tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80301442024-03-23T20:09:51.006+02:00My Obiter DictaRuminations on Life, Orthodox Judaism, Israel and AcademiaJeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.comBlogger1108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-84433152633858423842023-11-09T20:43:00.002+02:002023-11-09T20:43:23.724+02:00'And He Shall Be Separated from the Entire Community of the Exile'<div id="mount_0_0_R+"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z"><form action="/logout.php?button_location=settings&button_name=logout" method="POST"></form><div role="banner"><div class="x6s0dn4 x9f619 x78zum5 x1iyjqo2 x1s65kcs x1d52u69 xixxii4 x17qophe x13vifvy xzkaem6"><div class="x10l6tqk x10ja8i0 xcd74o5 x1k90msu x6o7n8i xbxq160 xg01cxk x47corl"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x6s0dn4 x9f619 x78zum5 x1iyjqo2 x1s65kcs x1d52u69 xixxii4 x17qophe x13vifvy xzkaem6"><div><div></div></div></div><div></div><div aria-hidden="false" class="x9f619 x1s65kcs x16xn7b0 xixxii4 x17qophe x13vifvy xj35x94 xhtitgo xkreb8t"><div class=""><div class="x9f619 xdt5ytf xh8yej3 x1lliihq x1n2onr6 xhq5o37 x1qxoq08 x1cpjm7i x1ryaae9 x124lp2h x1hmns74 x1mhyesy x1y3wzot"><div class="x6s0dn4 x9f619 x78zum5 x1s65kcs x1wsgfga x1pi30zi x1swvt13"><div class="xh8yej3"><div class="x6s0dn4 x78zum5 xh8yej3"><div class="x6s0dn4 x78zum5 x2lah0s x14qfxbe"><div class="xhb22t3 x6o7n8i xcj1dhv xg01cxk x47corl xm1jes4"><div class="x14qfxbe" data-visualcompletion="ignore"><div class="xgd8bvy"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x78zum5 x2lah0s x1s65kcs xsmyaan x13w7htt"><b> IMPORTANT STATEMENT cum RANT (PLEASE SHARE)</b></div><div class="x78zum5 x2lah0s x1s65kcs xsmyaan x13w7htt"> </div><div class="" dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r32b:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">One of the leading <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-un-jews-natan-sharansky">UnJews</a> in Jewish studies has posed the question whether anyone has the right to say how other express their Judaism. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">It's a fair question.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Obviously, as an Orthodox Jew who believes in the existence of Absolute Truth in Torah, deriving from an Absolute God, I think that many forms of Jewish expression are in error. At the same time, I am not God's Accountant, nor would I ever want such a position even if the Almighty offered it to me (and He won't). Each person has freedom of will to choose to express their Judaism as they see fit (though may who do so out of Hebrew illiteracy and Jewish ignorance might be challenged as to the sagacity of their methods).</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In the end, all Jews are heirs of the covenant and are beloved brothers and sisters.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">HOWEVER, that freedom of Jewish self-expression ends when it puts the lives of others in danger. At that point, such people like the UnJews become a menace to the Jewish People and to Judaism. They lose any and all credibility and standing in the Jewish community. They must be unilaterally condemned and excoriated by the entire Jewish People, nothing less.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Many of these 'scholars' and 'intellectuals' (some knowledgeable, some ignoramuses and all worthy of Orwell's remarks about intellectuals) have for years worked to criticize not only the policies of various Israeli governments, but to actively de-legitimize and demonize the State of Israel per se. Directly or indirectly, they empower and make common cause with the forces of evil who seek the eradication of the State of Israel and its over Six Million Jews. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In their short-sidedness, paternalist ignorance and outright colonialist racism they deny the genocidal motives not only of Hamas and Salafi Islam, but of much of the Palestinian National Movement since its inception. This they blithely dismiss with the bromide of the rejection of 'Islamophobia' (a term coined by the Soviet KGB in the 1960's). [The irony is that those who have really studied Islam, respect Islam and Muslims understand the lethal elements of Islam which drive much of the Palestinian leadership and people, EVEN IF THEY ARE ON THE POLITICAL LEFT!]</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Then came October 7th. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Everyone who witnessed (first or second hand) the indescribable horrors worked by Hamas and hundreds and hundreds of Gazan civilians (who hold ten percent of the hostages) knows that they came to murder Jews, period. Indeed, they slaughtered people who spent their lives to build a Palestinian State and withdraw from Judea and Samaria. They and their leaders celebrated the rapes, dismemberments, burnings, beheadings, baking of infants and kidnapping in the streets of Gaza. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">And what do the veddy veddy sophisticated UnJews do? True, they express outrage at Hamas' 'excesses' (for which they helped to pave the way by demonizing Israel and calling for our dismantling/destruction). They also blame Israel for fighting back. They cover themselves in the unctious glory of cheap virtue signalling through the aggressively asserted obscenity that Israel is no less to blame than Hamas, because tragically Gazan civilians are caught in the fighting, even though there is literally no other way for Israel to fight its enemies. (And remember, Israel is PROTECTING Gazan civilians who are fleeing the war zone while Hamas shoots at them to keep them in place). </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">So, in answer to the question of this leading UnJew...Yes, we have the right to call you out and cast you out. Technically, God in His Wisdom, made it impossible to deprive a Jew of his being a Jew. Teshuvah, even a Teshuvah as unlikely as yours and those of your acolytes and minions, is always possible.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCxRkWPMN9qwwQOednfWiiFcgO9QrgSxe6BIyRIfZlJaHjD1e6MkabQpx7TUTTGKcCpjZa9Y3gK3Zk6CAQ2GVVWTFhS6OhvgstJz-Zzt51GEoL-epGAHTSw6CmCr4m-u0YvjGVSKKIORSGB0jMRjaL5ndcC5EyCdF6axDJXwok-T7mwj7865Y/s1143/UJ1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1143" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCxRkWPMN9qwwQOednfWiiFcgO9QrgSxe6BIyRIfZlJaHjD1e6MkabQpx7TUTTGKcCpjZa9Y3gK3Zk6CAQ2GVVWTFhS6OhvgstJz-Zzt51GEoL-epGAHTSw6CmCr4m-u0YvjGVSKKIORSGB0jMRjaL5ndcC5EyCdF6axDJXwok-T7mwj7865Y/s320/UJ1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We, however, Jews who are fighting for our lives and for our country (Secular and Religious, Haredi and Masorati, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, Jews and Non-Jews) absolutely have the right and the obligation to condemn your attitudes and positions, to sanction you in any way we can and to declare at the altar of Jewish History, in the words of the traditional imprecation: And they shall be separated from the entire community of the exile. </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">[And ALL of the above applies equally to the obscenity that calls itself Neturei Karta. Ironically, the far from traditionally observant UnJews find themselves together with the fanatics of Neturei Qarta. The extremes really do meet in the middle.]</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYRXnPtZvHT-iJa-P1rs8txeG5L-O0BECQUyAejEyDWqJ_brx3YVTWizImYuNhKZNvfK9XeIJzkpfe6MlK4Cuj4e_hMkrF6mkmfc5Y4g8JbcEt2dO0U454GYiswsmiB30qM2Q2IDBEAK8foPLrDVx0EYeHmVMOGND1WvvYQAJcsdefcPI9g25/s275/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYRXnPtZvHT-iJa-P1rs8txeG5L-O0BECQUyAejEyDWqJ_brx3YVTWizImYuNhKZNvfK9XeIJzkpfe6MlK4Cuj4e_hMkrF6mkmfc5Y4g8JbcEt2dO0U454GYiswsmiB30qM2Q2IDBEAK8foPLrDVx0EYeHmVMOGND1WvvYQAJcsdefcPI9g25/s1600/Untitled.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div></div></span></div></div></div></div>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-61108822031942477592021-03-23T20:17:00.002+02:002021-03-23T20:17:33.336+02:00Pesach 5781<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5p6bRFcMcBDz7uP0pkG5cHmmeg0VkK22WuMdC6NwZKp5x_k7n7RE7wlLcPA-30os9Bzl4qxzm-r-Z_LijDVHhV1WRR0liNXyoniDwFCIKFEiNVVmAdQoKssP4uu6inGbzCE1r/s1748/Pesach+5781.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1748" data-original-width="1234" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5p6bRFcMcBDz7uP0pkG5cHmmeg0VkK22WuMdC6NwZKp5x_k7n7RE7wlLcPA-30os9Bzl4qxzm-r-Z_LijDVHhV1WRR0liNXyoniDwFCIKFEiNVVmAdQoKssP4uu6inGbzCE1r/w274-h400/Pesach+5781.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-768955370797449472021-03-07T15:32:00.005+02:002021-03-07T15:51:40.068+02:00On Contemporary Idolatry<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></span></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwW7or30YRq7eji1pAthaEkrv86CPtl74XeuZYOGYfs1Y9qGJVWKuTIcTw8gGAYtivYS52llGPlU_pT3jitwqRk5ODbS4YJxJNkOrJ-o2i4smDTKePpSRfgkWprpQXS8JCuTYz/s370/32-goldencalf%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="370" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwW7or30YRq7eji1pAthaEkrv86CPtl74XeuZYOGYfs1Y9qGJVWKuTIcTw8gGAYtivYS52llGPlU_pT3jitwqRk5ODbS4YJxJNkOrJ-o2i4smDTKePpSRfgkWprpQXS8JCuTYz/w400-h334/32-goldencalf%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I'm thinking about Avodah Zarah.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Actually, I've been thinking about it not only lately, but for a few years now. As an halakhic and experiential religious category, Avodah Zarah has not played much of a role in Traditional Jewish Life, for at least two centuries. Islam has, with minor exceptions, always been viewed as a monotheistic faith. Even the attitude to Christianity has significantly softened. Whereas Maimonides and most early Ashkenazic authorities viewed Christianity as unadulterated Avodah Zarah, for five centuries now the dominant position has been that Christianity is not Avodah Zara for non-Jews. This, together with twentieth century religious relativism and syncretism, has taken the sting out of the traditional Jewish revulsion at Trinitarian Belief, the attribution of Divinity to a Human Being, and the various trappings of the more traditional Christian Churches. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The result is that even the most traditional Jews have lost their spiritual 'sea-legs' when it comes to Avodah Zarah. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Consider, when a prominent rabbi was obliged to participate in a church service, the opposition was largely an expression of the long, bitter and bloody history between Church and Synagogue. It barely echoed the genuine reaction of Traditional Ashkenazic Jews to Avodah Zarah (see, e.g., the various elegies and chronicles written the wake of the First Crusade or the Chmielnitzki Uprising). Or, when Jews visit India and the Far East, they have no problem visiting, admiring (or eating) sites that are indubitably unalloyed Avodah Zarah (at least according to Halakhah). We just don't know it when we see it.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">And yet, Avodah Zarah is the polar opposite of the Torah.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">It is the antithesis of everything the Torah stands for, and the fundamentum upon which our relationship with God stands or falls. The entire TaNaKh is infused with this binary, which Hazal pithily summed up: <b>כל המודה בעבודה זרה כופר בכל התורה כולה וכל הכופר בעבודה זרה מודה בכל התורה כולה</b>(ספרי דברים פרשת ראה פיסקא נד </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">You may ask, then, why am I thinking about Avodah Zarah (unless I plan to travel to the Far East)? The answer is that we are living in a pagan age. We are confronted at every turn by Avodah Zarah, and we fail to realize it.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Avodah Zarah is not confined to the fetishistic adoration of images or of natural forces. In fact, the prohibition against idols is really (by most counts) only comes up in the Second Commandment, not the First. It is merely a sub-section of the more important injunction that we must have no other gods but the One True God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the One whose Will we are bound to uphold under any and all conditions. On this basis, my teacher and friend, Rabbi Dr. David Berger offered the best definition of Avodah Zarah that I know of: Avodah Zarah is to accept or worship as god, someone or something who/which is not actually God. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This begs the question: What makes the present age pagan?</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The answer was provided, unknowingly, by the great classical scholar, Edith Hamilton, in her wonderful book, Mythology. In the introduction (pp. 14-20), Hamilton describes the novel features of Greek and Roman Mythology. Chief among these is that 'the Greeks, unlike the Egyptians, made the gods in their own image.' The gods of Greece were an exercise in human narcissism and human self-indulgence [and yes, I'm aware of Frankfurter's 'Before Philosophy' and Margalit and Halbertal's Idolatry].</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Contemporary Western 'Enlightened' Culture, that which demands that we measure up to its demands and adjust to all of its values, is very much the successor of Greece and Roman religion. The difference is that the Greeks and Romans posited these ideal humans as being above them and that they owed them obedience and obeisance. We, however, have done away with that distinction and simply worship ourselves as a group and/or as individuals. Accepting Nietzsche's assertions about God, the West has posited that belief in God and adherence to Religion is either an opiate (Marx) or a Neurosis (Freud). The result is self-worship, self-adulation and epistemological, axiological and moral relativism. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">As Tara Isabelle Burton, in her book 'Strange Rites, notes: In the absence of God people create a plethora of rites and religions; self-centered, self-concerned, self-indulgent and morally unfettered rites that she herself (a PhD in Religion from Oxford) describes as pagan. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In his lectures on the story of Abraham, 'Abraham's Journey,' Rav Soloveitchik anticipated the West's move back to paganism (enlightened, sophisticated paganism, but paganism nonetheless). Everything he discerned has come to pass, and to a degree that I suspect would have surprised even him.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The trouble is that even ostensibly religious Jews too often don't recognize this new/old Avodah Zarah for what it is. They don't see the dissonance between many of its values and the Torah. They live in compartmentalized tension. Alternatively, they too often wish to resolve the points of disconnection between them by (to invoke and reverse an image of Tchernikhovsky) 'putting Tefillin on Apollo.' </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">None of these responses are sustainable.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">At some point, we will have to return to the realization that there are places to which Judaism and its adherents cannot and will not go. It will be a traumatic moment. There is, however, no avoiding it. The existential fact for the Jew is, as the Midrash says:</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>כל העולם מעבר אחד והוא מעבר אחד </b></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">)בראשית רבה (תיאודור-אלבק) פרשת לך לך פרשה מא)</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The whole world is on one side and he (viz. Abraham) is on the other side.</div></div><p></p><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_6c8"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></span></div></div></div></div>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-81833971082335704532021-02-09T12:50:00.013+02:002021-02-09T12:53:27.252+02:00פרשת שקלים מלמדת: לכו להתחסן<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCkQstulb8uWjZMIEBaXXkUxJwmMLZMWG6mn1tCNLadGWNXjtoVmJzCn243I0AJEotkboqpirpewOgHWLKsvgSFtQk5iZzrZnbRfm7-C2w0k3lPkNE3_yWHZpdbxzJyTIC8N4/s320/178_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="320" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCkQstulb8uWjZMIEBaXXkUxJwmMLZMWG6mn1tCNLadGWNXjtoVmJzCn243I0AJEotkboqpirpewOgHWLKsvgSFtQk5iZzrZnbRfm7-C2w0k3lPkNE3_yWHZpdbxzJyTIC8N4/w200-h199/178_2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: arial;">השבת נקרא בחוצות את
פרשת שקלים (שמות ל, 11-16), הראשונה מבין ארבע הפרשיות המובילות אותנו לחג הפסח.
הפרשה מתעסקת בחובת כל יהודי לתרום מחצית השקל לבית המקדש בירושלים, כסף שמימן את
קרבנות הציבור לשנה החדשה. את הפרשה תמיד קוראים צמוד לראש חודש אדר, בהתאם לקביעת
המשנה ש'</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים' (שקלים א, א). אפילו אחרי חרבן הבית,
תיקנו חז"ל שתיקרא פרשת שקלים כ'זכר למקדש' ומתוך כמיהה לבניינו מחדש
(בב"א)</span></span>.</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; text-indent: 0.5in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">למרות שטעם קריאת הפרשה הוא כנ"ל, הקרבה בינה לבין פורים מעוררת
עניין. היתכן ש חז"ל ביקשו בכל זאת לרמוז שקיים קשר בין תשלום מחצית השקל
לבין אותו נס שאירע לעם ישראל בתחומי האימפריה הפרסית, עשורים בודדים אחרי חנוכת
הבית השני?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>אחד שסבר שקיים קשר כזה הוא הרב עזריה
פיגו, חכם איטלקי שחי בין 1579- 1647. הרב פיגו היה תלמיד חכם בעל שיעור קומה
שחיבר פירוש ל'ספר התרומות' הנקרא 'גידולי תרומה'; חיבור חשוב ובעל השפעה המתעסק
בדיני ממונות. אולם, הרב פיגו מפורסם במיוחד בזכות דרשותיו. הוא היה הדרשן מראשי
לקהילת מגורשי ספרד ופורטוגל בגטו של ונציה, ודרשותיו משכו קהל רחב. אוסף דרשותיו,
'בינה לעתים,' נחשב נעס צאן ברזל של הסוגה ומעולם לא יצא מהדפוס, מאז צאתו לראשונה
ב1643.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>בדרשא לפורים (סי' כ), תוהה הרב עזריה מה הביא
את המן הרשע לחשוב שיצליח במזימתו להשמיד את העם היהודי (שחי כולו בתחומי האימפריה
הפרסית). הוא טוען התשובה נרמזת בדברי המן למלך, בהציעו לו כסף לביצוע זממו: 'יֶשְׁנ֣וֹ
עַם־אֶחָ֗ד מְפֻזָּ֤ר וּמְפֹרָד֙ בֵּ֣ין הָֽעַמִּ֔ים בְּכֹ֖ל מְדִינ֣וֹת
מַלְכוּתֶ֑ךָ וְדָתֵיהֶ֞ם שֹׁנ֣וֹת מִכָּל־עָ֗ם וְאֶת־דָּתֵ֤י הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ אֵינָ֣ם
עֹשִׂ֔ים וְלַמֶּ֥לֶךְ אֵין־שֹׁוֶ֖ה לְהַנִּיחָֽם' (אסתר ג, אסתר ג, ח). הרב פיגו
פירש את המילה 'מפורד' מלשון פירוד ומחלוקת. הוא קבע שליהודים מגיעה כלייה 'לאשר
שלט בהם הפירוד ביניהם, וכלם מלאים קטטות ומריבות, ולבם רחק אלו מאלו.' <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>יסוד הפלגנות היהודית, הוא התאים, נמצא באנוכיות
מופרזת ובחוסר התחשבות בצרכי הזולת. חיי 'אם אין אני לי, מי לי' הוא קרא לזה. המן
קיווה שניצול נקודת תורפה זו, חוסר האחדות ולכידות המאפיינת את היהודית, יסלול את
הדרך להשמדתם.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>אולם, הצהיר הרב עזריה פיגו, 'הוא,
יתברך, הקדים רפואה למכה זו במצות השקלים, אשר היא ממש הוראת הפך כל זה, בהיותו
מזרז לישראל על התאחדות ודביקות אלו עם אלו, להיות כולם אחדים כאיש אחד.' חובת
מחצית השקל מלמדת שכל ישראל שווים, כל ישראל ערבים וכל ישראל תלויים זה בזה. זה
המסר המרכזי של אסתר המלכה כשציוותה: "לך <b>כנוס את כל</b> היהודים" <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(שם, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ד, טז). הלקח,
כידוע, נקלט והתוצאות היו בהתאם.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>דברי הרב עזריה פיגו חייבים לעמוד לנגד
עינינו בעמדנו מול מגפת הקורונה. הנטייה היהודית לפלגנות ולסכסוך, העדפת צרכים
אישיים על חשבון (ומתוך שלילת) אלה של אחרים, יכולה להיות בעוכרינו (בדיוק כפי
שהבחין המן). קל וחומר בן בנו של קל וחומר, הדברים נכונים בעת מגיפה כזאת כשהחלטה
אישית שלא לקיים את הוראות הממשלה ואת דרישות הרופאים ( לחבוש מסיכה, לא להתקהל
ומעל הכל להתחסן) מסכנת ישירות את עצמנו ואת כל העם כולו. התנהלות כזאת מקעקעת את
יסודות התורה ומפרה גם את החובה לשמור על בריאותנו וגם את האיסור להזיק לאחינו
ואחיותינו. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>במילה אחת, רק אם נפנים את המסר המרכזי
של מצוות מחצית השקל נזכה לחגוג את 'פורים קורונה.'</span></p>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-36730586315092433522021-02-07T17:08:00.004+02:002021-02-07T17:08:25.782+02:00Divided and United: Some Thoughts on Parshat Shekalim <span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEIeZ60Br0LQhbVqpfknn4aiuwDYvIcRzUEb4TZ5NKV3joJvWcAkgMAEdXV3AaegorEYPA1T2KX4ImYuzHIhPfs3yixfBBiTfqYSUYyv-aMRECiJ0YYzujkB856KipSRMWDsd/s600/178_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUEIeZ60Br0LQhbVqpfknn4aiuwDYvIcRzUEb4TZ5NKV3joJvWcAkgMAEdXV3AaegorEYPA1T2KX4ImYuzHIhPfs3yixfBBiTfqYSUYyv-aMRECiJ0YYzujkB856KipSRMWDsd/s320/178_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span>This
Shabbat, after the weekly Torah portion, we will read <i>Parshat Sheqalim<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span> </span></i><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span> </span>(Ex.
30 11-16); which invokes the obligation to contribute a half-<i>sheqel</i> to
the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. <span> </span>The passage
is always read on the Shabbat after the first of Adar because in Temple times public
reminders to pay the half-<i>sheqel</i> began to be issued on <i>Rosh Hodesh </i>Adar
(M. <i>Sheqalim</i> 1, 1). As with so many other things, the Rabbis ordained
that the practice be continued in memory of the Temple (and in anticipation of
its speedy rebuilding).</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span>Still,
despite this obvious explanation, the proximity of <i>Parshat Sheqalim</i> to
Purim is intriguing. Could it be that the rabbis wanted to highlight a
connection between the commandment to pay the half-sheqel tax and the miracle
that occurred in the Persian Empire, less than a century after the Second
Temple was dedicated? </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">One commentator
who thought so was the Italian Scholar, R. Azariah Figo (<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>1579-1647</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>).
R. Azariah was a <i>Talmid Hakham</i> of the first order, the author of a
halakhic work entitled <i>Giddule Terumah</i>. However, he is best known
because of his collection of sermons, <i>Binah Le-Itim</i> which has remarkably
never been out of print since it was published in 1643.</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">In his first
sermon on Purim (no. 20), R. Azariah asks what was it that made Haman think
that he could destroy the Jewish People (all of whom lived within the borders
of the greater Persian Empire). He suggests that the answer is found in the deadly
proposal that Haman made to Ahasuerus: ‘And Haman said to King Ahasuerus:
'There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed (<i>mefuzar u-meforad</i>)
among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are different
from those of every people; nor do they obey the king's laws; therefore it
profits not the king to suffer them’ (Esther 3, 8). R. Azariah suggested that the
vulnerability of the Jews lay in their disunity. He understood the words <i>mefuzar
u-meforad</i> to refer not to the Jews’ geographic distribution, but to their
being deeply divided. Each Jew put his or her own concerns ahead of the needs
of the nation; living a life based on, ‘If I am not for myself, who will be for
me?’ The endless in-fighting among the Jews, Haman was telling the king, would
be their Achilles’ heel. By exploiting it, they could be destroyed.</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">However, R,
Azariah declared, God had already prepared the cure to Jewish disunity: the <i>mtzvah</i>
of the Half-<i>Sheqel</i>. The fact that each Jew gives half a <i>sheqel</i> teaches
us that half of us belongs to God. We are not allowed to devote ourselves
solely to our own concerns. When the</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">chips are down, God commands us to
transcend our selfishness and coalesce into a unified whole, devoted to the
vision and purpose that He laid out for us at Sinai, which is achieved through
unity, ‘as one person, with one heart.’ Happily, the lesson was not lost on the
Jews of the Persian Empire. They responded to Esther’s call to gather ‘all of
the Jews together,’ in fasting, prayer and in military self-defense.</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span>R.
Azariah’s point should ring out loudly in our present situation, as we face the
scourge of Corona. The Jewish penchant for divisiveness, for emphasizing our personal
needs and desires while ignoring the general welfare, could God forbid be our
undoing (just as Haman discerned). This is especially true in this time of plague,
when a personal decision not to obey the rules directly, and malignantly,
affects everyone around us. The <i>Mahatzit ha-Sheqel</i> teaches that our
bodies belong to God. It does not ask, it demands that we wear masks, observe
social distancing and above all be vaccinated, not only to save ourselves
(which is a <i>mitzvah</i> in its own right), but because of the binding Torah
obligation to save the Jewish People, as a whole. Irrespective of what others
might say, only by internalizing the lesson of the <i>Mahatzit ha-Sheqel</i> is
there any hope of our celebrating <i>Purim Corona</i>. <span> </span><span> </span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-58786630385173105162020-11-11T13:37:00.006+02:002020-11-11T13:41:27.952+02:00Between Heaven and Earth: My Dialogues with Rabbi David Hartman<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2HLFmmHwh55MoRGL5jnJS9ieZwReS0PsGsfK8M5ymOjB3RA1jeeM3ykuHexlG9fDucYY56viZd3K2tP5mE8SDZH1xSLMBQ6xhL47GijQkXeHsex1BrxokD5a_WPIgi-X26f_V/s1999/David-Hartman-pic-superJumbo-v2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1999" data-original-width="1557" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2HLFmmHwh55MoRGL5jnJS9ieZwReS0PsGsfK8M5ymOjB3RA1jeeM3ykuHexlG9fDucYY56viZd3K2tP5mE8SDZH1xSLMBQ6xhL47GijQkXeHsex1BrxokD5a_WPIgi-X26f_V/s320/David-Hartman-pic-superJumbo-v2.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"> Rabbi Dr. David Hartman (1931- 2013) <br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>As surprising as it may be to some, I had a long, admiring and fascinating relationship with Rabbi David Hartman ז"ל. It started, as so many good things do, with my wife who was (and is) a very close friend of his wife Bobbi. The latter suggested that David (aka Duvy) and I meet. We met, clicked, became friends and on several occasions he invited me to be a fellow of the Hartman Institute. More importantly, over the years we had the occasion to just sit and talk in his office and Living Room about, well, anything and everything.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> One subject that always came up was Rabbi Soloveitchik זצ"ל. The Rav had had a formidable impact on both of us, so it was totally unremarkable that we should talk about him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Duvy had a very complicated, stormy relationship with Rabbi Soloveitchik (one aspect of which I addressed <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5025755/In_search_of_the_Rav_The_Life_and_Thought_of_Rabbi_Joseph_Soloveitchik_in_Recent_Scholarship">here</a>), which deserves closer treatment by those who are more conversant with his <i>oeuvre</i> than I. However, one of the dominant characteristics of these specific conversations was that I often felt that we were discussing two different people. That perception was partly due to the oft-noted transformation that the Rav underwent in 1967, in the wake of his year of 'triple mourning,' when he lost his mother, brother, and (most importantly and devastatingly) his wife. In a relatively short period of time, he mellowed marked, going from a demanding Father-Teacher to a more gentle, Grandfather-Teacher. Duvy, who studied and interacted with the Rav in the 1950's and 1960's (and was the study-partner of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein זצ"ל), experienced the former. I, who came to study with the Rav in 1973, only encountered the latter (though, he remained sufficiently awe inspiring and scary).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span> </span>Yet the different ways in which we perceived our shared mentor were not not only due to differences of style, but of substance. On a number of occasions, Duvy emphasized and decried Rabbi Soloveitchik's objectification of Judaism to Halakhic principles (including the emotional, moral and axiological elements therein). In addressing this point, he often got tremendously agitated: "Halakhah! </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Halakhah! </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Halakhah!" he exclaimed, "It can't all be just Halakhah!"<br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I recall replying that, with all due respect I thought he was misreading the Rav (at least partially). The Rav, from 1944 on (at least), dedicated an enormous portion of his thinking to the cultivation of the individual, subjection spiritual experience that should inform the observance of Halakhah. This theme, it is true, found less explicit expression in his formal published writings (prior to the establishment of the Toras HaRav Foundation), and more in his recorded lectures and <i>shiurim.</i> Nevertheless, that does not diminish their importance or their centrality. When he would make an assertion that 'The Halakhah is that one needs to concentrate in prayer,' he was not objectifying the individual experience. On the contrary, he was actively affirming that the experiential moment was a built in requirement of objective observance, without which it would be woefully deficient (and in the case of prayer and other internally performed commandments (קיום שבלב) deeply compromised). If anything, and here lies the great irony that Rabbi Soloveitchik was exquisitely aware of the dangers</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of robotic</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ritual performance that inhered to precisely the type of Pan-Halakhism with which he was so often identified. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> In retrospect, though, there was clearly an additional (and more formative ) dimension to Duvy's pained cry: </span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">"Halakhah! </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Halakhah! </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Halakhah!" he exclaimed, "It can't all be just Halakhah!" He was obviously deeply troubled by circumstances wherein Halakhah seemed to violate moral norms, to do harm and incur pain rather than good. That is how I understood the enthusiasm with which fellows at the Hartman Institute (during my tenure, at least) embraced Halakhists and Traditional thinkers who seemed to endorse the subordination of Jewish legal processes and decisions to larger moral and spiritual considerations. Hence, the writings of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Hirschensohn">R. Haim Hirschenson</a> were a perennial favorite (indeed, it was the Hartman Institute that made<i> </i>him famous), alongside R. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Berkovits">Eliezer Berkowitz</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Shkop">R. Shimon Shkop</a>'s introduction </span></span>to his book <a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%99_%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%A8_(%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8)"><i>Sha'are Yosher</i></a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I certainly understood, and understand, Duvy's position, pain and even his outrage. In principle, the idea that the Law should be totally aligned with what appear to be moral and axiological principles and sensibilities should be a corollary of its Divine origin and mandate. For Rabbi Dr. David Hartman, philosopher <i>extraordinaire</i>, this was self-evidently the way things were meant to be and must be.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I disagree and, if my memory serves me, I told him so. I disagree for two reasons. First, because I am fully persuaded of the cogency of Rav Soloveitchik's position that Halakhah is fully autonomous, it possesses its own integrity, it functions according to its own rules and largely constitutes a closed universe of discourse.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> As it happens,</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> the Rav's postulate (in a somewhat softer form) is borne out by the leading historians of Halakhah, starring with the founder of the field, Professor Jacob Katz z'l. In this model, axiological and moral considerations certainly have a built in, mandatory role to fill in guided the Halakhic decisor, moving him in certain directions and even in discerning interpretions of the normative sources of Halakhah that might not, at first glance, have been obvious. However, the plain upshot of the sources demands that other considerations give way thereto (See BT <i>Hullin</i> 49b s.v. <i><br /></i>רב, ואיסורא דאורייתא, ואת אמרת התורה חסה על ממונן של ישראל? ). [I, of course, fully acknowledge shifts and changes in the way the Torah is understood and the Law is applied. How that works, though, requires a separate discussion. I addressed it partly <a href="https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/759532/rabbi-dr-jeffrey-woolf/inner-essence-outside-influence-some-professional-and-religious-considerations/">here</a>.]</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>So, simply as an historian of Halakhah, I cannot agree with the total subordination of the Jewish Law to axiological or apparently ethical considerations (even as the Posek will do his utmost to avoid such a head on clash, because 'its ways are ways of pleasantness and all of its paths are peace'). That's not how it's always been done. The philosopher will, I suspect, retort that this way is the way it should be done. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> My second objection derives from the first, and is equally rooted in the historical record. The essential dynamic of Rabbinic Judaism was beautifully characterized by Professor Twersky in his essay, 'Religion and Law':</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ShjiVFNXgiOAgHjodtDtpBMMERKxTYwHwfB69IILsUAohSOtN158DgHgPbCBURCTmzrYVBfzGXlX6I7pdj3NHmXdxDBfEQslfEjGhEqaU3RURC7K5aG3xJY929bdGQqnolKZ/s908/Untitled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="908" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ShjiVFNXgiOAgHjodtDtpBMMERKxTYwHwfB69IILsUAohSOtN158DgHgPbCBURCTmzrYVBfzGXlX6I7pdj3NHmXdxDBfEQslfEjGhEqaU3RURC7K5aG3xJY929bdGQqnolKZ/w400-h236/Untitled.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> The model that Prof. Twersky presents, and to whose mapping across the millennia he devo</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">ted his career, has a direct impact upon the question at bar. Law and Spirituality are antipodes, wherein neither has dominion over the other. While Twersky's emphasis in this passage is upon the built-in need for sensitized observance of the mitzvot (also in line with what I had noted about the Rav's approach earlier), its obverse is that subjective considerations never determine the outcome of Halakhah. Were that to be the case, then the integrity of God's Law would be impugned and it would become subjugated to religious subjectivism. There is no way to control the sources and content of that subjective morality and those personal values. The end result is <b>antinomianism</b>. Changing mores and ethics become the arbiter of what is legitimately Jewish, altering the content and character of Halakhah along the way. The Torah, which is halakhocentric in its essence and demands submission to its dictates, changes its form (without brakes) and becomes nothing more than a quaint ethno-cultural decoration for ideological beliefs (held, admittedly, sincerely). </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Historically, this has played itself out over and over in early Christianity, radical Sabbatianism, and (ultimately) contemporary non-Orthodox denominations. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Ultimately, then, my discussions with Rabbi Hartman (which I will always cherish, as I do both our friendship and the assistance he gave me on many occasions) concerning the nature of Orthodoxy come down to the very different outlooks of the Philosopher and the Historian. Both are correct, in their way. The challenge is in finding a <i>modus vivendi</i> between the two.<br /></span></div>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-67210709757742141312020-11-09T12:12:00.009+02:002020-11-09T12:14:07.874+02:00To Touch the Past<p> <span> </span><span></span><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfcPt2jUD8_eXLmnsa_GgNrGuxhvNoLtO8nqvIs1dJ2PmAac_jrHH_alg5Tgb1IwP4AQ-YFck_51MAlSvaNRUEGWsSpwmrh7ifTEAbicQ3y-_Nh_3X4pIed1tvPLzsTHBdYFHn/s520/Glatzer1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="360" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfcPt2jUD8_eXLmnsa_GgNrGuxhvNoLtO8nqvIs1dJ2PmAac_jrHH_alg5Tgb1IwP4AQ-YFck_51MAlSvaNRUEGWsSpwmrh7ifTEAbicQ3y-_Nh_3X4pIed1tvPLzsTHBdYFHn/w222-h287/Glatzer1.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span style="font-family: arial;">Prof. Nahum N. Glatzer (1903-1990)</span></span><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> The other day, I had an experience that brought to mind a memorable, actually formative, conversation I had with the late <a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9D_%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%A6%D7%A8">Prof. Nahum N. Glatzer</a></span></span><span>.<span style="font-family: arial;"> I've written quite a bit about some of the giants with whom I was privileged to study, like Rav Soloveitchik זצ"ל, <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/felder-gedalia">Rav Gedaliah Felder זצ"ל</a>, Prof. Isadore Twersky זצ"ל and (<i>mutatis mutandis) </i>Professors Haym Soloveitchik, David Berger, and Reuven Bonfil. However, there were others like </span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;">Prof. Yosef Haim Yerushalmi ז"ל , <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Altmann">Prof. Alexander Altmann זצ"ל</a>, the late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Herlihy">Prof. David Herlihy</a> and <i>mutatis mutandis </i>Profs. David Berger and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Constable">Giles Constable</a>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Among these latter, Prof. Glatzer ז"ל holds a special place in my heart. When I graduated High School, I was accepted to Brandeis. I so very much wanted to go there, both because of the Jewish environment, and because I wanted to study with the two luminaries who were the stars of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Professors Alexander Altmann and Nahum Norbert Glatzer. My ambition remained, however, unfulfilled because the tuition at Brandeis was way out of our reach (especially since my father ז"ל had passed away not long before, and our family's financial situation was precarious). So, I ended up going to Boston University, which had offered me full tuition remission. However, strange are the ways of the Creator, and in my Sophomore year BU announced that Professor Glatzer would be coming to the university as a University Professor (having been retired from Brandeis the previous year).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I jumped at the opportunity. Not only did I enroll in his class on the Book of Job, at the end of my junior year I asked him to co-direct my Senior Thesis on the Disputations of Paris, Barcelona and Tortosa (together with <a href="https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/wickedlocal-concordjournal/obituary.aspx?n=reinhold-s-schumann&pid=141894350">Prof. Reinhold Schumann</a>). He graciously agreed (and he was ALWAYS gracious). Thus began a year of bi-weekly meetings in which we discussed my project, and innumerable subjects that came up along the way. I treasure the memory of every one of these, but one in particular proved to be formative.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Mid-way through my senior year, I found myself in the dark wood of a personal crisis. Despite the fact that I had long assumed that I would enter academia (at least, for part of my life, the rabbinate being my perpetual antipode), I was having second thoughts about the value and importance of academic Jewish Studies. In seeking to resolve my I turned, <i>inter</i> <i>alia</i>, to Prof. Glatzer.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span> </span>We met in his study in his home in Waltham, which was lined from floor to ceiling with books. It felt as if we were sitting in a timeless space. I described my dilemma and, somewhat impertinently, asked what value is there in doing what we do?</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Professor Glatzer sat quietly for a moment. He then said that, yes, most people don't understand the attraction or value of studying Jewish History and that our path is, indeed, very lonely. What make it worthwhile are those moments when you </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;">study that which the past has left us</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;">. You then leave the present and connect with the past, which then becomes alive again. As he said these words, his face glowed. It was clear that he experienced researching our people's past as a spiritual, transcendent moment. His words resonated deeply with me, and I left his home resolved to continue upon the path that I had chosen. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Last week, I had an experience that reminded me of that conversation, and of the force, conviction and veracity of Prof. Glatzer's words.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span> I am in the process of (finally) turning my doctorate on Maharik (R. Joseph Colon Trabotto; 1420-1480) into a book</span>. Maharik was one of the two leading Ashkenazic Halakhic decisors in the Fifteenth Century, and had a massive impact on the nascent Rabbinic culture of Poland. Among the things that I am naturally doing is checking the manuscript record for material that was unavailable to when I was originally writing during the eighties. This effort is today rendered so much easier by the ongoing Ketiv project for the <a href="https://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLIS/he/ManuScript/">digitation of Hebrew manuscripts</a> (which has, happily, reached the collections that are most important to my research).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Last week, while looking for something else (of course), I saw that the catalogue listed an autograph letter by Maharik to his student David da Modena (in the <a href="https://braginskycollection.com/portfolio/letter-from-joseph-colon-trabotto-to-david-of-modena/">Braginsky Collection</a>). I was stunned. While there are many manuscripts of Maharik's responsa and commentaries, I was unaware of an actual autograph (it now emerges that there are two). I went to the website, and there it was! <br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqzdgyjBGhYD39jRaPW9x9fcuXeXMRWW1o1n_f_SGKW7sOp4Il4AgF0kBIK-PF50R58LyezmduOt3XriA8CwX_meXpTzuvIT69msNeoMM0xLhlnbHNWkVwN4oSB1O6vN6ZbesZ/s905/Maharik+Autograph.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="905" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqzdgyjBGhYD39jRaPW9x9fcuXeXMRWW1o1n_f_SGKW7sOp4Il4AgF0kBIK-PF50R58LyezmduOt3XriA8CwX_meXpTzuvIT69msNeoMM0xLhlnbHNWkVwN4oSB1O6vN6ZbesZ/w487-h157/Maharik+Autograph.jpg" width="487" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>A Journey through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Collection (Amsterdam, 2009), pp. 52-53</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was transfixed. Before me, albeit virtually, was a letter written by a person, a Torah giant, to the study of whose writings I had devoted ten years of my life (and not a few years subsequent). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I immediately thought of Prof. Glatzer. I could see the look on his face; a soft look of radiance and spirit. I beheld a piece of the past with which I had an intimate connection,</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and was transported to <i>Quattrocento</i> Italy, which became alive again. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-9632815104849005022020-11-05T11:51:00.012+02:002020-11-06T10:33:17.032+02:00Feeling Defiled<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBXaMoyO5OTR8dI6jy9Qbdi4VSmMl3FY_VZKzXS0FsBGXlRKVNlS-RRae5HyrBs8eV6ZNlESOBhkuSXBXhUgseXrisLxDLN8plkRaohTvtzpBi8WHU1ibgXYBPoG8_4us71bu/s822/ShowImage.ashx.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="822" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBXaMoyO5OTR8dI6jy9Qbdi4VSmMl3FY_VZKzXS0FsBGXlRKVNlS-RRae5HyrBs8eV6ZNlESOBhkuSXBXhUgseXrisLxDLN8plkRaohTvtzpBi8WHU1ibgXYBPoG8_4us71bu/w493-h318/ShowImage.ashx.jpg" width="493" /></a></span></span></div><p></p><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_4zn"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In my book, <a href="https://books.google.co.il/books/about/The_Fabric_of_Religious_Life_in_Medieval.html?id=dETRsgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">The Fabric of Religious Life in Medieval Ashkenaz</a>, I highlight the fact that Ashkenazic Jews experienced their spiritual states physically. Things that were pure were experienced as physically attractive, while those things that were prohibited were experienced as physically repulsive. Hence, there developed among them a custom that when a pot absorbed something non-kosher, not only did they purge (i.e. kasher) it, they would bring it to a ritualarium (mikveh) to purify it. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Similarly, spiritual states were experienced both emotionally and physically. Based upon that reality, Jews traditionally immersed themselves in a Mikveh as part of their process of repentance (an echo of which is found in the practice to go to Mikveh before Yom Kippur---a custom that really should be observed by both men and women, irrespective of whether the woman is a Niddah, or not). </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This sensitivity, physically experienced, has not passed from the world. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">It is famously told that Rav Herzog זצ"ל, as part of his indefatigable attempts to retrieve Jewish babies who had been in monasteries and convents during the War, <a href="[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pope-pius-xii-and...]">met with Pope Pius XII on March 10, 1946</a>. Rav Herzog asked him to publicly call on priests across Europe to disclose the location of the Jewish orphans. The pope asked for additional information but was essentially evasive. [Fifteen years ago, it emerged that a number of months later the Pope issued a letter forbidding priests from returning the children.] </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Rav Herzog was, aside from being a towering Talmid Hakham, a very sensitive and insightful person. He realized he was being played by the Pope, and was so shaken by his encounter that upon emerging from the Vatican he told his the person accompanying him: 'Quick! Get me to a Mikveh!' <br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">However, one need not invoke an episode of such dramatic import to understand the physical expression of spiritual or psychological moments. The Rabbis, for example, maintained that the malady of Tzara'at , was imposed as a punishment for tale-bearing and gossip. Whatever the condition was clinically, it was obviously repulsive. It mandated the quarantining of the afflicted person, and contact with him or her engendered an obligation to purify oneself in a Mikveh. When I was younger, I didn't fully appreciate the power of this idea; that is until about thirty years ago. I was walking with my wife one Shabbat afternoon, when we encountered a person, who I later learned was a notorious gossip. We greeted the person, who then launched into an unbelievable torrent of gossip about people in the neighborhood. We tried to get away, but the person kept following us, spewing forth a flood of 'Lashon Ha-Ra' (lit. 'Evil Tongue'). Finally, we succeeded in escaping their clutches. At that point, my wife and I looked at each other, and both of us expressed a need to take a shower as a result of the experience. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I'm writing this today, not because it relates to the Torah Portion of the week. This week is not Parshat Tazria or Parshat Metzora which deal with the laws of Tzara'at, it is Parshat VaYera (a challenging Parsha in its own right, to put it mildly). </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I'm writing this because I am literally physically and emotionally shaken by an encounter I had yesterday with people who are ('were'?) part of my Modern Orthodox community, one to which I devoted twenty years of my life before coming on Aliyah, and to which I am periodically asked to contribute. <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">I
had the temerity to point out that a Biden presidency doesn't bide well
for Israeli concerns about Iran. </span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto">I simply noted that the salvation that American
Jews see in a Biden victory, is perceived by an overwhelming majority of
Israeli Jews as potentially threatening because of his declared intent
to re-engage Tehran, remove sanctions and restore its international
window to nuclear weapons.</span></span></span> Note</span>, I was not referring to differences of opinion over this candidate or that. I was referring to the tragic fact that Jews in different countries can have different interests, even different existential needs and threats.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" dir="auto">What I got was a <i>tsunami </i>of abuse because by my observation, <i>ipso facto</i>, it must be that support
Donald Trump. Therefore I embody all of the sins of Orthodoxy, represent the apartheid
government of Israel, am devoid of Humanity and that I am an educated moron to boot.</span></span></span></span> The type of raw hatred, abuse and pure poison that I saw yesterday (and, frankly, over the past few years) among ostensibly committed Jews leaves me trembling. Among the charges hurled at me are (<i>inter alia</i>): Furious negation of any part of Torah that doesn't align with a specific political narrative; Virulent excoriation of Jewish National Identity and Destiny; the 'cancellation' of any person's Orthodoxy by anyone who does not thereto subscribe (though here I understand from <a href="https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/under-trump-weve-become-two-americas-and-two-jewish-peoples/">Andrew Silow-Carol's Column</a> today that in the US it cuts both ways) ; Angry De-legitimization of the State of Israel and supercilious dismissal of the threats to its Survival; Deep and Abiding Loathing (nothing less) for all Americans who've cast their lot in with their brethren in the Land of Israel. The list goes on and on. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I feel defiled.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I am confident that my interlocutors of yesterday (alongside those paragons of Free Speech and Respectful discourse who've blocked me on Social Media) will (with some justification) point out all of the sins of the Torah, the Racist Character of Jewish Identity and National Aspirations, the manifold errors of the State of Israel, the moral deficiencies of all other Orthodox Jews, and the intolerable arrogance of American Olim. They will victoriously dismiss everything I've written here. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The point is, though, that 'whataboutism' is beside the point. For I am not here addressing specific issues and flaws, of which there are many on both sides (except for the Torah, which, as the Word of God is, for me as an Orthodox Jew, Perfect). I feel defiled by the Hatred, the Anger, the Loathing, the obtuseness and the Arrogance the spewed forth in my encounter yesterday. Hared, Anger, Loathing, Arrogance...these are not only the path to the dark side. They are, Hazal Teach us, a form of Avodah Zarah.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Avodah Zarah defiles.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> <br /></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I need a Mikveh.</div></div></span></span></span></div></div></div></div>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-52544634163234957672020-09-11T16:42:00.007+03:002020-09-11T16:43:58.697+03:00 שנה (הרבה יותר) טובה!!!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-UurureNQWebjSPp8Z57tRTW7XXlq5gyGIy6lpIH5W3rJaOScGdAiHfiJo2rAA81lT6iJGhkWGfbMB2KBQ8KtmOPMLikF5ugXJJ0dyyRwnixoxbzJdrRL-RAB8h3AeTSskd-1/s1623/5781.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1623" data-original-width="934" height="781" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-UurureNQWebjSPp8Z57tRTW7XXlq5gyGIy6lpIH5W3rJaOScGdAiHfiJo2rAA81lT6iJGhkWGfbMB2KBQ8KtmOPMLikF5ugXJJ0dyyRwnixoxbzJdrRL-RAB8h3AeTSskd-1/w450-h781/5781.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-58551422751539323732020-08-27T17:22:00.001+03:002020-08-27T17:27:20.023+03:00Between Scylla and Charybdis<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcYFycMBYkZBDa2BvPuuxmYeozdsm74h-Bzt9J6_qBsjIOq1rVCnwkkJE-uRccbcqb1zdJW58w0rFoh6wHpgrcP_r8hIDpRWQhvqqxcplhZFPLhkghP3RWdHD2fRvoeQWYxaG/s500/181a94b4e87aa77fa235beef208e17b0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="500" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcYFycMBYkZBDa2BvPuuxmYeozdsm74h-Bzt9J6_qBsjIOq1rVCnwkkJE-uRccbcqb1zdJW58w0rFoh6wHpgrcP_r8hIDpRWQhvqqxcplhZFPLhkghP3RWdHD2fRvoeQWYxaG/w500-h288/181a94b4e87aa77fa235beef208e17b0.jpg" width="500" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span> <span> <span style="font-family: arial;">I have had the honor and privilege of living over twenty-eight years in <i>Eretz Yisrael.</i> It is my home, both spiritual and physical. I desire no other. Indeed, by moving here decades ago, I feel that I have redeemed and fulfilled the dreams of my great-great grandparent who, when so many Jews migrated westward in the wake of the <i>pogroms</i> of 1881, siezed the opportunity to return home to <i>Eretz Yisrael</i> (15 years before the First Zionist Congress). <br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> I also have the privilege of being a fourth generation American. My forebears emigrated to the United States from Belarus, Lithuania, and <i>Eretz Yisrael</i> (the latter forced out by the Turks). Thanks to them, and despite significant challenges, I was able to grow up a proud American and to receive an education (both general and Jewish) which is, certainly today, unequaled. I have a deep debt of gratitude to the United States of American. Despite its flaws, the memory of the country in which I was born and raised remains for me the best hope for Mankind.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> Still, casting my lot with my fellow Jews in building our ancestral, God given homeland, has consequences; as do all principled decisions. One of these is that, on principle, I do not vote in American elections (even though I report annually to the IRS and pay taxes to the American government). Neither do I, on principle, endorse candidates for elective office in the United States. To do so would be, in my opinion, unethical since I would not bear the full measure of the consequences of that vote (just as I expect American Jews not to interfere in the democratic process in Israel, as they do not bear the full measure of the consequences of their actions).</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span> </span> At the same time, the world in which we live is ever smaller and ever more inter-connected. The waves generated by the cultural wars, in Europe and especially in the United States, crash loudly on the shores of Israel. The ontological, ethical and axiological questions that they raise impact us all. In particular, the challenges that contemporary culture pose to Judaism and Jewish Survival (</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>(and, more importantly, the hidden assumptions or 'sub-text's) </span></span>must be confronted, irrespective of where they find the most tangible expression. Finally, in their more extreme manifestations, both contemporary liberalism and contemporary conservatism contain within themselves hostility (and too often, explicit hatred of Jews and/or Judaism). On the Right, this has frequently emerged as bald, unadulterated Jew-hatred of the type that history has known since ancient times. On the Left, Jew hatred manifests itself more deftly, more subtly, through an Orwellian (mis)use of language. It is, however, no less insidious and no less dangerous. <br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span> </span>Owing to the fact that my intellectual and spiritual loyalty is above all to the Torah as Traditionally conceived, and to the survival of the Jewish People as the bearers of the Torah, I do share ideas and make observations about the American scene <i>when they relate to these issues</i>. Sometimes, these concern things that are said or done in a political context. However, I try my best to make sure that the subject matter and the observations hie to issues, and do not support any particular political party or issue. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span> </span>I will admit that my musings and critiques may (more often than not) single out developments on the so-called politico-cultural Left. There are a number of reasons for this. First, as I mentioned, right wing Jew-hatred is 'out there and obvious.' It should, of course, be excoriated (not just 'called-out') and fought with every fiber that we possess. Second, while there is horrible Jew hatred on the Right, the spiritual challenge posed to Judaism and Jewish survival, by even moderate elements of contemporary Liberal culture (which is, in actuality, very different than classical Liberalism), is less obvious, and more corrosive. The aggressive advocacy of atheism, doctrines of radical individual autonomy, denial of the existence of Truth and Moral Norms that bind us <i>a priori</i>, the assault on the traditional Family, the excoriation of national identity and more in the name of fetchingly packaged 'Enlightenment' and 'Progress,' indeed the dissolution of Tolerance itself (the same Tolerance that allowed Jewish entry into European society two and a half centuries ago)--- all of these and more are part of the challenge posed by the culturally dominant currents emanating from the Western cultural elites, and those in the United States, in particular. Owing to their less obvious qualities, it requires more effort to highlight the threat that these pose to Traditional Judaism and Jewish self-definition. Hence, my posts tend to concentrate on this threat, not because I underestimate the danger of brute, Jew hatred. I do not (especially, as I have personally confronted it, in all its deadly ugliness, both in the United States and in Israel.)<br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span> </span>The result of this is that there is much in the Conservative cultural agenda with which I identify, and which I find very useful in waging the war of ideas and in advancing what I believe are the core values, the <i>grundnormen</i>, of Orthodox Judaism. However, I wish to make it very clear that I am neither a 'card carrying' Conservative or Liberal (and yes, on many issues, I am very responsive to the Liberal agenda (e.g. the legitimate advancement and strengthening of women's Torah literacy and leadership within Orthodox Tradition and in accordance the inner dynamic of that Tradition). My epistemological model is both simple and complex. At the bottom, I posit the organic integrity, yea essentialist character of Judaism. Judaism is not detached from historical change or cut off from intellectual/cultural challenges or stimuli. However, except under extraordinary <i>force majeure</i>, it does not simply submit to the outside. It interacts and responds thereto, according to its own rules, rhythms, dynamic and clear boundaries. As the late historian H.A.R. Gibb once said of Islam, Judaism only absorbs outside influences when it has a previously developed internal need to do so. Even then, it only does so in line with its own, internal lines of development. To 'reinterpret,' 'align,' or 'adapt' Orthodoxy so that it becomes epistemologically dependent or conditional upon an external value system (conservative, liberal, or otherwise) is to eviscerate the Torah and, for the believing Jew, <i>nothing short of blasphemous</i>.[1]</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> Now, I hope that it is clear that my engagement in these matters is on the level of ideas, not of individuals (except, insofar, as I cite individuals who express ideas or positions). In Hebrew, we describe this type of approach as being לגופו של עניין, ולא לגופו של אדם (<i>ad ideam</i>, <i>non ad personam</i>). In recent years, however, for reasons that are irrelevant here such discussions have become increasingly difficult. In fact, in the terrarium of social media, they are nigh on impossible. Everything has become personalized, and politicized. More to that, if individuals who have moral or other failings also support a specific idea, it willy-nilly becomes de-legitimized as do all those who advocate that idea. In short, all arguments become <i>ad personam</i> and are never <i>ad ideam</i>. This situation, the existence of which I am hardly the first to note, is extremely dangerous for society generally. For Jewish cohesiveness, especially Orthodox Jewish cohesiveness, it may well prove lethal.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> In different ways, large sectors of American Orthodoxy have violated the prime directive that I described above. They have, often uncritically, accepted external systems of cultural and ethical values and forced them upon the Torah. Right wing Orthodoxy, in its fight against the corrosion of contemporary Liberalism, has embraced the American Right that include a frightening degree of moral obtuseness and ethical insensitivity and expectation from its leaders. Indeed, they all too often forgive their erstwhile allies, blinded as they are by fear and loathing of the forces they oppose. In addition, it is insufficiently sensitive to the Jew Hatred that lurks in the ranks of its erstwhile allies.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> Self-styled Modern and Liberal Orthodoxy has an unhealthy tendency to embrace and internalize those self-same outlook, values and world-views that are an anathema to God's Torah and a life of surrender to His Will. In its more egregious manifestations, this expresses itself in the </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>distortion of the Torah, r</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>ejection of Jewish national (not nationalist) identity, and the granting of legitimacy to the unacceptable phenomenon of Orthopraxis or 'Social Orthodoxy.' In addition, the uncritical embrace of contemporary liberalism and its exponents, blinds far too many Liberal Orthodox Jews to the spiritual dangers posed by their erstwhile heroes. In addition, the absorption of post-national, inter-sectional theory threatens to attenuate the ties of this community to Israel. This doesn't endanger them physically, of course. It does endanger the lives of six and a half million Israeli Jews.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> We are, then, foundering between Scylla and Charybdis. Personally, in trying to advance the cause of my own primary allegiances, the extremes on both sides twixt whom I try to navigate make me feel as if I'm being blown out of the waters of the Straits of Messina. The Orthodox community, on the other hand, by <i>not</i> navigating between the extremes is in danger of being devoured by Scylla or swallowed up by Charybdis.[2]</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> It matters not which is which.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> The result is the same. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>[1] It might be credibly asked how I can subscribe to this belief and be an objective historian. I have addressed this issue throughout this blog, which you are invited to look over.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> <br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>[2] Similar things can be said of Israeli society. However, it requires a separate discussion. <br /></span></span></div><p></p>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-19251938489144110692020-04-08T13:59:00.001+03:002020-04-08T13:59:22.592+03:00על פסח בשעת הסגר (צדדים חיוביים)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8G4RJqFixT_rxThl1EIEDi53wGDnVb2vHtAtM9HYVxaEZ0VUWb6G9adQS907YaMLQvKXPjzOfWDK-kl9oouiNe_MGWFu8YqLjpl4l1UY_ft9PtNHsvntx8QXL_xPlQMXGRGV/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1369" data-original-width="986" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8G4RJqFixT_rxThl1EIEDi53wGDnVb2vHtAtM9HYVxaEZ0VUWb6G9adQS907YaMLQvKXPjzOfWDK-kl9oouiNe_MGWFu8YqLjpl4l1UY_ft9PtNHsvntx8QXL_xPlQMXGRGV/s320/Untitled.jpg" width="230" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">כלכך הרבה דברים יפים, עמוקים ונוגעים ללב נאמרו ונכתבו בימים ובשבועות האחרונים שהיססתי לתרום, בגדר כל היתר כנטול דמי</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> כמו רבים וטובים, אני חצוי לקראת החג.</span></span>. <br />
מחד גיסא, מאד צר לי על המגיפה המקיפה אותנו וגובה מחיר מיתמר בחיי אדם,
בפרנסה ובחרות. צר לי שלא נהיה השנה יחד עם אהובינו, במיוחד עם האנשים
הקטנים, המלבבים את חיינו. מאידך, כואב לי הלב על אלה שייאלצו לחוג את ליל
הסדר בגפם. אני מתפלל, יחד עם כולם, שד' יסיר מעלינו את המוות הזה, ירפא את
החולים ויחזיר אותנו במהרה למסלול התקין של<span class="text_exposed_show"> החיים.<br /> מאידך גיסא, המצב מחייב אותי לספור את הברכות שחנני הקב"ה. יש לי בית, רעיה, ושלושה ילדים שכן יהיו סביב השלחן. <br />
כמו שאמרו רבים, הסגר מחייב את כולנו להיכנס פנימה: פיזית ורוחנית. למרבה
האירוניה, למרות התלות המחוזקת במכשירים אלקטרוניים, הסגר מכריח אותנו
להכיר מחדש את אלה שאיתם אנו גרים: בעלים, נשים, ילדים. זוהי מתנה אלקית
שלא תסולא בפז ושאת ערכה חייבים לשמר גם כשכל זה ייגמר בב"א.<br /> ועוד
משהו...רבים בפיד שלי (במיוחד בני 25-45) מעירים שזאת הפעם הראשונה
שנאלצים לארגן ולחגוג את סדר הפסח מחוץ לבית ההורים. רבים מהם בהלם מזה
ואפשר להבין אותם. אין דבר יקר יותר מסדר משפחתי גדול, ותוסס וסואן. אולם,
יש משהו מתוק ויפה בצורך לחגוג כל אחד בביתו, במיוחד אלה שעושים כך בפעם
הראשונה. <br /> במצב זה, יש לאלה הזדמנות להבטיח על אחד את המשך המסורות
שעליהן גדלו, ולגבש מיזוג מסורות במידה שבני הזוג צמחו בערוגות שונות. ככה
מבטיחים את הקיים ומוסיפים וממציאים חוליות חדשות בשרשרשת מסורת הדורות. <br />
במצב זה, ניתן לשאול ולהתייעץ (אמנם מרחוק) עם ההורים והסבים והסבתאות, מה
עושים ואיך עושים. כלכך הרבה פעמים שמעתי מאנשים שהוריהם וסביהם כבר אינם
בחיים שמצטערים שבדיוק את הדברים האלה לא שאלו כשהיתה הזדמנות לכך. זוהי
הזדמנות יקרה. לא הרי מתנה מחיים כירושה לאחר מאה ועשרים.<br /> במצב זה,
האינטימיות תשתלט על הסדר. יהיה זמן להרגיש וללמוד ולהפנים ולתת לדמיון
האישי ולזיכרון הקולקטיבי לעוף: לצאת ממצרים, לחוות את סדריהם של הקדמונים
ע"פ מה שכתבו בפירושיהם ולבטא את הטמון בלבנו ואת הכמיהות האישיות
והלאומיות שלנו.<br /> מאחל לכולנו חג כשר ושמח ובריא.<br /> בניסן נגאלו ובניסן עתידין להיגאל.<br /> השתא בעגלא ובזמן קריב.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-5695876358684391002019-12-17T17:34:00.002+02:002019-12-23T17:58:23.004+02:00Rupture and Reconstruction: The Canopy's Dissolution<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Response:
The Canopy’s Dissolution</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Jeffrey
R. Woolf</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It has
been twenty-five years since the appearance of Prof. Haym Soloveitchik’s “<a href="https://traditiononline.org/click-here-to-access-haym-soloveitchiks-rupture-and-reconstruction-tradition-summer-1994/">Rupture
and Reconstruction</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">,”</span> which introduced the concept of “<a href="https://taylorpearson.me/bookreview/mimetic-theory-things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world/">mimetic
religion</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">”</span> into Modern Orthodox discourse. The essay has
been a perpetual touchstone of discussion whenever questions arise of the
present state and future direction of Orthodoxy in the United States (and, in
many ways, Israel as well).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As is
now widely known, Soloveitchik described the collapse of the seamless, organic
character of Jewish life, of the type which was once vibrant in large parts of
Eastern Europe (and throughout Mizrahi communities, though these don’t figure
in his discussion). That mode of religious existence was largely
non-self-reflective. Values and modes of religious conduct were internalized by
participation in the life of the community, and by absorbing its identity and
its heightened sense of historic continuity. Above all, the mimetic Jew was
enveloped by a tangible awareness of the presence of God, which provided life
with meaning and context, and religious observance with a heightened sense of
His service. This all-encompassing, self-contained religious context, a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Canopy-Elements-Sociological-Religion/dp/0385073054">“Sacred
Canopy,</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">”</span> in the sense advanced by the late Peter Berger,
was the <i>sine qua non</i> of the mimetic culture that Soloveitchik described.
It was a world in which, as he himself writes elsewhere, people did not hold
beliefs, they were held by their beliefs. It is the demise of this
all-inclusive world, wherein the Psalmist’s injunction to set God before us is
a sufficient reminder to devote our lives to Him , which “Rupture and Reconstruction”
describes and whose loss it bemoans (81-82 and 98ff.).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
central thrust of “Rupture and Reconstruction” is the transition from halakhic
observance based on tradition (which is deemed to obligate, <i>per se</i>), to nearly
exclusive reliance upon the formal codified literature of Jewish law. This
development, he asserts, is largely responsible for the dramatic and
unprecedented preference for legal stricture (<i>humra</i>) in the observance
of the commandments and in jalakhic jurisprudence, generally. It is worth
noting that the author’s own father, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik <i>zt”l</i>,
was outspoken in his insistence that people cling fast to the practices of
their parents’ homes and not scour the <i>Shulhan Arukh</i> for either
leniencies or strictures. There is no small irony in this, since the punctilious
precision advanced by the so-called Brisker School of Talmudic analysis often contributes
markedly to the phenomenon.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Almost
all of the discussion that “Rupture and Reconstruction” engendered has centered
upon this shift from an organically transmitted religious culture, to one that
is based almost exclusively upon the study of sacred texts, with all of the
educational, social, and behavioral implications thereof. This was to be
expected. Therefore, it so no surprise that this is largely true of the consistently
excellent and thought-provoking essays that make up a <a href="https://traditiononline.org/archives/?_sft_category=fall-2019-issue-51-4">symposium
on the original piece and its impact</a> in the latest issue of <a href="https://traditiononline.org/latest-issues/"><i>TRADITION</i></a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still,
it has long been my contention that the more repercussive and fraught element
of Soloveitchik’s argument is found toward the end of the article, where he
discusses the decline in the profound, powerful awareness of God’s Presence
that marked earlier Jewish communities (as well as non-Jewish ones). Truth to
tell, the forces that helped to undermine enveloping faith (secularism, historicism,
and materialist-atheist Scientism) were formidable. However, Orthodox educators
and rabbis neglected the importance of the individual’s intimate and personal
relationship, in favor of the admittedly important imparting of Torah
knowledge. The tragic irony was that the triumph of Jewish religiosity based
upon text study went hand-in-hand with the rise of the deeply flawed, and
ultimately corrosive, phenomenon known as orthopraxis or “<a href="https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-rise-of-social-orthodoxy-a-personal-account/">Social
Orthodoxy</a>.” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was,
therefore, very gratified to see that Rabbi Daniel Korobkin focused his <a href="https://traditiononline.org/rupture-reconstruction-and-social-orthodoxy/">superb
contribution to this symposium</a> on precisely this issue. I fully agree with
his observation that Judaism is not sustainable, in the long run, without
deference and commitment to God. Yet, ironically again, the exclusively text-based
curriculum, in which we take justified pride, may well be undermining that very
same commitment it is designed to foster.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
danger lies in the widespread disappearance of Modern Orthodoxy’s “Sacred
Canopy,” of which God-awareness is the central quality. However, it also
includes the conviction that, as Rav Soloveitchik <a href="http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/767722/Rabbi_Joseph_B_Soloveitchik/Gerus_&_Mesorah_-_Part_1">frequently</a> emphasized, the
act of Torah study is not merely a cognitive or intellectual gesture. It is an
act of worship, carried out in an ambience of reverence and the desire to live
in accordance with His Will (cf. <i>Sefer HaMitzvot</i>, <a href="https://www.sefaria.org.il/Sefer_HaMitzvot%2C_Positive_Commandments.5?lang=bi">pos.
5</a>). Given its Divine origin, the student of Torah will exhibit tremendous
caution in interpreting the words before him, lest vouchsafed legacy be
distorted. He or she will, in the manner of those who live in a traditional
society, adopt an attitude of reverence and deference toward the words of the prior
generations. In the absence of this posture, however, the sacred texts are
exposed to the built-in skepticism, judgmentalism, and relativism that have
rushed in to take the place of the previous integrated religious worldview.
This leads to a revolutionary reevaluation of the way in which the sacred
corpus of Judaism is perceived. These will be evaluated not from a position of
humility but judgmentally, in line with the degree in which contemporary values
and ideals take the place of the previous communal worldview. (This is not to
deny that Judaism in manifestation doesn’t change over time. However, the
dynamic that leads to such changes is very nuanced. I touch on this <a href="https://myobiterdicta.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-03-12T01:58:00%2B02:00&max-results=10">here</a>.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hence,
the dissolution of the Orthodox “Sacred Canopy” has a decisively corrosive
effect upon Torah and <i>halakha</i>. If they are no longer experienced as the
Word of God, care in observance will disappear (as will the concepts of sin and
personal responsibility in areas of ritual). The Torah, at this point, becomes
a mere function of transient intellectual and cultural fashion, reduced to a
mere Jewish decoration (as it were) upon the body of a different culture.
Anything that was originally part of Judaism that does not align itself with
current norms or modes of perception will inevitably be dispensed with. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In other
words, the rupture described by Prof. Soloveitchik does not only lead to
stringency. It can equally lead not only to leniency, but also directly to
anti-nomianism. To paraphrase the author, “having lost the touch of His
presence, they seek now solace in the <i>absence</i> of His yoke.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">[I’ve
expanded upon some the points raised in this essay, both <a href="http://myobiterdicta.blogspot.com/2018/12/modern-orthodox-imbalance.html">here </a>and <a href="http://myobiterdicta.blogspot.com/2016/01/torah-and-masorah-part-i.html">here</a>.] </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Rabbi Prof.
Jeffrey R. Woolf <<</i>The author is an Associate Professor in the
Talmud Department at Bar Ilan University <i>>></i></span></span></div>
Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-18311943227900718962019-09-27T16:35:00.003+03:002019-09-27T16:35:53.009+03:00Shanah Tovah 5780<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-47435267360940077602019-09-13T13:23:00.001+03:002019-09-13T13:23:42.648+03:00התורה צמאה לתיווך (מאמר שפרסמתי במקור ראשון)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-36374525402184172142019-08-30T17:57:00.002+03:002019-09-13T13:19:37.163+03:00לפשר מנהג באמירת קידוש בליל שבת<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">כמו רבים מבני ליטא, מנהגי לבצע את אמירת הקידוש בליל שבת בשני שלבים. את פרשת ויכולו (החל מ'וירא א' את כל אשר עשה וגו') אני אומר בעמידה. את הברכות (בורא פה"ג ו'מקדש השבת') אני אומר בישיבה. שנים רבות חשבתי שהסיבה שנוהגים לעמוד היא בגלל ש'המתפלל בערב שבת ואומר ויכולו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו נעשה שותף במעשה בראשית' (שכל טוב (בובר) שמות פרשת בשלח פרק טז). ז"א, אמירת ויכולו היא עדות על כך שהקב"ה ברא את העולם ועדות חייבים למסור בעמידה. מצד שני, את הברכות אומרים בישיבה בגלל שקידוש חייבים לומר במקום סעודה, ולסעודה יושבים ('קביעות סעודה' כדעת הרמ"א, שו"ע רעא, י).<br />בימים האחרונים, יצא לי להאזין לשיעור שהעביר כב' מו"ר רש"י הגרי"ד הלוי זצ"ל בשנת תשל"ח לזכר אביו, הגר"מ זצ"ל; שיעור שהתעסק בהגדרת קידוש. הרב חידש שיש שני מקורות לקדושת השבת. מחד, את השבת קידש בורא העולם דמדומי יום הששי הראשון והיא מתקדשת מעצמה כל שבוע. כשאנו אומרים פרשת ויכולו, אנו מוסרים עדות לעובדה זו ומודים לו ית' עליה. אולם, בניגוד למה שרבים סבורים, יש גם מצווה המוטלת על כל כנסת ישראל לקדש את השבת, להוסיף בה ממד נוסף של קדושה ממש כמו שמקדשים את ראש חודש ואת המועדים. בלי תוספת הקדושה הזאת, קדושת השבת לוקה בחסר (וכן, היתה דעתו של הרמב"ן). <br />לפי זה, לענ"ד, יש להבין את מנהג ישראל לשבת לאמירת הברכות. קידוש החודש והמועדים הוא מעשה בית דין, ומעשה בית דין מתבצע בישיבה. אמנם, אין היושבים סביב השלחן מרכיבים בית דין. אולם, עצם הישיבה מבטאת את תפקיד ברכת הקידוש: הוספת קדושה לשבת מפאת היהודי האוהב וכמה לה. <br />היהודי, קבע הרב זצ"ל באין-ספור הזדמנויות, נמשך לקדושה, מהופנט ע"י הקדושה, ומתאווה תאווה גדולה להוסיף קדושה בעולם. הפרשה דוחקת בנו לבחור בחיים, חיי תורה וקדושה בכל אפשרות ובכל מקרה. יה"ר שבין עומדים ובין יושבים נזכה לכך בפרוס עלינו ימי הרחמים והסליחות.</span></span></div>
Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-21095671138112019242019-08-04T00:37:00.000+03:002019-08-04T00:37:36.433+03:00On Rav Herzog's Encyclopedic Knowledge, Cultural Influence and Jews as Parasites<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(1888-1959) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This morning in shul, the person sitting next to me was deeply engrossed in a volume of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_HaLevi_Herzog">Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog</a>'s <i>magnum</i> opus, </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="fn"><span dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Main-Institutions-Jewish-Law-Volumes/dp/B000XCUD6Q/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Main+Institutions+of+Jewish+Law%3A+The+law+of+obligations&qid=1564861503&s=gateway&sr=8-1">The Main Institutions of Jewish Law</a>. Excitedly, he pointed out to me a few examples of the author's exquisite English style (and it is, indeed, exquisite). </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="fn"><span dir="ltr"> After a few minutes, he called my attention to a passage where Rav Herzog expresses exasperation with another scholar. The latter had claimed that a certain law in the Mishnah was wholly derived from Roman Law. Rav Herzog reacted with, albeit polite, indignance. He asserted that he did not know whence this writer had the temerity to make such a claim. Indeed, he declared, no such law appears anywhere in Roman Legal Literature! The ruling in the Mishnah, then, was uniquely Jewish and bore no debt to the outside world. I smiled in appreciation.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="fn"><span dir="ltr"> My friend, who know a thing or two about science, research and data bases was deeply impressed at Rav Herzog's ability to make such a declaration. Obviously, in an age before Data Bases and scanned books, search engines and keywords, Rav Herzog carefully, methodically and judiciously mastered the entire Roman Legal <i>corpus</i>. Otherwise, he would not have been able to make such an authoritative and definitive assertion. I responded that we have paid a very high price for relying overly on databases and search engines, instead of systematically engaging and studying various works. One misses nuance, not to mention a certain intuition that comes from immersing oneself in the works of other writers.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Suddenly, I thought about Rav Herzog's rejection of the idea that some rule in the Mishnah was Roman in origin. Why, I wondered, was he so indignant? Why did he feel the need to triumphantly declare that there was no way the law in question emanated from outside of the Jewish orbit? And, more to the point, why was I warmed by his actions?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The question of the impact of outside cultures on Judaism has always both fascinated and frustrated me. On the one hand, good Jewish patriot that I am, I would like to naively think that everything in our received heritage developed imminently from within. After all, we experience Torah as a totality, and naturally tend to weigh and interpret its various elements in light of the totality of its parts. On the other hand, such a sentiment is patently wrong, even absurd. Jewish civilization has interacted with countless other cultures over the millennia, and has been greatly enriched by that interaction. We are inevitably influenced by the material and cultural surroundings wherein we find ourselves. The real questions are how that influence occurs and in what it results? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Contrary to the prevailing trends in the contemporary academy, I am something of an essentialist (or, better, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229785759_Essentialism_Social_Constructionism_and_Beyond">neo-Essentialist to use Andrew Sayer's phrase</a>). I am convinced (independent of my religious belief) that Rabbinic Judaism has a basic integrity that remained consistent throughout the centuries. Hence, when it encountered multiple cultures it interacted with them. It did not mindlessly, uncritically and mechanically embrace outside ideas and practices (by perhaps tossing thereupon some Jewish decoration). Judaism <i>interacted</i> with the outside world. That which it chose it accept was accepted critically and <i>adapted</i> to the core values and spiritual vision that was uniquely Jewish. There was, I think, even discrimination as to what was adopted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This position was best expressed by the distinguished scholar of Islam, H. A. R. Gibb, in his article, 'The Influence of Islamic Culture in Medieval Europe.' Two citations from that study will suffice to make the point at bar.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I fully subscribe to both of these sentiments. I would add that even when reality forced itself upon Jewish culture (as, for example, certain aspects of Christian penitence that impacted upon German Pietism, aka Hassidut Ashkenaz), the forces that imposed themselves were still refracted through a Jewish prism (a point I made in <a href="https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/759532/rabbi-dr-jeffrey-woolf/inner-essence-outside-influence-some-professional-and-religious-considerations/">a lecture that I offered</a> some years ago at Yeshiva College.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> As a result, I confess that I bristle when I encounter the wholesale reductionist stance that characterizes the work of so many Jewish academicians. Whenever there is any parallel between a Jewish source and a non-Jewish source, the automatic reaction is: Aha! The Jews took it from there!!! The idea that Jews might have originated something out of their own religious or cultural nexus isn't taken seriously. Neither is the possibility that similar phenomena might emerge from similar circumstances. (Never mind the consideration that even if there was influence the significant questions are: What? How? To what Extent? and not just establishing that there was influence.) Indeed, sometimes, when I read or hear colleagues presenting this kind of argument, there's something triumphalist, celebratory in their words. But why? Sometimes I think it's an expression of a deep seated need to belong to the outside world. Other times, it seems that Jewish otherness bothers them, or that they are burdened by a serious cultural inferiority complex. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Whatever the motivation for this non-nuanced understanding of cultural interaction, one thing struck me as I was talking to my friend. The obverse of the compulsive search for outside influences upon Judaism and Jewish culture is that Jews are incapable of being original on their own terms. If so, they must be deemed cultural parasites. Hence, on some level there is a similarity between this operating assumption and the Antisemitic (and deeply Marxist) trope that Jews are not productive economically but merely <a href="https://academic.oup.com/leobaeck/article-abstract/9/1/3/970017">parasites</a> on the body politic of Europe. That image of the Jew, in turn, is rooted in the <a href="https://www.bh.org.il/blog-items/myth-vampire-jew-blood-libels/">notorious blood libels of the Medieval and Modern Worlds</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> When that insight hit me this morning, I fully understood Rav Herzog's indignation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> And my delight in his reply. </span></span><br />
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Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-81150447426809877062019-06-30T14:50:00.004+03:002019-06-30T14:50:45.191+03:00בעקבות פרשת יובל דיין<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">פרשת
יובל דיין נגעה בי (כמו לרבים, כנראה) בעצב רגיש. אלה מתגוננים ואלה
צוהלים. אלה מזדהים ואלה דואבים. מכיוון שאינני מכיר את דיין, לא ראוי
שאתייחס לסאגה האישית שלו. ברצוני רק לשתף אתכם בהגיגיי האישיים
והקצרים...אותם עצבים אישיים/רגישים שבהם הפוסט נגע.<br /> <br /> הקשר ביני
לבין קוני, אותו אני זוכר מאודי והרבה לפני שרשמית נהייתי שומר תורה ומצוות
במובן המקובל של המילה, הוא יסוד הוויתי. הוא ממלא (כפי שפעם העיר<span class="text_exposed_show"> הגרא"ל זצ"ל) את קודש הקדשים של נשמתי.<br /> כתוצאה, אינני מחזיק אמונות-- אני מרגיש את עצמי מוחזק ע"י אמונתי.<br /> <br />
התוצאה היא שקיום המצוות, ותלמוד תורה לפניו, הם זכוות הניתנת לי למלא את
רצונו. ברור, שבמובנים רבים אני מרוויח הרבה מהם, מקריב הרבה בגינם, וחושש
מתוצאות מעידותיי. אולם, העיקר נשאר אותו קשר.<br /> <br /> כל זה איננו שולל
את העובדה שבן תמותה אנכי, מוגבל בשכלי ובהבנתי. לכן, הספק (ליתר דיוק,
הספקות) המקנן בי הוא חלק מובנה מההואי הדתי. יותר מזה, הספק (וההתמודדות
עם הספק) הוא קטגוריה דתית לגמרי ליגיטימית. אפשר בהחלט לאשר ספק, וגם
להמשיך להאמין; לשוחח ולשאול לבורא עולם שאלות נוקבות. מאידך, ההכרה המתמדת
במגבלות תבונתי והשגתי (עיין רמב"ם, הל' יסודי התורה פ"ב ה"א-ה"ב) מחזקת
אותי ומאפשרת את ההתמודדות עם הספק והתהייה.<br /> <br /> משימה לא פשוטה הטיל
הקב"ה על עם ישראל. לא פשוט בכלל לקיים מצוות ולשמור על מודעות רוחנית
בריאה הממלאת את המצוות. קל מאד לזייף ולעוות, להשתמש בכתר בצורות לא
נאותות. אני מבין את אלה שמאבדים את עולמם בגלל שרואים דברים קשים ביותר
המבוצעים ע"י אלה שרוממות התורה בגרונם ומשפילים אותה במו ידיהם; אלה
שמפטירים עליהם: 'ראית פלוני שלמד תורה כמה דבריו מקולקלין, ומתוך כך התורה
מתחללת' (פסיקתא זוטרתא, רות פ"א).<br /> <br /> אולם, אין בזה כל חדש. מאז
משה רבינו ועבור לנביאים, מחז"ל ועד גדולי המוסר ניטש מאבק להשגת חיים
מלאים בפנים ובחוץ, בבית ובציבור. מערכת העונשים של התורה עצמה מעידה על כך
כמאה עדים. הדרך קשה מאד, אין ספק ושומה על כל יהודי להיאבק עם עצמו ועם
הציבור לתיקון המעוות, להשרשת תודעת בורא העולם, להפצת, הנגשת והנעמת
התורה. <br /> <br /> דווקא בעבודה זאת יש תפקיד ייחודי לבעלי תשובה (כמו
לגרים). אלה שבאו לחסות תחת כנפי השכינה ביצעו מעשה גבורה שלא ישוער. וככל
שרב המרחק אותו צעדו, גדולה יותר גבורתם. הם בעלי פרספקטיבה המיועדת להעשיר
את עולם התורה (וגם להתמודד מול אתגרי עולם החוץ). זה שאלה שזכו להיוולד
בתוך חזה האמונה לא משכילים להפנים אמת פשוטה זו היא טרגדיה וגם טפשות
אכזרית ומשוועת. מרבי עקיבא עד ריש לקיש, משלמה מולכו ועד אחרון החוזרים
ותרים אחרי אור ד' בימינו, תורת ד' נהייתה עשירה פי מליון בגין קיומם.<br /> <br />
בואו נהיה כנים, התעלמות מעובדה זו, ליקוי מוסרי זה, קיים לא רק בציבור
החרדי. הוא מושרש עמוק עמוק בתוך העולם הדתי לאומי ומשם יש לשרשו. <br /> <br />
מאידך, כפי שציין ידידי הרב אביה הכהן לגבי ממד אחר של הפרשה הנוכחית, למי
שגידל אחרים יש אחריות הורית. יותר ממה שכואבות לי תהפוכות נפשו של יובל
דיין, כואב לי סבלם של אלה שתלו בו את יהבם. אני מתפלל שד' ית' יאיר את
דרכם להישאר באורו.</span></span></span></span></div>
Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-71136390807538797452019-04-29T15:35:00.003+03:002019-05-02T18:58:05.112+03:00Fighting the Hydra: On the Return of Anti-Semitism<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9bqvsYxR6wtCUtLkixyzTlj8BVo433CU_lR7GKn0kTI5WKdOMUaMtFeWeLq0RWYzCI24cNTL-GbAxMLcHfT_PDBvp3xpz_II1IETEWw8CXVT88yWGIUUvJRgMIFBadI1CAhg/s1600/636252777669218389.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1000" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9bqvsYxR6wtCUtLkixyzTlj8BVo433CU_lR7GKn0kTI5WKdOMUaMtFeWeLq0RWYzCI24cNTL-GbAxMLcHfT_PDBvp3xpz_II1IETEWw8CXVT88yWGIUUvJRgMIFBadI1CAhg/s400/636252777669218389.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Shabbat, Bet Chabad in Poway California was
attacked by a White Supremacist, leaving one dead and a number wounded. The
attack came six months after an even deadlier assault in Pittsburgh. Yesterday,
the New York Times, published a deeply anti-Semitic cartoon that invoked the
medieval image of the Jewish dog, the Satanic Judas and the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion. Jews, together with people of good will, are justifiably horrified
and grieve the senseless deaths, the desecration of holy ground. They are
outraged at the explicit dehumanization of the Jew in terms more fitting of <i>Der
Stürmer</i> and </span><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Völkischer Beobachter</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, than of the ‘Paper of Record.’ </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They should not, however, be
surprised.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since the end of World War II, most
of us have been under the illusion that Jew hatred has been in recession;
relegated to the fringes of society, there to wither and die. That belief has
proven to be wrong. Hatred of the Jew, whose roots reach back to Greece and Rome merely
went underground. It did not wither. It lay dormant. Now, as a result of
multiple forces, Anti-Semitism/Anti-Judaism has reemerged in Europe, in North
America, and in Arabia.. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The trouble is that we have become
used to a world wherein Jew hatred was absent. Hence, its return elicits
turmoil and pain. Part of the turmoil is because, in contrast to our forebears,
we have lost our ‘sea-legs.’ We don’t know what to make of Antisemitism. We are
constantly shocked to encounter it. So, we struggle to understand. We blame
Anti-Zionism. We blame White Supremacists. We viciously blame each other, in
the somewhat naïve belief that if Jews would only behave properly (each from
his own point of view), Jew hatred could be defeated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet, even if we grant that Jews are
obligated to constantly improve their behavior, we will still miss the point.
Anti-Semitism is an historical phenomenon that transcends all explanations. It defies
reason and rejects logic (despite the best efforts of historians,
philosophers and psychologists to explain it). How else can we understand that the Jew is
dangerous because he is both Right and Left, Capitalist and Socialist? How else
can we explain that Antisemitic images and prejudices pass easily from the
Atheist Left to the White Supremacist Right to Jihadi Muslims? Antisemitism
possesses one common denominator, the abiding hatred of the Jew and of Judaism.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, what are we to do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First, we must acknowledge that we
are under attack from multiple directions. Making excuses for one side’s
Jew-hatred encourages all. We must unhesitatingly acknowledge the fact that Jew
hatred comes from different directions (even those with which we identify on
other issues). Jews and all people of good will, uncompromisingly fight every
manifestation of Antisemitism: Right or Left, Progressive or Conservative,
Muslim or Christian. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second, in order to fight one needs
that for which to fight. I learned how from a beloved teacher. His name was
Rabbi Isaiah Wohlgemuth. In the mid-1930’s he was rabbi of the German town of
Kitzingen. He fondly recalled those years as a ‘Golden Age’ for German Jewry. Why?
Because the Jews responded to their dire situation by deepening their
Jewishness. They studied their heritage, and sought out each other in communal
solidarity. In brief, they answered their adversaries and became meaningfully
steadfast by becoming better Jews. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this old/new situation, if we do
not come to understand that for which we exist as Jews, the consequences will
be nothing if not fraught. Fatigue, despair, or even self-identification with
our adversaries could result (as they have over the centuries). Engaging the
hydra of Antisemitism together, based upon profound Jewish knowledge and
identification (which, of course are best achieved in the Jewish Homeland), is
a proven path to its subjugation (even if not its slaying).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over my desk, hangs a cartoon. In it, a Professor tells his
student: ‘Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who <i>do</i>
study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats
it.’ In these few lines, I have tried to share what I’ve learned from Jewish
History. Let us learn its lessons, and not repeat them.</span></div>
Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-75551359715424901412019-04-13T20:46:00.000+03:002019-04-13T20:46:01.287+03:00Pesach 5779<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFAiMBHcbZNtBZPpU24w5hrOq6QYXnwMBI_meiC_L1vK7jbShuqZv1Rf4fKJX0ud_CfzpslpXz19e7AsqMMFTqRyQUxxlQNnGq7YGpQLuCK0o1YAWBc1_o5NTMOjghSg-iyts/s1600/Pesach+5779.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="1315" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFAiMBHcbZNtBZPpU24w5hrOq6QYXnwMBI_meiC_L1vK7jbShuqZv1Rf4fKJX0ud_CfzpslpXz19e7AsqMMFTqRyQUxxlQNnGq7YGpQLuCK0o1YAWBc1_o5NTMOjghSg-iyts/s640/Pesach+5779.jpg" width="548" /></a></div>
<br />Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-14824809485218042372019-02-16T21:32:00.003+02:002019-02-16T22:37:31.992+02:00A Refreshing, Wider View of Rav Soloveitchik זצ"ל<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzRc7DPavfNJ0Yy-nb-0saYsoYpXGzm8udh9TOy78W4CntCmCrGjqdc1x4EPSqguaw67v5uNU0XdLxwN5bjeW-ibAc0hxYLE4OQ92zILjVFYEnfYnGa17y8dWTmWgk3UOqnEk/s1600/Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzRc7DPavfNJ0Yy-nb-0saYsoYpXGzm8udh9TOy78W4CntCmCrGjqdc1x4EPSqguaw67v5uNU0XdLxwN5bjeW-ibAc0hxYLE4OQ92zILjVFYEnfYnGa17y8dWTmWgk3UOqnEk/s320/Portrait.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> I have long maintained that studies of Rav Soloveitchik זצ"ל have long suffered from serious imbalance. Extensive attention has been afforded his writings in English and Hebrew, while his <i>shiurim</i> and <i>Hiddushim</i> in Talmud and his essays in Yiddish have been largely ignored. I assume that this is a result of the fact that most academics are proficient in neither. This is unfortunate, <i>in extremis</i> , because one cannot take the full measure of any writer without acquaintance (if not mastery) of their total <i>oeuvre</i>.<i> </i>This is especially the case with someone like Rav Soloveitchik who was, in line with Jewish literature for over two and a half millennia, highly inter-textual. Like Maimonides, before him, his full <i>persona</i> only emerges when he is taken in light of his total output. [This includes recordings of of his <i>shiurim</i>, which often provide critical supplementary insights into his overall thought. Indeed, sometimes, the latter contain discussion that are often noted as lacking. For example, the Rav is reputed to have never addressed the question of the interaction between Judaism and General culture head on (w/ the possible exception of an essay called 'רמתיים צופים.') However, it emerges that he did address the issue...in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Ld01HCaKU">talk on Parshat <i>Ki Tetzeh</i></a>, which was delivered in Yiddish at the Moriah Synagogue.] </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In addition, the use of his Yiddish writings takes on added importance in light of Prof. Haym Soloveitchik's <a href="https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/729696/rabbi-hershel-schachter/hesped-for-rav-soloveitchik-part-2/">observation</a> that anyone 'who didn't really know him in Yiddish, didn't really know him.'</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was, therefore, very excited and please to see that <a href="https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/people/ariel-evan-mayse">Prof. Ariel Evan Mayse</a> has published a studious and <a href="https://ingeveb.org/articles/yokhed-ve-tsiber?fbclid=IwAR2VtBekfzpPSVq8Uk6iOrRhR8vgIeJyG-WPNehFET45iTLPwK4-lBFDAnE">perceptive study</a> of one of the Rav's neglected Yiddish essays, 'יחיד וציבור.' The author deftly summarizes and characterizes Rav Soloveitchik's argument, translates the relevant passages, and places them in the context of many of his better known essays. In the process he discovers one of the rare cases wherein the Rav strives to harmonize the antinonies with which he works, rather than leaving them to remain in ongoing dialectical tension. The result is a <i>tour de force</i> that enriches our understanding of the Rav and the development of his thought, while implicitly and explicitly pointing out new directions for further study.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Withal, I did encounter a few points which I feel require attention, sharpening or correction. In the interest of convenience, I've followed the printed text. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1) Note 18: Many more recordings of the Rav's Yiddish talks are found at the Bergen County Bet Midrash (http://bcbm.org ).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2) <i>Ibid.</i> The Rav only shifted from Yiddish to English in the 1960's, not the mid 1950's as stated.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3) <i>S.v. </i>The formulation- The Rav's use of <i>shitah</i> is more emphatic and precise than 'meaning' or 'opinion.' In Talmudic discourse, a <i>shitah</i> is a well-founded legal position that that transcends individual context and reflects the understanding of a Talmud-wide principle.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">4) Note 27 - R. Naphtali Zvi Yehudah Berlin was Rav Soloveitchik's great-great grandfather. Not only is there no doubt that he was familiar with <i>Haameq Davar</i>, a review of Rav Soloveitchik's <i>Humash</i> lectures shows the former's deep and abiding influence upon him. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5) Note 59- The author should, by rights, have referred to 'From There you shall Seek' (ובקשתם משם), a homily organized around the Song of Song and fraught through with echoes of Divine Love.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">6) Note 68 - The use of poetic imagery, and of natural descriptions is not only not rare in Rav Soloveitchik's thought...it is very common. See, again, the opening to 'From THere you shall seek'. In addition, dozens of recorded lectures contain digressions like the one noted.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">7) S.v. When comparing - the author's psychologizing is unconvincing. <i>Halakhic Man </i>was properly published in one of the few Hebrew journals that were appropriate at the time. The journal, <i>Talpiot</i>, was published by Yeshiva University and the essays came out just as the Rav's standing at YU was beginning to firm up. The choice of venue was both wise and justified. Given Haym Soloveitchik's comment above, I think the author is reading too much into the difference in language.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">8) S.v. Thinking Beyond - I am surprised that the author did not connect the Rav's critique of Yeshiva education with the more extensive discussion in '<i>Al Ahavat Ha-Torah u-Ge'ulat Nefesh Ha-Dor'</i> which was published less than a decade later.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">9) S.v. But I suspect- William Kolbrenner's reading of Rav Soloveitchik is fetching and adds new dimensions to our appreciation of him. Again, though, especially in light of the intensely confessional aspect of his thought, one cannot ignore the fact that the Rav went through two serious personal crises that reoriented him both personally and ontically. First, there was his own bout with cancer in 1959/60. Then, and likely more seriously, the illness and passing of his wife (1964-1967), which devastated him. Indeed, it has more than once been noted that '<i>The Lonely Man of Faith</i>' is something of a eulogy (certainly a testimonial) to his wife. (Even as Halakhic Man is a eulogy to his father and the world that he represented.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is not to say that he did not feel a sense of failure. He did, insofar as the impact he thought his thought was having. As it turned out, he was much ahead of his time in many ways (despite his heavy reliance on philosophic trends from the 20's and 30's of the last century).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">10) All biographical and textual evidence shows that Rav Soloveitchik <i>never</i> hoped to be an ivory towered intellectual. His drive to teach is evidenced from his late twenties on. This is born out, in spades, in Seth Farber's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Orthodox-Dreamer-Soloveitchik-Maimonides/dp/1584653388">biographical study</a> of his early career in Boston. <i> </i></span></span>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-311105327248768552018-12-30T18:36:00.006+02:002018-12-30T18:36:55.457+02:00בעקבות המפץ הפוליטי: איפה אנו עומדים?<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span data-offset-key="41a72-0-0"><span data-text="true">במידה מסוימת, טלטלות הן טובות מכיוון שגורמות להערכת מצב מחדש. כשסוקרים את השטח, ושומעים את הדיונים בתקשורת, בכל זאת עולות לא מעט מסקנות חיוביות. האוכלוסייה היהודית בארץ יותר יהודית, יותר לאומית ויותר אתנית מאז שנים רבות. העובדה שמפלגות 'מרכז' חשות צורך שלא להיתפס שמאל/אנטי-יהדות (לא חשוב כרגע אם זהו פרצופן האמיתי) מלמדת המון על ציבור הבוחרים. זוהי תמורה מאד מבורכת (במיוחד עבור אלה ממנו הזוכרים את מערכת הבחירות ב-96 וב-99). לדעתי, יש אפילו להציע תיקון למסקנות שאותן העלו שמורל רוזנר וקמיל פוקס בספרם החדש (שהוא חובה לכל אזרח יהודי). הם מציינים מה שנראה להם כחילון משמעותי בחברה הישראלית (וברור לא הדתה, למרות קריאותיהם ההיסטריות של הפורום החילוני). ממצאיהם נראים נכונים, אולם משמעותן לא מוצתה. הרצף הדתי-לאומי בציבור היהודי שהם גילו מגשר (לפחות בפוטנציה) ומלכד את הציבור יותר מבעבר. העובדה ששיעורי היהודים בארץ המאמינים בקב"ה והרואים בתורה ובמצוותיה את הכילה הקדושה (Sacred Canopy) שבתוכה חיים (אפילו אם לא יקיימו קלה כחמורה) מהווה נשורה משמחת לקיימותה של הישות היהודית בארץ ישראל. מנעד או רצף עובר מצד לצד בקלות ובצורה בריאה. המגמה היא בסך הכל חיובית וב"ה על זה. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dbun6-0-0"><span data-text="true">כרב, והאמת עמדתי מושפעת ממצאיי כהיסטוריון, אני מאמין שהתורה תעשה את שלה והזיקה למוסורת תתחזק. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="aa4fa-0-0"><span data-text="true">המנעד הזה מאפיין את הציבור הדתי לאומי גם, ולכן זה לא מפתיע שהמגזר שלנו מפוצל (אם כי, יותר--- הרבה יותר סביב נושאיים דתיים/תרבותיים מאשר פולוטיים). אולי טוב שכך. מצד שני, מפחידה אותי השתלטותה הצפויה של החרד"לים על הבית היהודי והפיכת אינשיה לשופרה של הציונות הדתית. לרבים מבין האנשים האלה אין שמץ של מושג איך לתרגם את התורה לשפה המובנת ע"י היהודי המצוי ודבריהם מנכרים את הציבור המסורתי דווקא כשהוא מחפש תורה (עיין רמב"ם, מבוא לפרק חלק). </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="f93ka-0-0"><span data-text="true">אולם, יש הבט יותר חמור, השתעבדותם של החרד"לים למונופול של הרבה"ר הרת אסון. הרבה"ר מזמן איננו מוסד ציוני, ממלכתי שאכפת לו מכל יהודי א"י (ומישהו חייב להזכיר לחרד"לים שהרב קוק זצ"ל נפטר לפני 83 שנים, ושלא הוא ולא מישהו נאמן למורשתו שולט שם). הרקורד האיום שלו בכשרות, בסרבני גט ובגיור הוא רק קצה הקרחון. [הייתי יכול כבר היום לצאת לפנסיה אם היה לי שקל עבור כל אימת שסטודנט חילוני אמר לי שהוא מכבד ואוהב את התורה, מאמין בקב"ה וסולד מהרבנות.]</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c6rgl-0-0"><span data-text="true">אני מתרכז בנקודה זו, בגלל שהמרקם היהודי המחזק, התודעה והקיימות היהודיות המתעצמות חייבים להיות מבוססים על הסכמות בנושאים עקרוניים כמו יחסי דת וציבוריות וגם על הסדרת מעמדם של הלא יהודים מזרע ישראל (שמתווספים להם כל שנה אלפים נוספים בזכות הסוכנות היהודית). היכולת הבסיסית להתחתן אחד עם השני ולהכיר אחד בשני כיהודים היא חיונית לקיימותנו ומהווה שיקול בטחוני מובהק. ההיסטוריה מלמדת שפילוג פוקד את עמנו רק על רקע נושא זה. ודווקא כאן, נכנעו החרד"לים לחרדים (שממלכתיות איננה הקלף החזק שלהם) ותמכו בקיפאון הגיור והכרזת מלחמה נגד גדולי תורה המגיירים ע"פ דין (ע' שו"ת אחיעזר ח"ג סי' כ"ג). כדרכם בבלימת הגיור, כן דרכם נגד הרחבת הכשרות וטהרת הקדושה (דוגמת מיזם הכשרות של צוה"ר בראשות יד"נ הרב אורן דובדבני). </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4j579-0-0"><span data-text="true">תו הנוגה המתנגן במפה הפוליטית מעלה את השאלה: מי יעמוד בפרץ? מי ייצג ציונות דתית שבצורה אחראית (כולל קווים אדומים ברורים נגד מגמות בציבור) יילחם בכנסת עבור אותה יהדות שתחשל את הציבור ותזכה את כולנו בברכת ד'?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="duu2o-0-0"><span data-text="true">האיחוד הלאומי? ממנו והלאה.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="sfvg-0-0"><span data-text="true">הימין החדש? לא נראה לי.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="f8bpq-0-0"><span data-text="true">הליכוד? לא על סדר יומו (עם תלותו בחרדים)</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8ga8a-0-0"><span data-text="true">זה מה שמדיר את עיניי משינה בלילות.</span></span></div>
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Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-1160739484581802532018-12-23T14:27:00.001+02:002018-12-23T14:27:15.110+02:00Modern Orthodox Imbalance<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In preparing for last week's talk, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/913405/rabbi-dr-jeffrey-woolf/redefining-modern-orthodoxy-in-israel/.XBdoTqKOmog.facebook">Redefining Modern Orthodoxy in Israel</a>, I had occasion to revisit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Wertheimer">Prof. Jack Wertheimer</a>'s essay, <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2014/08/can-modern-orthodoxy-survive/">'Can Modern Orthodoxy Survive?'</a> and the responses too. [Full disclosure, I am a long time fan of Professor Wertheimer's writings. His latest book, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Judaism-Practice-Religion/dp/0691181292">The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today</a>, </i>is a stunning <i>tour de force</i>...if very sobering.] The original article, and all of the responses save one, provided trenchant and fascinating food for thought about the present and future of the Modern Orthodox experiment. Somehow, reading Wertheimer's <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/2014/08/the-unresolved-dilemmas-of-modern-orthodoxy/">summation</a> helped me to crystallize some of my ideas on the subject (and some of the points I presented to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/488050398205356/">Maccabean Society</a> last week.) </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In summarizing the responses to his essay, Wertheimer noted three primary concerns that were expressed. Primary among these was the explicit sense that Modern Orthodoxy is threatened by Ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi Judaism (and not so implicitly by the latter's influence upon putative Modern Orthodox institutions, such as Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union). </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is a remarkable, and extremely problematic (if not dangerous), situation for any wing of a community that defines itself as Orthodox. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">To begin with, we must parse the nature of the Haredi 'threat.' If this is represented by moves to erase women from the media and the community; by the ceding of authority in critical areas (e.g. Divorce, Recalcitrants, Conversion etc) to Haredi rabbis then the concern is real and must be addressed. The Modern Orthodox Community must stand up for the advancement of women within and without its ranks (to the degree the Torah credibly allows, see below). The unparalleled and unjustified extremes to which the Laws of Modesty have gone must be rejected. The inequalities and perversions of justice that occur in the realm of divorce must be ameliorated. A credible model for conversion (which is more an Israeli than a Diaspora issue) must be adopted, and so on.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">However, all too often 'Haredization' (aka 'Sliding to the Right') is identified with intensification of piety, increased Torah Study, along with greater precision and punctiliousness in the observance of God's commandments. Here, no community that strives to uphold Orthodox Tradition (i.e. the iteration of authentic Rabbinic Jewish Tradition of the past millennia) can but endorse such developments (never mind distance itself therefrom). The fact that ritual and moral piety were not always the hallmarks of the Modern Community (as embodied in the US by the so-called 'Young Israel type,' which parallels the Israel Mizrhnik) is not an excuse. Indeed, this type of spiritually shallow and ritually deficient type of behavior were precisely the reason that Rav Soloveitchik זצ"ל never self-identified as a Modern Orthodox Jew (while his son in law, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein זצ"ל adopted the Centrist moniker). I understand that the increase in observance, which often calls into question the integrity of previous generations, is uncomfortable and people like to do what they like to do. In addition, Freedom of Will is certainly given to all. However, to bemoan such trends officially is indefensible. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">On the other hand, it was still stunning (though not all that surprising) to read Wertheimer's observation that </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">'</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">All but one seem to regard the <i>haredim</i> as the “other” with whom
Modern Orthodoxy must contend; <b>by contrast, the more liberal Jewish
denominations barely register in these responses</b>.' </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In my experience, there are two reasons for this. To start with, Orthodoxy has defied all of the predictions of its demise. Few can believe today that only fifty years ago, Marshall Sklare, the preeminent sociologist of American Jewry dismissed Orthodoxy as a fossil. Or that when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Liebman">Charles Liebman</a> published his <a href="https://www.bjpa.org/search-results/publication/1924">prescient study of Orthodoxy</a> and its future resurgence, his colleagues thought his predictions risible. Today, the non-Orthodox denominations are at a serious cross road, as they try to survive in the wake of the trends unveiled by the <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/">PEW Report of 2013</a>. So, from a formal, institutional vantage point, Non-Orthodox denominations do not really constitute a threat to Orthodox continuity.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">However, it really is striking, that none of the respondents questioned (or even expressed some measure of discomfort) at the challenge posed to Orthodox Judaism by the (Post)Modern World with which Modern Orthodoxy purports to interact. This omission, which Prof. Wertheimer does not note in his summary, is fraught with serious consequences. Contemporary Western Culture, which denies Absolute Truth and advocates values and actions that cannot be squared with any form of credible Orthodoxy</span></span></span>, does threaten Modern Orthodoxy with corrosion from within. This, however, depends upon the model on cultural interaction that one chooses.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">If one assumes that (Post)Modernity must be coterminous with Judaism, along the lines that Medieval Jewish Philosophers posited (v. R. Sa'adiah's Introduction to the <i>Emunot ve-De'ot </i>or <i>Guide to the Perplexed </i>I, 71), then one eventually subjugates Judaism to the former and one often finds oneself using various tools, disciplines and arguments to accommodate the Torah to (Post)Modernity which is all too often uncritically embraced. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The result of such an orientation, is very problematic. <a href="https://www.torahmusings.com/2016/05/masorah-teachings-rabbi-joseph-b-soloveitchik/">As I wrote a number of years ago</a>:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Making Judaism dependent upon external systems of thought and values,
denies its integrity and, effectively, eviscerates it. The Torah, at
this point, becomes a mere function of transient intellectual and
cultural fashion; nothing more than a Jewish decoration (as it were)
upon another culture. Anything that was originally part of Judaism that
does not align itself with current norms will simply be dispensed with.
Ultimately, the Torah itself is easily dispensed with. After all, if
one’s central values lie outside of Judaism, why make the effort to
maintain it, since sentiment alone is hardly strong enough to withstand
the pull of a larger culture? The inevitable result, then, is
assimilation, which is simply the exchange of one identity and value
system for another.</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
many cases, and I one can detect some of this among the responses to
Wertheimer (along with some of the positions presented at the recent <a href="https://pjil.law.harvard.edu/">Progressive (sic!) Halakhah</a> Conference at Harvard), this is precisely the model that is advocated. This model of Orthodoxy is deeply out of balance, tilting away from itself. Here, the example of the Non-Orthodox denominations does represent a plausible foil. For it was precisely this epistemological model that underlay Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionism. So, while the other movements might not pose an institutional challenge, their example should be a warning to those who wish to march Orthodoxy down that path (and they represent a not insignificant number). </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The healthier, and more responsible approach to cultural interaction assumes a judicial encounter of Judaism, possessed of its own integrity, with outside culture. Ideas and challenges, insights and questions, models and possibilities posed by the later can and should be explored and judged as to their appropriateness <i>and possible adaptability</i> to Torah and the worship of God. However, God and the words of the Torah have the final say and that say may well be 'No' or 'Partially Yes.'</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As I noted in the above essay, which addressed the issue from the point of view of Rav Soloveitchik's epistemology:</span></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">At the same time, he definitely <strong><em>did not</em></strong> advocate
a blind, ‘know nothing’ or fundamentalist stance toward the outside
world and its culture, and their relationship to Torah. His
epistemological model, which was beautifully mapped out by my teacher,
Prof. Yitzhak Twersky z’l, assumed that one should courageously enlist
the full panoply of Western culture for the explication and enhancement
of Judaism. Judaism, in the Rav’s model, creatively engages and interacts with
other systems of thought and value. It is enriched and our appreciation
of it deepened by that interaction. It does not, however, subordinate
itself to them, or makes its validity contingent thereupon.The core values and institutions of Judaism, rooted in the Talmud and
its literature, control and balance the manner in which outside forces
and ideas impact upon (and stimulate) it. </span></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Of course, this approach will likely be seen to be an anathema to many who are immersed of Western Thought today as it presumes Faith in God, Deference to His Will as expressed in the Written and Oral Law (although subject to a fair degree of responsible interpretation), Belief in Absolute Truth and a degree of Essentialism (which is, by the way, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-954X.00073">making a comeback of late</a>.) In addition</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, it jibes better with the way that great sages and halakhists</span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span></span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, leaders and thinkers have comported themselves in the past (though, Orthodox Judaism does not require the imprimatur of the academic). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The future Modern Orthodoxy in the Exile (even as we, in Israel, strive to create a native Israeli version thereof) will be determined by the choice of model of interaction that its people choose. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i> </i> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-59173283542216637432018-08-28T15:53:00.002+03:002018-08-29T10:21:12.827+03:00Rosh HaShanah 5779<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-27044731209270425742018-04-02T23:12:00.000+03:002018-04-02T23:24:27.654+03:00Mori ve-Rabbi, Rav Yosef Dov Ha-Levi Soloveitchik זצ"ל: A Personal Reflections on his Twenty-Fifth Yahrzeit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was a call
that I was theoretically expecting and for which I was still totally
unprepared. It was Thursday evening, April 8, 1993, the eighteenth of Nisan
5753 and I was sitting at my desk still trying to fathom the passing of one of
my mentors, Ludwig Jesselson, the previous Shabbat. The phone rang. At the
other end was Prof. Henry Lisman <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">ז"ל</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>,
a dear friend and the Rav's brother-in law. His voice was soft and solemn.
'That which we most feared has finally happened,' he said. I knew immediately
what he meant. The funeral would be Sunday, the eve of the last days of Pesach,
in order to allow the members of the Lichtenstein family to arrive in the
United States. We agreed that I would drive him and Mrs. Lisman (who was
Rebbetzin Dr. Tonya Lewitt Soloveitchik <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">ז"ל</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>'s
sister) to Boston, along with one of the Rav's earliest star students, Rabbi
Prof. <a href="https://prabook.com/web/isidore.danishefsky/646103">Chaim
Danishevsky</a> <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">זצ"ל</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span> and one other person.
I hung up the receiver, and sat in stunned silence. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
Hazal, in describing the initial stage of mourning, speak of <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">שעת חימום</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>, a moment of intense, heated <i>angst</i>
and pain (Moed Qatan 24a). It is that moment, according to <i>Halakhah</i> that
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Out-Whirlwind-Mourning-Suffering-Condition/dp/0881257729">generates
the obligation/impulse to tear one's clothes</a>. Strangely, I did not
experience that moment of stabbing shock. I felt a deep, chilling and
paralyzing ache that left me stunned and numb. I felt as if the Rav's departure
from the world had torn a gaping hole in the fabric of my universe (even though
he had been ill and withdrawn for over seven years, and the last time we had
really talked was in February, 1985). Oddly enough, that yawning chasm remains
with me to this day, twenty-five years later. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
This state of mind is very hard to explain to anyone who has not had the
privilege of being the disciple of a great religious personality (the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT07x0Qgi7E">Rav's reminiscences of Rav
Kook</a> come to mind). Encountering such a personality is a transformative
experience, especially when that personality instills in you a combination of
Reverance and Deference to God and Torah, while pushing you to grow into an
independent and courageous <i>Servus Dei</i>. Being the disciple of the Rav
ushered us into a realm of existence wherein, as Rav Prof. Haym Soloveitchik
put it in his unforgettable eulogy of his father, everything outside the Rav's <i>Shiur</i>
(especially in Talmud, but also in Humash or Jewish Thought) was not only
unimportant, it was insignificant. In those moments, we experienced a timeless
passing on of Torah and Tradition, which was marked by Love and intense
spiritual yearning and intellectual aspiration; and by the awareness, again
formulated exquisitely by Prof. Soloveitchik, that the Rav and his disciples
were bound to one another by the common shared awareness that without him, as
our <i>Rebbe,</i> we were incapable of being what we were (or aspired to be),
and that (as incredible as it still sounds to me) without us as <i>talmidim</i>,
he could not have been who he was. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
That sense of bonding remains very real for me, a quarter of a century later
(and unites <i>Talmidim</i> who span the generations, when they meet and share
ideas, interpretations and memories.) On the one hand, personally, I know that
I have striven to develop into an independent person, and forge my way in the
world of <i>Avodat HaShem</i>, of <i>Talmud Torah</i> and <i>Shemirat Mitzvot</i>.
My goal, sadly only partially realized, was to seek to realize the
mandate/blessing he gave me the day before my wedding; <i>viz.</i> to become 'a
<i>lamdan </i>in the widest sense of the term.' Certainly, there are positions
and decisions I took with which he would have disagreed (though, I hope he would
have respected them). Still, even when I reached such decisions, it was the
Rav's teachings and method, and personal example that really grounded and
oriented me throughout. In that, very deep and profound sense, I feel a
contradictory reaction to his passing. On the one hand, I miss his
availability. There is not a day that goes by that I do not wish I could write
or speak with him to help me make sense of an increasingly neurotic. On the
other hand, by studying and engaging his teachings I feel like my discipleship
has never ended. [Indeed, it was my beloved, lamented friend, R. Dr. David
Applebaum <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">הי"ד</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span> who described the
experience, after the passing of his <i>Rebbe</i>, Rav Ahron Soloveichik <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">זצ"ל</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span> in 2001.] </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
So, perhaps, that is why I felt no <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">שעת חימום</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>
a quarter of a century ago. As Prof Soloveitchik said as he concluded his
eulogy: </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> 'And so, they bonded and have remained so
even now that <span dir="RTL" lang="HE">נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>.'</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8030144.post-29831363452988921662018-04-02T12:39:00.003+03:002018-04-02T21:05:28.799+03:00Ludwig Jesselson זצ"ל on his Twenty Fifth Yahrzeit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBKhP-Y-cxbSARwJDT1hVdmT4JYsMWQb5IIZdFQcutqjVvnlXC0uBTsssfQq_ZvSMlapnb-bnfBWLT-_oxSN7jl0VpJzrMYehuukDLzJEDt_Efx6I07kTytCjEAJVJHdrCz6K/s1600/Luddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBKhP-Y-cxbSARwJDT1hVdmT4JYsMWQb5IIZdFQcutqjVvnlXC0uBTsssfQq_ZvSMlapnb-bnfBWLT-_oxSN7jl0VpJzrMYehuukDLzJEDt_Efx6I07kTytCjEAJVJHdrCz6K/s1600/Luddy.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Ludwig Jesselson (c. 1955) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> About three and a half years ago, I was eating lunch at the Faculty Table at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshivat_Har_Etzion">Yeshivat Har Etzion,</a> and we were joined by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aharon_Lichtenstein">Rav Aharon Lichtenstein זצ"ל</a>. Rav Lichtenstein was in failing health, but he still made superhuman efforts to learn in the Bet Midrash, and to eat with the Ramim, as he had for over four decades. Usually, he listened to the discussion around the table, but did not participate. On this occasion, the conversation involved a significant amount of Jewish Geography, in which I participated intensely. At one point, Rav Aharon looked at me and asked: 'How is it you know so many people?'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was surprised by the question (a result, I suppose, of a mix of reverence and inexperience --- since, of all of the members of the Rav זצ"ל's family, I had the least amount of interactions with him). After a few minutes, I walked over to him and simply said that God had blessed me with knowing many remarkable people. And it's true, I have been blessed not only to meet, but to be close to some of the most remarkable people, in many different walks of life. All of these have, to different degrees, left an impact on my life and taught me important life lessons. However, I only refer to a few of these as 'my teachers.'</span><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of these was Mr. Ludwig Jesselson זצ"ל, whose twenty-fifth <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yahrzeit"><i>yahrzeit</i></a> was observed last Wednesday, 12 Nisan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. Jesselson (or 'Mr. J'---I would never have the audacity to presume to call him 'Luddy') was a legend in commodity trading (especially metals and their derivatives), who parlayed his firm, Phillipp Brothers aka Phibro, into a world giant during the 1970's and early 1980's (the details are <a href="https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=167">here</a>). Yet, it is not of that part of his life that I wish </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(or have the expertise) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to write. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I came to know Mr. Jesselson (and his wife and partner, <a href="http://myobiterdicta.blogspot.co.il/2008/03/barukh-dayyan-ha-emet-mrs-erica.html">Erica <i>nee</i> Pappenheim</a>) when we moved to Riverdale in the Fall of 1984, as I assumed the position of Assistant Rabbi (and then, Scholar in Residence) of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverdale_Jewish_Center">Riverdale Jewish Center</a>, where the Jesselsons attended (and which they had helped found). Almost from the start, we developed a long, warm and affectionate relationship. Our family became part of the Jesselsons' extended family. Mr. Jesselson attended every one of my Shabbat afternoon lectures, andd many others. He was passionately interested in History, and he was a voracious reader. I became a sort of resource person for him. We shared the same <i>weltanschauung</i> (Mrs. J preferred to use the term <i>Hasqafa</i>), and I was privileged to be involved in many project that the Jesselsons undertook to advance Modern Orthodoxy (a number of which, I have to confess, also involved positions where I might best develop my talents, and put them to use) In addition, he was a major source of encouragement regarding my plans for Aliyah. In a <i>very</i> understated manner (appropriate for German-Jews), I tried to express my feelings toward them in the introduction to my doctorate (1991).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. Jesselson was an inspiration to untold numbers of people. After Mrs. J returned from Israel, following his passing a few days before Pesach, we sat together as she read through the hundreds of faxes that she'd received expressing shock and grief. As she read them, she kept reacting to one consistent theme: "How can so many people feel as if he was their best friend?' And yet, that was Mr. Jesselson. He treated everyone with grace, respect, and concern...from the shoe shine man whom he took off of the street (and to whom he gave a job) to Rabbis, captains of industry, and Heads of State. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet the Jesselsons did not confine their concern to words, or small gestures. They were, as many said at the time 'Princes of Philanthropy.' Mr. Jesselson was emphatic that if God blessed him with great wealth, it was for the sole purpose of helping others. And he helped others on a scale that beggars the imagination and, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">overwhelmingly, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">did so anonymously. In his philanthropy, which included both Jewish and non-Jewish causes and individuals, he was guided by the Torah's imperative to see every person as having been created in the image of God. That devotion to Torah guided many of the Jesselsons' philanthropic priorities. They were wholly committed to Modern Orthodoxy, to <i>Torah uMadda</i>, It is not a coincidence that the only buildings that bear their names belong to institutions that represent their highest values: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salanter_Akiba_Riverdale_Academy">SAR Academy</a>, the Jesselson Wing of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaare_Zedek_Medical_Center">Shaare Zedek Hospital</a>, and the <span id="goog_1423576041"></span><a href="https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=1004&pt=1&pid=43&level=4&cPath=43,1004">Jesselson Institute for Higher Torah Studies<span id="goog_1423576042"></span> at Bar Ilan University</a> (which is not to understate his devotion to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshiva_University">Yeshiva University</a>, whose Chairman of the Board he was). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Zionism, and support of the State of Israel, was a central part of Torah in the Jesselsons' world view. They supported countless Israeli cultural and religious institutions (Midresher Amaliah--named for his mother, the Israel Museum, the National Library, the IPO, Bar Ilan University and much more) and had lasting friendships with Israeli leaders and diplomats. (And in in the process, educated many of them about Shabbat and Hagim, Torah and Tradition--- all by dint of personal example.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One person with whom Mr. J had a very close relationship was the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ז"ל. And it is one episode of that friendship that I'd like to relate, as it says alot about Mr. Jesselson's lighter side </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(and as I was directly involved)</span>:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometime in the late 80's, I walked into the Riverdale Jewish Center on Shabbat Morning, and Mr. Jesselson came rushing over to me. With a mix of emphasis and exasperation, he said: 'I want you to help me. Yitzhak Rabin was at our house for dinner last night, and we had an argument.' I was somewhat taken aback. How,exactly, was I supposed to resolve this argument? And Mr. J explained: 'I said that there Feisal was the King of Syria after World War I and Rabin denied it; that Faisal was only King of Iraq. I want you to prove that I'm right' </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I tried to object that the Middle East in the early Twentieth Century was not exactly my area of expertise, but Mr. J was adamant: 'You're an historian. I know I'm right. Find me the proof.' So I was off. Now, this was during the years before the Internet, before Wikipedia. I started making inquiries, and always came up with same answer: After WWI, Abdullah was the Emir of Transjordan and Faisal was the King of Iraq. After a week, I saw Mr. Jesselson in Shul and reported my findings. He replied: 'Keep Looking.'</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, I kept looking. As it happens, my brother had trained as a Diplomat at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_H._Nitze_School_of_Advanced_International_Studies">SAIS </a>under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majid_Khadduri">Majid Khaddouri</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouad_Ajami">Fouad Ajami</a>, so I phoned him. He was, at the time, working at the Port Authority of NY and NJ, which had a good library (I didn't have access to Butler LIbrary at Columbia). He checked and found that for four months, from March to July 1920, the British installed Faisal bin Hussein as King of Greater Syria, until he was evicted by the French who had received the mandate for Syria at the San Remo Conference that year. So, Mr. Jesselson was correct. I asked my brother to xerox the relevant pages and mail them to me.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>When the pages arrived, I called Mr. J's office and told the secretary, Mrs. Sarfati, that I had material for him. She informed me that Mr. Jesselson was in Alaska on a yacht, fishing. HOWEVER, there was a fax on board. So, if I could fax her the pages she would send them on. This was before faxes were common. I had access to one of the few machines in Riverdale, at the Riverdale YM-YWHA. I drove over, and faxed the sheets from the book to Mrs. Sarfaty. She, then, faxed them to the yacht, off the coast of Alaska. Mr. Jesselson had the fax number in Rabin's office at the Israeli Defense Ministry, and off went the proof. When I next saw Mr. Jesselson in shul, he was, needless to say, very pleased (as was I).</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is so much more that I could say. However, if the Jesselson's guarded anything, it was their privacy (and it is no coincidence that there is only one picture of him on the Internet). Despite being, by all accounts, the wealthiest man in the area, his home was incredibly modest. Modesty of character was one of his shining qualities, which won the hearts of so many, and my eternal affection, reverence and gratitude.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started this post with the assertion that I consider Mr. Jesselson to have been one of my chief teachers. The lessons I learned from him, both in word and deed, were many. Among them: 1) Believe in yourself. 2) Know who you are, and who you are not. 3)The only bad news involves matters of Life and Death. everything else can be overcome. 4) Kiddush Levana is a very important <i>mitzvah</i>. It teaches us to have hope and overcome the darkness, based on the belief that the light will come. 5) God put us on earth, and gave us gifts in order to give back to Him, to the Jewish People and the world. That's why when we repay Him, we should not seek honor or glory in doing so. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> </i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">תהי נשמת משה אריה בן החבר שמואל זצ"ל</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>צרורה בצרור החיים ותהי מנוחתו כבוד</b></span></span></div>
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Jeffrey R. Woolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11315625918870195028noreply@blogger.com1