Am I Anti- Modern Orthodox?

Recently two readers of this blog complained, not for the first time, that my views are biased and prejudice against Modern Orthodoxy (MO). Last time they made these criticisms my response was “I haven’t even gotten started.” This time around I would like to speak more directly towards the issues. Because the criticisms are so broadly based, I know of no easy way of responding other than by ranting some without much hope of settling anything. What follows is my response to the criticism of Baalabus, which can be found in the comments on my blog of 8/23/06.

Baalabus- as usual you have posted a sharp and pointed criticism. I fail to see why you find what I have written sooooo upsetting. I am not a posek (legal decisor) or a rav or a spokesman for a group or a denomination. I’m one guy sitting in Evanston yada-yadaing away. So even if I contradict myself or don’t like what you like, it’s not really very important. I write from a subjective position, which is all that I could possibly do. I’m not standing in some neutral place above it all. I am talking out of my subjective experience and life. It is true that I am personally comfortable with Strict Orthodox people, mostly because of a long history of personal friendships. It is also true that I lack the creative imagination and empathy to write in a natural way about what it is to be Modern Orthodox. I can only do what I can do. A quote from The Little Prince says it best: ‘’It’s only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I have never suggested that a MO person ought to be anything other than what he is. Indeed, I did say as an empirical fact MO have Charedim on the brain and not vice versa, but I wouldn’t call that “skewering” anyone. As for my not blaming charedim for anything, I wrote five anti-charedi blogs on the Kolko affair, one anti-bashert blog, and a blog called “Torah Torah Torah!” where I called charedim obsessive. In my discussion of gays, I wrote that in having many children, charedim are bringing about greater numbers of gay children. In my blog called “The Center Moves Left”, I attacked charedim for distancing Conservatives. One reason that I am not up in arms about charedim is that much of what they say goes right past me. As an example, I believe Rebbe Eliyushuv was right in banning Slifkin, but not because I don’t believe in evolution. I have no doubt that evolution is true and I certainly don’t need Slifkin to tell me this. As I hope to argue, I’m opposed to importing evolution into the study of Torah. I have problems with the and in the ideal of 'Torah and Knowledge.'

I wrote a number of blogs defending Charedim from Modern Orthodox criticism. Whether I am right or wrong, these are not to be taken as direct criticisms of MO, but as defenses of Charedim. I do this because NOBODY else does it, except people who are lame. In fact, the Jewish blogosphere is one huge conversation of MO with itself. You certainly can’t have an objection to one blogger writing something outside the party line. It is true that I am not a fan of the philosophy espoused by Yeshiva University. (Torah Umadda). I am also not a fan of their style of learning or of the late Rabbi Soloveitchik. If I can work up the courage, I will blog on this. I point out that not being a fan doesn’t make me an enemy. Second all my objections are intellectual. I have no personal antipathy to the lifestyle or people called MO. In rereading what I wrote I found one glaring negative description. At the end of my blog of 8/15 I said the Strict Orthodox are in many cases more knowledgeable and more sophisticated than MO. If I could rewrite the piece I would omit the entire remark. I have no way of justifying such a claim, and for all I know it isn’t true.

In two of my pro-charedi blogs, I was less than enthusiastic about the political position of religious Zionism. Although I haven’t blogged on this topic, I acknowledge having a big problem with the religious, mostly MO settlers on the West Bank. I was terribly disappointed when Mizrachi went the way of the Gush. I could never understand why the Rav Kook schools of thought, (pere et fils) trumped the more moderate schools of Religious Zionism even in America. I say upfront I am a left-wing person. If somebody wants to read right-wing pro-settler views, they ought to go to a different blog. I think of such a disagreement as political; they have nothing to do with religion as such. I feel Charedim have some affinity with the progressive left. Even in the case of Strict Orthodoxy the situation is not really different. They have for the most part become right wing, but it will be quite some time before any of their children fight in a war. They are in favor of fighting forever provided the troops are supplied by the religious Zionists and the secular. On this particular issue I feel the more extreme charedim are generally less hypocritical.

Your claim that I idealize Conservative Judaism is also not true. I have not written one pro-Conservative blog, and have argued against Chancellor Schorsch’s ideal seminary curriculum. mixed seating, gay rabbis, and the movement of the Conservatives towards Reform. My criticism of Conservatives has not been a religious one but pragmatic. In fact, my entire blog is devoted to seeing how much can be done without appealing to religious arguments. It is therefore particularly ironic that you see me as not different from Charedim who criticize Modern Orthodoxy. They criticize from a religious point of view; to wit that MO are not frum enough. Such words will never pass from my lips.

Moving on to the continuum question…my view is that Orthodoxy is already a continuum. There are four shuls on one block in Boro Park, each minutely different from the other. Somewhere around left-wing MO the spectrum begins to thin out and keeps on getting thinner so that when you get to Jewish Renewal, it is like Montana… you can drive two hundred miles without seeing a soul.

I am in favor of a continuum from left-wing MO until the middle of the Conservative movement because I believe the center has collapsed, Conservatives are moving toward Reform Light, and I am not in favor of building a wall around Orthodoxy. An additional reason, which I haven’t spoken about, is that I believe the place to make a stand against intermarriage is somewhere just left of Conservadox. I leave this for another blog. When one gets to Reform it is totally utopian to talk about a continuum. Reform and even Conservative Judaism are not sufficiently well-defined to be able to speak of a specific way of life, let alone a continuum of many different variants. I will blog on this topic.

In answer to your rhetorical questions…I am not a peace-and-love-unity guy. As far as I’m concerned, MO and Charedim can tear themselves apart from now until eternity. I consider my essays as a contribution to the polemics. Furthermore, I don’t have a problem if the right-wing of MO defines themselves by way of contrast with the wishy-washy left-wing MO. I believe that the bitching on all sides is what makes Jewish life so interesting. The existence of an other serves a constructive function of solidifying a community.Your final question was “who is more tolerant of Edah, etc., the Modern Orthodox or the Charedim?” The term ‘’MO’’ is ambiguous; very left- wing MO IS Edah. As for the Y.U. crowd, I stand by what I said in my blog on Orthodox women rabbis. Of course Charedim are not accepting of Edah, but they don’t interface with them. Not only don’t they accept Edah, they never even heard of them. The polemics in a place like The Jewish Observer is mostly against Y.U./R.I.E.T.S. branch of MO because they are the competition.

One final thought…there are a lot of things that MO can say against Charedim, which would be very effective and are not frequently said. The one thing you don’t want to say is that MO is also really, really frum. Once you get into the “me-too” game, you lost. You end up having the worst of both worlds….you become black and still feel the snobbery of the charedim.