Orthodoxy, there is censorship. The Zoo Rabbi, Noson Slifkin, has been banned because he, like Rav Kook and R. Joseph Soloveitchik, did not view Genesis 1 literally. An Orthodoxy that will dialogue, with an aim to evangelize, those who are uninformed, but refused to dialogue those who have a passionate conscience but an alternative spiritual vision, has something to hide. Rabbi Professor Reuven Kimmelman of Brandeis University has shown that R. Abraham Heschel and not R. Soloveitchik had the right idea on interfaith dialogue. Unless one cites an objective canonical textual source, an opinion is no more than that.

The same Orthodoxy that demands the right to advance its cause among the unaffiliated denies the open market to Christians and non-Orthodox Jews. Furthermore, which "brand" of Orthodoxy has the right to be called "Orthodox" has been subject to debate among Jews, but public discussions never seem to take place. Maimonides, Nahmanides, and R. Yosef Albo has different, competing, and irreconcilable versions of "Orthodox Judaism."

MK Pines-Paz's proposed legislation, is outrageous, but it does alert the reader to the unease in Israeli society toward Orthodoxy. An Orthodoxy that demands freedom for itself while denying it to others is telling t Israeli society that "wrong [as Orthodoxy sees it] has no rights" and will elicit reactions like those of Pines-Paz. And an Orthodoxy whose leaders outlaw dialogue with competent, learned, committed and passionate dissent and engage only those with whom they control the conversation suffers from an integrity problem. Agudath Israel will not dialogue ideologically with the Rabbinical Council of America, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate delegitimates modern Orthodoxy, and regards any criticism as "Haredi bashing." There can be no peer review to fundamentalist leaders because they do not tolerate the legitimacy of peers. When Haredi policy and rulings violate the letter of Talmudic law [women's wigs on Shabbat, exemptions for military service in a defensive war in Israel, outlawing women from observing mayim aharonim] one is not bashing people, but affirming Torah law. Haredim whose religious practice requires the abolition of Talmudic law may be Haredi, or "tremblers." But they do not represent Orthodox Judaism because they tremble before the fickle tastes of parochial Jewish society and not the unchanging word of God. Maimonides had no fear of dialogue, and at Barcalona, Spain, his adversary in Torah, Nahmanides, engaged in debate with Pablo Christiani with care, prudence, and spiritual confidence, sanctifying thereby God's name.

Authentic Outreach requires a conversation amongst equals. I wonder how open to outreach the Crown Heights community would be if the CCAR would translate its Pittsburgh I and II platforms into Yiddish and distributed the documents to unsuspecting Lubavitch youth. Perhaps now we understand the unease that motivates MK Pines-Paz's undemocratic suggestion. I wonder by what right do those who ban Rabbi Nathan Slifkin, the Orthodox rabbi who does not read the Torah literally, claim the right to speak to the unsuspecting secularist. We remember that Moses was willing to dialogue with Korah and it was Korah the unbeliever who would not rise to the challenge. Thus if Moses could talk to Korah, one may not claim that Jewish law forbids dialogue in our time without violating the rule of inventing rules not in the canon. Claiming that the Torah forbids dialogue is a violation of Torah itself. The argument that conversation implies recognition would be absurd were it not first obscene. Judaism does not recognize recognition to be a recognizable religious category.

An Orthodoxy with the courage to be both modern and Orthodox is an Orthodoxy whose faith is pure and responds to challenges with intellectual integrity and not social parochialism. We have no fear of conversation, because the Author of our sacred library God the Torah right when it was written for the first time. Our Torah is a template by which we measure ourselves. Any Judaism that advocates a double standard, that I have a write to speak to your children but you may not speak to mine, does not deserve the adjective "Orthodox."

B'nai Israel Congregation  • 27 Lloyd Street • Baltimore, MD 21202 • 410-732-5454 • Fax 410-732-4850