I tightened up the rules for commentors on my blog so that people don’t hide behind fake names. Of course, since then, there has been a small volcano of comments from a certain section of the community, all valiantly trying to hide their identity and adding nothing of substance to what I wrote. Here is the latest from someone parading as ‘Navardok’ presumably because he is a misnaged, or more likely, a chassid trying another level of obfuscation. For Novardok Bachi, please. Note that I’m neither a member nor do I daven at Mizrachi. I’m a member of Elwood, Yeshiva and Ohel Dvora. All for nostalgic reasons. If my readers are looking for either a laugh or wanting to understand the mind set of an extreme group in our community, I thought I’d give Navardok Bachi, a guest post comprised of his latest comment.

Isaac,

I have a message for you on behalf of Real Torah Yiden in Melbourne.

People are tired of your anti Hareidi & anti Chassidic vitriol.

You are little more than a filthy Zionist piece of human garbage. You are not welcome at Adass or the Kollel or for that matter at any other Torah true community. Why don’t you just remain at Mizrachi where you belong or in the alternative please consider moving to Tel Aviv & hang out with the Chiloni garbage you like to defend.

Enough is enough.

Can you please just shut down your blog and do us all a favor and get lost.

I have another solution for you, Navardok Bachi, you are NOT allowed on the internet. Turn off your computer and stop breaking the gezeyros of your Gedolim.

PS I don’t hate people, but I can disagree vehemently with their philosophy. Have a great day. 😘

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Spinoza’s Sub Specie Aeternitatis, Yeshiva Students and the Army
Whenever I think of the huge demonstration of Chareidi yeshiva students at the beginning of this month, I think of Gateshead Yeshiva in England where I spent many years studying Talmud. It is Europe’s most famous yeshiva and a bastion of Torah study in the Chareidi world. Paradoxically, I also think of Spinoza’s incomparable masterpiece, the Ethics, written in a small room in Voorburg, the Netherlands.
I come from a completely secular background with no Jewish education, but good schooling in secular philosophy where Kant, Hume and Wittgenstein reigned supreme. When I ventured to have a look at Gateshead Yeshiva with the intention of learning Talmud, I did not know what was awaiting me. I expected a Jewish university for talmudic studies where enlightened teachers and students would discuss the latest problems in theology and talmudic historiography. But nothing was further from the truth. This was not even Yeshiva University. It’s not just that there were no secular studies and no talk about Plato’s theory of immortality or Leibniz’s famous theodicy; this was an altogether different planet. There was nothing but one supreme endeavor: learning Talmud, combined with Rabbi Aryeh Leib Heller’s (1) classic Ketzos HaChoshen and Rabbi Yaakov ben Yaakov Moshe Lorberbaum’s (2) Nesivos HaMishpat, two brilliant talmudic works.
There were 300 of us, and we slept in our overcoats in what some people called a bedroom, where the temperature was far below zero. Our neigel vasser (3) was frozen in the morning. There was no lobby in the yeshiva where we could relax, nor was there a cafeteria. We knew that the food we ate was practically taken from the mouths of our roshei yeshiva. Our menahel ruchani (spiritual mentor), Rabbi Chizkiyahu Eliezer Kahan z”l, was as poor as a church mouse but looked like a king in his spotless frock coat and with his long, carefully combed white beard. He was a “Nevardoker” – a student of the famous Nevardok Yeshiva (called after a city in Lithuania) of pre-Holocaust Europe, which was dedicated to strict discipline and unfailing religious devotion. The non-Jews in Gateshead knew that when Rabbi Kahan, who walked as upright as a soldier, passed by in the afternoon, it was exactly 4:00 p.m. – not a minute later and not a minute earlier. They could not help but take their hats off to this remarkable human being who was a great tzaddik.
When you entered the yeshiva, you were no longer sure in which century you were living – the 5th, 12th, 17th or 20th. This was a world unto itself, made up of singularly focused people. There was no walking out to the street for a few minutes to get some fresh air; no option of going to a kosher restaurant to get a cup of coffee or have a falafel; no chance of meeting a religious girl studying at the famous Gateshead Seminary. Although 150 of them were right around the corner, they were light-years away from our yeshiva. Not only was it dangerous to walk in the streets, since so many drunken people wandered around, but no one even had any interest in doing so. It was considered bitul zman (a waste of time). There was one supreme goal: shtaigen in lernen (excelling in learning). The roshei yeshiva showed incredible integrity, deep religiosity and a total absence of any personal agenda. There was no competition between them, no scandals and no quarrels. Just Torah in all of its splendor. What counted was the service of God through learning the Talmud, a holy text of infinite sublimity. This monumental text took them back to Mount Sinai, and through its pages they relived the greatest moments in all of Jewish history. There was much naiveté, a withdrawal from the world, which made the rabbis seem like human angels while studying the laws of damages and injuries. There were also mussar shmoozen. These were not intellectual discourses like Kant’s sophisticated insights about ethics; they were emotional, often spontaneous, outbursts of love for God and man. Through the singsong chants, they would lift us up to heaven and ask of us to be supreme human beings and Jews. Nothing in this world comes close to those religious experiences.
I spent 12 years in yeshivot, and then completed my Ph.D. Today, when I speak with many people who reject the yeshiva world and criticize it harshly for its faults, I realize that although I agree with many of their critical assessments, they fail to understand the inner music of these institutions. They do not realize that this introverted but remarkable world somehow lifted the Jews out of their misery throughout history and gave them the strength to survive all their enemies under the most intolerable conditions brought on by anti-Semitism. It was this denial of time that made the Jews eternal. The yeshiva world was no doubt very small compared to what it is now, but until the emancipation it was the pride of the entire Jewish world. The Talmud afforded the Jews wings, enabling them to fly to other worlds; to return to the past that no longer existed; and to look toward worlds that were still to come. It became the Jews’ portable homeland, and their complete immersion in its texts made them indestructible even as they were tortured and killed. The Talmud became their survival kit, which ultimately empowered their offspring to establish the State of Israel, nearly 2000 years after they were exiled from their land. This is unprecedented in all of the history of mankind.
For nearly 2000 years the yeshiva world made Jews view life sub specie aeternitatis, as Spinoza called it – from the perspective of eternity. Indeed, it allowed them to leave behind ordinary history and become a-historical. Jews stepped out of history because it was the only way to survive in history. And so the yeshiva world gave the Jewish people a tool for survival, which no one could match for the last 2000 years. Had the yeshiva world not done so, the Jewish people would never have endured, the State of Israel would not have been created, and no Jews – neither religious nor secular – would have lived in this wonderful country. All Israelis owe their lives to the wondrous yeshiva world, whether they like it or not.
In some way, Spinoza was a yeshiva student. He lived in his small room in Voorburg, and that was his beit midrash. Like the yeshiva students, he nearly never left it. There he built his universe and wrote his magnum opus. Consistent with his own philosophy, he too lived outside of history. His deep thoughts, insights and noble feelings are not of this world. They too are the product of sub specie aeternitatis and therefore suspect. In the long run they will break down, because one might be able to escape this world, even for a long time, but ultimately one needs to return. Thoughts that are eternal and untouchable are too beautiful and, for most people, unreachable. And so it is with the yeshiva world. Learning Talmud without being able to put much of its teachings into practice is too abstract and too unworldly.
With the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews were forced to re-enter history. But after 2000 years of living as yeshiva students and followers of Spinoza’s saintly teachings, it is a painful transformation. Most of our leaders, our government, and the roshei yeshiva have not yet realized that we are still hanging in suspense. We live with one foot in the world of the yeshiva and Spinoza, and the other foot on the ground with all its challenges and harsh realities. Our political leaders want us to come down and stand with both feet on the ground, while the yeshiva world wants to stay in the beit midrash of Spinoza, in heaven. Both will have to realize that their goals are unrealistic. It is much too early to decide whether we should come down with both feet on the ground, or continue to stay in heaven with at least one foot. We still find ourselves at a crossroads. One is reminded of the story told about a former premier of China who was asked what the impact of the French Revolution was on modern European history. His reply was, “It’s too early to say.”
What our political leaders have to ask themselves is whether it is already possible to fully return to history. Our enemies surrounding us are getting stronger and stronger. Their hate increases daily. Israel now finds itself in an unprecedented and precarious situation, more and more isolated. We are close to becoming, once again, a nation that “dwells alone,” as our biblical arch-enemy Bil’am stated thousands of years ago. (4) Can we really afford to fully enter into history bound by its normative rules, and be defeated by these very rules because we are not yet strong enough? Wouldn’t it be better to stay with one foot in the world of sub specie aeternitatis, outside of history? In fact, isn’t the very existence of the State of Israel a bit too miraculous to fit the norms of history? Perhaps we should make sure that some of our people, our yeshiva students, continue to live outside of history so that they can rescue our nation if history does not accept us as real players and we would otherwise disappear. Isn’t it true that we are treated as a people with no history, as the United Nations, many European countries, and even the American administration use double standards when judging us, not allowing us to be part of conventional history? We are still living through the birth-pangs, as yet unable to say what the baby will look like.
On the other hand, it is our Chareidi roshei yeshiva and those recognized as the gedolei hador who are guilty of not realizing that we Jews must return to history at some point, and if they don’t want to join us they may lose us altogether and they themselves may not survive. They seem to be completely oblivious to the radical change that has taken place in the Jewish world – including their own yeshiva world – after the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. We have been taught that in the long run it is impossible for all of us to stay outside of history. The Holocaust has taught us that we cannot survive ad infinitum without entering history. We have too much eternity and too little geography. To argue that our yeshiva students are the ones who really defend us against our enemies, and that we do not need soldiers, is an escape from reality and as anti-halachic as can be. It is a rewriting of Judaism that the Chareidi leadership cannot even accuse the Reform of doing.
Both the secular and the Chareidi utterly lack historical perspective. The secular have to learn that we may need to keep some people outside of history, and the Chareidi leadership will have to realize that now that we have a state of our own, all of us, without exception, must serve in Tzahal because we are trying to get back into history. In fact, every young Jewish male outside of Israel should feel it his absolute moral obligation to serve for a few months in the Israeli army, because by now world Jewry is depending on the State of Israel, if only so that when it really goes wrong in Europe or the United States there will be a haven for them.
It cannot be denied that the Israeli government made a major blunder in the way it handled the need to draft yeshiva students for army service. Some Knesset members believe that they won, but in reality it was a monumental loss and they became the laughing stock of Israeli society by arguing for equal service by all. Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as equality in the army. Some people risk their lives, others do not. If all were equal, the army wouldn’t function. We also know that a Jewish State will never be able to put people in jail because they learn Torah.
Both parties should have learned from the great British Jewish philosopher Isaiah Berlin who states that there are no ideal solutions in this world. There are only tradeoffs. “You cannot combine full liberty with full equality… Justice and mercy, knowledge and happiness can collide,” says Berlin. It is not that such perfect harmony cannot be created because of practical difficulties. It is that “utopian solutions are in principle incoherent and unimaginable… so there have to be choices.” One can only choose how much equality and how much liberty, how much mercy and how much justice. Belief in a perfect world “cannot but lead to suffering, misery, blood, terrible oppression.” (5)
The only thing the government can do is suggest that Chareidi yeshiva students go for basic training and build yeshivot in the army. The students would have to walk around in uniform and learn full time, learn with other soldiers, do community service, or something similar. Fair? Certainly not. But fairness is not a value that can always work in the military. Only a tradeoff can work; there is no other option. And by allowing these students to study while in the army, we at least remind ourselves that we may still have to be an a-historical people and that we cannot yet afford to live solely within history. It is still too dangerous. If some of us are full-time cooks in the army, others can be full time learners in the army. Much too expensive? Sure! But you cannot have your cake and eat it too.
Still, the greatest mistake was not made by the government but by the Chareidi leadership. When it organized a demonstration in which nearly 600,000 black-hatted yeshiva students participated to show their love for Torah, one could hear a pin drop just before the crowd burst out in an unprecedented cry of Shema Yisrael. That was the perfect opportunity to prove their love for our brave soldiers and all of Israeli society by having all 600,000 men and women recite prayers for the welfare of the soldiers and all Jews in Israel. That would not only have been a great kiddush Hashem; it also would have turned Israeli society around and healed much of the animosity between the Chareidi and non-Chareidi communities. Yeshiva students would have been seen in a different light. Instead of having upset hundreds of thousands of Israelis, among whom many have lost their sons and daughters in combat, it would have created an entirely different atmosphere in the country. There is little doubt that most yeshiva students would have done it with great love. The failure to ask them to do so is not just a missed opportunity. It is completely irresponsible and a terrible tragedy. When the world-renowned, Chareidi halachic authority Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurbach z”l was asked to which graves of tzaddikim one should go to pray, he said to go to the military cemeteries. The fact that the Chareidi leadership did not tell 600,000 of their followers to pray for our soldiers proves beyond doubt how small-minded are those who are recognized as gedolei hador.
To paraphrase Spinoza: All noble men are as great as they are rare.
*************************
1. Rabbi, talmudist and halachist in Galicia, 1745-1812.
2. Rabbi and respected posek in Lissa (today known as Leszno), Poland, 1760-1832.
3. Water put near one’s bed at night for washing hands upon arising.
4. Bamidbar 23:9.
5. Ramin Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (London: Halban Publishers, 2007) pp. 142-3.

1

This is an excellent article from the articulate and thoughtful Rabbi Mayer Twersky, a grandson of the Rav.

I

The Ruling of the Ramo and Modern Reaction

ואם הנשים רוצין להחמיר על עצמן מוחין בידן
and if the women wish to act stringently [and don tefillin] we rebuke them
(Ramo, Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 38:3)
Recently, some rabbis have publicized and implemented their view that women wishing to don tefillin should be accommodated, contra Ramo’s ruling. A firestorm of controversy has ensued. But seemingly there is ample justification for their position.

The argument runs as follows. What, in effect, have these rabbis done? To best serve their students/congregants they have, simply, sensitively aligned themselves with the Rambam, et al, whose view, contra Ramo, allows women to don tefillin. Surely, the view of Rambam, et al is valid.

The nominal argument continues. Times have unquestionably changed. We do not live in sixteenth century Krakow, eighteenth century Vilna, or even fin-de-siecle Radin. In today’s world, women wishing to don tefillin should be accommodated.

II

Modern Mistakes

The beguilingly simple argument/psak outlined above is plagued by, at least, three egregious errors.

Error number one: the unequivocal ruling of the Ramo, subsequently silently endorsed by, inter alia, the Magen Avraham, Taz, Gaon of Vilna, Ba’al HaTanya, Aruch Hashulchan and Mishna Berurah, rejects the position of Rambam et al, and has stood unchallenged for over five hundred years. Moreover, Ramo’s ruling has been accepted in Sephardic circles as well [2]. Overturning five hundred plus years of precedent and overwhelming consensus is anything but simple. Only the most eminent ba’alei hora’ah could even possibly entertain the notion. For anyone of lesser stature to tamper with five hundred plus years of tradition represents the height of brazenness and goes well beyond the pale of Orthodox Judaism.

The person of lesser or no halachic stature may feel that he has a crucially important perspective on the human dimension of the women and tefillin issue. Even if he were to be correct in his assessment, however, having perspective in no way compensates for his lack of Torah knowledge and qualification in psak. Instead of paskening the layman should share that perspective with the most eminent ba’alei hora’ah.

The rabbi who is not a ba’al hora’ah may nevertheless feel that within his school or shul the question of women and tefillin is his call. Even according to his proprietary premise he is profoundly wrong. It may be his school or shul, but it is the Rebono Shel Olam’s Torah. (This point is elaborated in Section VII below.)

Error number two: even if the five hundred year consensus on the issue of women and tefillin had not existed, the recent “psak” would still be a perversion of Halachah and halachic process.

Difference of opinion in the Rishonim or Shulchan Aruch does not create a halachic smorgasbord from which everyone is free to make his own selection. At a culinary smorgasbord or in a commercial venue such as a clothing store every guest/consumer is entitled to have, and act upon, his preference. He can choose what he likes and select what suits himself/his charges best. But that modus operandi has no place in Halachah and psak Halachah. One is not allowed, much less entitled, to opine that, “I think the view of Rambam and Rashba suits me/my charges best.”

ולא יאמר האדם אפסוק כמי שארצה בדבר שיש בו מחלוקת ואם עושה כן הרי זה דין שקר אלא אם הוא חכם גדול ויודע להכריע בראיות הרשות בידו
a person may not say regarding an issue where there is difference of opinion “I will decide the Halachah as I wish”, and if he did so, the ruling is false. But if he is a great sage and capable of deciding the Halachah based upon proofs it is his prerogative [to do so]
(Ramo, Choshen Mishpat 25:2) [3]
Psak Halachah is rendered by chachomim who are ba’alei hora’ah based upon canons of psak, not by anyone else, regardless of vocation or title, and not by engaging in crass religious consumerism.

Error number three: the recent “psak” reflects myopic perception. What, in the year 5774, is the core issue regarding women and tefillin? Is it “technical”, yes guf naki or no guf naki? Or perhaps it is educational, accommodating sincere youth or rebuffing them? Alas, if it were only so simple.

In modern times women did not begin donning tefillin to emulate Michal bas Shaul, be devout Maimonideans or invoke shem Hashem upon themselves. Women donned tefillin because men do so. Within the secular modern mindset adopted by Reform and Conservative wherein equality = uniformity women who don tefillin thereby attain a measure of equality with men [4]. And thus the defining issue is axiological: can the secular value of egalitarianism be grafted onto Halachah?

The answer is obvious. Egalitarianism rejects a vital, essential, divinely ordained dimension of Halachah. Halachah does not discriminate against men or women. Most assuredly, however, it distinguishes between the genders. A genuine commitment to authentic Halachah per force entails rejecting the socially dominant, false philosophy of egalitarianism.

When individuals, regardless of vocation or title, grant license to women to don tefillin, nolens volens, they validate the insidiousness of egalitarianism.

We would do well to hear the voice of Rav Soloveitchik speaking to us across the generations regarding the obligation to staunchly resist false, socially/religiously dominant philosophies which assail Torah and its values.

In my opinion the Halachic dictum, bishe’ath gezerath ha-malchuth ‘afillu mitzvah kallah kegon le-shinuye ‘arketha de-mesana, yehareg ve’al ya’abor [at a time of religious persecution through governmental decree, even for a minor custom, such as one involving a shoelace, let one suffer death sooner than transgress it] (Sanhedrin 74b), requiring of us a heroic stand in times of adversity, applies not only to political and religious persecution originated by some pagan ruler, but also to situations in which a small number of God-fearing and Torah-loyal people is confronted with a hostile attitude on the part of the majority dominated by a false philosophy. [5]
A word of elaboration is in order. The issue is not what motivated two particular highschoolers to request permission to don tefillin in school. Their personal motives could be innocent, pure, and noble; I have no reason to think otherwise. The issue is the substance of their request – i.e., what the practice of women donning tefillin in 5774 represents.

This point can be more easily grasped by considering the following historically fictional scenario. The setting is nineteenth century Germany. Two sincere, innocent highschoolers regularly attend Reform Shabbos services. Not knowing any better, they view the playing of an organ as normative halachic behavior. What’s more they are very moved by the musical accompaniment. On weekdays they begin davening at home to the accompaniment of an organ. This prolongs their tefillah. Nonetheless they happily cut back on much needed sleep to arise early because they feel that this mode of tefillah enhances their personal avodas Hashem. Eventually, in all innocence, they approach the principal of the local Orthodox day school and request permission to softly play the organ in the ezras nashim during davening.

How should the principal respond? Should he be “sensitive”, mindful of their mesiras nefesh, and create space for their expression of their personal avodas Hashem?

Once again the answer is obvious. If the principal makes space for the organ, he does not respect their personal avodas Hashem or reward their mesiras nefesh. He grievously misleads; he egregiously reinforces reform behavior and values with tragically predictable consequences.

Correcting the students’ home behavior may not fall within the principal’s purview but he certainly cannot countenance Reform values and practices within school. He should commend their sincerity and commitment to tefillah. But he also should sensitively yet clearly explain why accompaniment of an organ has no place in authentic tefillah. His mandate is to educate. He rewards their mesiras nefesh by inspiring and encouraging genuine, basic shemiras hamitzvos – Shabbos, kashrus, tznius, etc., not by acquiescing to anti-halachic behavior. He respects their personal avodas Hashem by teaching them authentic, beautiful avodas hashem, according to the Shulchan Aruch.

All this is abundantly and indisputably clear. Today’s contemporary analogue, women donning tefillin, is equally clear.

III

Truth and Accommodation

In the first section of this essay we mentioned a commonly asked question, surely it is preferable to march in step with the times and accommodate women on issues such as tefillin rather than risk losing them? Actually, the preceding remarks have already, in part, implicitly addressed this question. Due to its seminal importance, however, let us be explicit and more elaborate.

Once again the sagacious, authoritative voice of Rav Soloveitchik continues to speak to us.

I know beforehand the reaction to my letter on the part of our apostles of religious “modernism” and “utilitarianism”. They will certainly say that since the great majority of the recently constructed synagogues have abandoned separate seating, we must not be out of step with the masses. This type of reasoning could well be -employed with regard to other religious precepts, such as the observance of the Sabbath, or the dietary laws. However, we must remember that an ethical or Halachic principle decreed by God is not rendered void by the fact that the people refuse to abide by it. Its cogency and veracity are perennial and independent of compliance on the part of the multitudes. If the ethical norm, Thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13), has not lost its validity during the days of extermination camps and gas chambers, when millions of people were engaged in ruthless murder, but on the contrary, has been impregnated with deeper meaning and significance, then every Halachic maxim assumes greater importance in times of widespread disregard and unconcern. The greater the difficulty, the more biting the ridicule and sarcasm, and the more numerous the opponent – then the holier is the principle, and the more sacred is our duty to defend it. [6]
The Rav was confronting the “Christianization of the synagogue”; today’s morei hora’ah confront the egalitarianization of Torah. The halachic directive, which the Rav so powerfully articulated, remains the same.

The “women’s” issues which in certain circles fuel much of the opposition to Halachah today had already begun percolating in Rav Soloveitchik’s lifetime. The Rav sensitively and unapologetically addressed himself to the surface issues as well as their underlying etiology.

(W)e must not yield — I mean emotionally, it is very important — we must not feel inferior, experience or develop an inferiority complex, and because of that complex yield to the charm — usually it is a transient and passing charm — of modern political and ideological sevoros (logic). I say not only not to compromise — certainly not to compromise — but not to yield emotionally, not to feel inferior, not to experience an inferiority complex. The thought should never occur that it is important to cooperate just a little bit with the modern trend or with the secular, modern philosophy. In my opinion, Yahadus (Judaism) does not have to apologize either to the modern woman or to the modern representatives of religious subjectivism. There is no need for apology — we should have pride in our mesorah, in our heritage. And of course, certainly it goes without saying one must not try to compromise with these cultural trends, and one must not try to gear the halachic norm to the transient way of a neurotic society, which is what our society is. [7]
In forming political coalitions or clinching business deals, negotiation, accommodation, and concession are the watchwords. They play, however, no legitimate role in determining truth. One ascertains truth through honest, rigorous, erudite inquiry – not by negotiating, accommodating, or conceding. What holds true for truth in general holds true for halachic truth (=psak) in particular. Of course, psak Halachah is always an exercise in applying Halachah to real life situations. As such, a fully nuanced, sensitive understanding of the prevailing socio-political, religious situation forms an integral part of the question. But the answer – psak – is neither conciliatory or non-conciliatory. These utilitarian categories are entirely misplaced when speaking of Halachah and psak Halachah. The psak represents what Halachah, truthfully and unapologetically, directs for the situation at hand.

IV

Ein Kol Chadash Tachas Hashemesh

The argument that contemporary morei hora’ah should march in step with the times and make concessions to prevent assimilation is hauntingly familiar.

We similarly state in our program for the revitalization of the Sabbath that the traditional interdiction of riding on the Sabbath for the purpose of attending the synagogue service may, in the discretion of the local rabbi, be modified … we must learn to adjust our strategy to the realities of our time and place, in keeping with the realistic genius of the great builders of our faith. Thus, our Sages cautioned us, tafasta m’rubah lo tafasta – “to overreach is to court failure,” when you attempt to grasp a great deal, you will grasp nothing … In crucial periods, our sages did not hesitate to make special enactments for their own time or for a limited period of time, in order to meet the challenge of new circumstances. [8]
Conservative rabbis who adamantly insisted they were operating within, and according to principles of, Halachah promoted these arguments. In their ignorance they misconstrued and misapplied the sources they cited, and distorted halachic process and Halachah. Today Conservative Jews – Hashem yeracheim – are disappearing.

V

Truth Endures, Falsehood Does Not [9]

One final note about the myopic argument for accommodation on issues such as women and tefillin is in order.

As already explained, the real, underlying issue is the Torah’s religious gender differentiation. Accordingly, any accommodation nolens volens accepts and reinforces the inimical premise that avenues and expressions of avodas Hashem for men and women must be identical.

Such acceptance is wholly unacceptable. First of all, it distorts Torah. Moreover, such acceptance and accommodation actually alienate women from Torah.

The process of alienation is tragically straightforward and frighteningly quick. As just noted, accommodation validates and reinforces the inimical egalitarian impulse but cannot satisfy it. Brushing aside the Ramo’s ruling does not make Halachah conform to the egalitarian creed. Seen from the twisted perspective of egalitarianism, women still suffer from discrimination. They are excluded from serving as shliach tzibbur, the halachos of marriage and divorce are most decidedly unegalitarian, etc. By reinforcing the egalitarian impulse without satisfying it, every accommodation intensifies the demand for further accommodations. But that demand can never be met because Torah and egalitarianism are fundamentally incompatible. And thus accommodationism, ר”ל, inevitably results in alienation and assimilation.

Tragically, this process of assimilation has already partially materialized. Yesterday’s women’s tefillah groups which stemmed from the same egalitarian impulse no longer suffice. Today tefillin, “partnership minyanim” and women rabbis are sought. And the handwriting on the wall is unmistakable. Tomorrow these stopgap, anti-halachic concessions will no longer suffice. The current path leads inexorably to a black hole of complete assimilation, ר”ל [10].

The alternative to aiding and abetting assimilation ר”ל is to assume our spiritual, educational mandate. Our mandate is to teach Torah (including, but obviously not limited to, elucidating the halachic process), and engender a profound appreciation for authentic Torah values, thereby guiding men and women alike to genuine avodas Hashem and religious experience.

VI

Tefillin and Talmud Torah

Let us digress for a moment. In recent decades whenever people agitate for changing Halachah they trumpet the alleged precedent of women and talmud Torah. It is vitally important to recognize the wholesale distortion created by that analogy.

The Belzer Rebbe, Chofetz Chaim, Rav Soloveitchik and other gedolei Yisroel who advocated Torah she’b’al peh instruction for women were not accommodating them or conceding to heretical, egalitarian, societal trends. Women were not agitating for talmud Torah opportunities. They were ר”ל happily assimilating. The gedolim recognized that our mesorah disapproved of optional, theoretical learning being imposed upon women. Our mesorah always mandated necessary, practical learning. In the modern era Torah she’b’al peh instruction within the guidelines provided by the gedolim for women was/is vitally necessary [11].

The issues of talmud Torah and tefillin for women could not be more different. The chachmei hamesorah upheld Halachah and combated assimilation by supporting talmud Torah for women. Initiatives such as allowing women to don tefillin tamper with Halachah and fuel assimilation.

VII

Students and Sages

Let us pause for a moment’s reflection. We have outlined three egregious errors – the brazenness of brushing aside precedent and consensus, the smorgasbord mentality and approach to psak, and myopic perception of halachic issues. Each of these errors in its own right is so elementary and so glaring. The confluence of all three within the recent “psak” regarding women and tefillin is simply mind boggling. How could this possibly come to pass?

The Shulchan Aruch addresses our issue head on.

כל חכם שהגיע להוראה ואינו מורה הרי זה מונע תורה וכו’
Any sage who is qualified to issue halachic rulings but does not do so – he is withholding Torah
[Shulchan Aruch 242:14]
תלמיד שלא הגיע להוראה ומורה הרי זה שוטה רשע וגס רוח ועליו נאמר כי רבים חללים הפילה
A student who is unqualified and renders halachic decisions is a delusional, wicked, and arrogant person, and about him it is said, “(s)he has caused many casualties”
[Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah ibid. 13, quoting Rambam verbatim]
ותלמידים הקטנים הקופצים להורות ולישב בראש להתגדל בפני ע”ה מרבים מחלוקת ומחריבים העולם ומכבין נרה של תורה
And students of small stature who leap forward to issue halachic rulings and to assume positions of authority, aggrandizing themselves before the masses cause discord to proliferate, destroy the world and extinguish the lamp of Torah
[Ramo’s gloss, also quoting Rambam, ibid.]
Let us try to get a feel for who is a chacham she’higi’a l’hora’ah. Rabbi Akiva Eiger (d.1837), the epitome of Torah mastery and majesty, seemed not entirely convinced that he himself qualified [12]. Ultimately, he wrote and published his responsa but only for the consideration of morei hora’ah. No moreh hora’ah, he insisted, should simply accept his conclusions. In more recent times, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, widely acclaimed as the posek hador, felt the need to justify how he could write and publish responsa [13]. His justification, in part: hi’gi’ah l’hora’ah is determined relative to one’s own generation. In our generation the range of our greatest sages extends over Shas, Rishonim, Shulchan Aruch, and poskim. Clearly, the bar for hora’ah remains very high.

Let us now turn our attention to the extraordinary, stinging words of censure which the Shulchan Aruch reserved for the talmid shelo hi’gi’ah l’hora’ah who paskens: shoteh rasha v’gas ruach (delusional, wicked, and arrogant.) We have generally excised such stinging epithets from our parlance because we tend to soften or sugarcoat the truth. But softening or sugarcoating also leads rachamana litslan to erosion. Accordingly, we need to take the Shulchan Aruch at its word, and try to retrace the thought process which yields the stinging censure.

Does the educator, rabbi, or layman not realize that he lacks the breadth and depth of knowledge required of a ba’al hora’ah? Does he, in a flight of Walter Mittyish imagination, think himself an expert in Shas, Rishonim, Shulchan Aruch, and major responsa? Halachic queries are never directed to him qua ba’al Halachah because he is not. They come his way only because of the professional position he occupies. Is his hubris so great and grip on reality so tenuous that he fails to recognize this distinction? How can he possibly arrogate the right to render halachic judgments, make public pronouncements about what is or is not consonant with Halachah and/or override five hundred plus years of halachic precedent and consensus?

Everyone intuitively understands and instinctively feels that a doctor who masquerades as a medical authority in an area beyond his expertise is not only dishonest but wicked. He may be very personable, affable, and even sincere in his desire to help. His personal graces and sincerity, however, do not ameliorate the evil of his masquerade. Inevitably and invariably, people will grievously suffer from his misguided medical guidance. Is a halachic masquerade any less immoral? Are spiritual fraud and injury of lesser import than medical fraud and injury?

When individuals act presumptuously and issue reckless rulings, the truth of Yoreh De’ah 242:13 becomes searingly painful. We are deeply pained by the thought that, as codified by the Shulchan Aruch, a fellow Jew is acting as a shoteh, rasha, v’gas ruach. We instinctively recoil at that thought. And yet our vulnerability to truth does not diminish its compelling veracity even an iota. The Shulchan Aruch’s stinging words of censure for the masquerading halachic authority are formulated with razor like precision.

So too Shulchan Aruch’s assessment of damage done by irresponsible psak- rabim chalalim hipila, it inflicts many spiritual casualties. Here too the Shulchan Aruch speaks with prescience and precision. Non Orthodox behavior is certified Orthodox. Secular, heretical values are accommodated and re-enforced, thereby promoting assimilation, ר”ל. A mockery is made of authentic halachic values such as sensitivity when so grossly misapplied. And sincere mevakshei Hashem are steered in the wrong direction.

Perhaps the best way to highlight the danger of irresponsible psak is this. Hakadosh Baruch Hu entrusted us with His Torah and its traditions – to study, interpret, and implement. In the hands of humble sages the integrity of Torah is secure. Their thinking and values are molded by a lifetime of immersion in Torah, and vast Torah erudition. Conversely, in the hands of non-experts the integrity of Torah is impossible to maintain. There is no end to the distortions that brazenness, a smorgasbord approach, and myopic perception will cause.

And, tragically, as per Ramo’s gloss quoted above, discord proliferates. Machlokes inevitably follows irresponsible psak because we are not allowed to remain silent. We have an obligation to protest the distortion and protect the integrity of Torah.

VIII

U’vacharta, And You Should Choose

תורת השם תמימה משיבת נפש עדות השם נאמנה מחכימת פתי פקודי השם ישרים משמחי לב מצות השם ברה מאירת ענים יראת השם טהורה עומדת לעד משפטי השם אמת צדקו יחדו
The Torah of Hashem is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, making the simple one wise; the orders of Hashem are upright, gladdening the heart; the command of Hashem is clear, enlightening the eyes; the fear of Hashem is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of Hashem are true, altogether righteous
[Tehillim 19:8-10, Artscroll translation]
Acceptance of Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s Torah does not simply entail practical compliance. Acceptance also reflects firm belief and evinces a reverential attitude. We accept Torah with a sense of awe, joy, privilege and pride because we perceive it for what it is – Hashem’s chochmo, perfect, upright, gladdening, enlightening, true, etc. Accordingly, we accept Torah with humility and submissiveness.

This is what acceptance of Torah ought to be. What acceptance of Torah is, however, in today’s world in some circles does not correspond.

We are witness to a profoundly disturbing, religiously untenable phenomenon. Consciously or unconsciously, people want to hold fast onto some secular, anti-Torah Western values and, simultaneously, Torah. Their commitment to some anti-Torah values casts Torah, to a degree, in an adversarial role. And thus, consciously or unconsciously, in a futile attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable they push, twist and manipulate Halachah to make it more congenial to their opposing Western values. Somehow or other Torah has to be made malleable enough to accommodate their dual loyalties.

ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע וגו’ החיים והמות נתתי לפניך הברכה והקללה ובחרת בחיים
Contemplate that I have placed before you today life and good, death and evil, etc. Life and death, I have placed before you, blessing and curse, but you should choose life.
[Devarim 30:15, 19]
To genuinely live a life of Torah and serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we are called upon to choose blessing (=good) and forsake curse (=evil). Grafting evil onto good is simply not an option. Choosing what’s right per force means rejecting what’s wrong.

The choices we make define our lives and determine our destiny.

ותן בנו יצר טוב לעבדך באמת וביראה ובאהבה

[1] Rav Schachter shlit”a has authoritatively dealt with this question in his recent responsum. This essay, disseminated with his approbation, merely seeks to expound and expand upon some of the relevant, seminal issues in a popular forum.

[2] עי’ ילקוט יוסף שהאריך בזה כיד השם הטובה עליו, ובין היתר ציין לדברי האר”י ז”ל והחיד”א

[3] דברי הרמ”א נאמרו בקשר לפסק ב”ד בד”מ מקום שישנו מושג של שודא, וקו”ח בשאר חלקי התורה

[4] By definition there can be no adequate response to quibblers who dispute incontrovertible facts. Nevertheless, for purpose of illustration, note the following candid, representative, programmatic remarks, “Ultimately our problem stems from the fact that we are viewed in Jewish law and practice as peripheral Jews. The category in which we are generally placed includes women, children, and Canaanite slaves. Members from this category are exempt from all positive commandments which occur within time limits. These commandments would include hearing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, eating in the sukkah, praying with the lulav, praying the three daily services, wearing tallit and tefillin, and saying Shema…Moreover, it is both feasible and desirable for the community to begin educating women to take on the positive time-bound mitzvoth from which they are now excused; in which case, those mitzvot would eventually become incumbent upon women.” Rachel Adler, “The Jew Who Wasn’t There”, reprinted in Susannah Heshcel, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist.

[5] “Message to a Rabbinic Convention”, reproduced in Baruch Litvin, The Sanctity of the Synagogue, p. 111.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Transcript of a 1975 shiur delivered to RIETS rabbinic alumni, available at arikahn.blogspot.com

[8] “A Responsum on the Sabbath”, in Mordechai Waxman, ed., Tradition and Change, 1958.

[9] קושטא קאי שקרא לא קאי (שבת ק”ד.)

[10] See my article in Tradition Vol. 32 No. 3, Spring 1998 (posted in 2003 on TorahWeb.org in its entirety), presenting and explaining Rav Soloveitchik’s psak opposing women’s tefillah groups. The following passage is, unfortunately, especially relevant: “These groups are predicated upon the mistaken notion that the experience of tefillah is enhanced by assuming active roles and conversely is stunted when such roles are off-limits. And yet women’s tefillah groups, conducted with even minimal technical allegiance to the particulars of Halakhah, cannot provide their participants with the same or even equivalent active roles to those that are available to men praying with a quorum. Within such groups it is impossible to recite devarim she-bi-kdusha as such, fulfill the mitsva of kerias haTorah, etc. And thus, according to the mistaken premise of the tefillah groups, women’s religious life remains muted even within such groups.

The participants in women’s tefillah groups will, within the present generation, become intellectually and existentially aware of the failure of such groups and the concomitant false yet inevitable conclusion regarding women’s standing within Yahadut. We must recognize that the possible ramifications of this falsehood are especially frightening and particularly tragic. Propelled by negative momentum and misguided by erroneous teachings, some women, God forbid, could reject all remaining halakhic constraints in an unrestrained attempt to enhance their (inauthentic) tefillah experience in particular and religious experience in general. Needless to say, this development would be especially tragic.

Accordingly, we presently have a grave responsibility to act wisely, and not be drawn into a fool’s paradise of religious accommodationism. We must understand and help others to understand that women’s tefillah groups, sincere intentions notwithstanding, both reflect as well as generate distortions of Torah principles. Instead of forming such groups we must disseminate authentic Torah teachings regarding tefillah, thereby fostering genuine, profound religious expression and experience.”

[11] See also my article about the Rav in Tradition vol. XXX, no. 4 (reprinted in Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik: Man of Halachah, Man of Faith, edited by Rabbi Menachem Genack) and in Jewish Action Vol. 57, No. 4, Summer 1997 (also posted in 2003 on TorahWeb.org in its entirety.)

[12] ע’ הקדמת בניו לשו”ת רעק”א

[13] ע’ הקדמה לאג”מ או”ח ח”א

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STATEMENT CONCERNING THE COMMUNAL PRAYER RALLY

Yesterday, I published a few new blog posts. While I had some time to look at my blog, it being a public holiday, I noticed that I had a very high count of “Uncategorized” posts. That is, posts which had been written probably on my iPad and I hadn’t tagged them with any Category and/or Tag. In some, I noticed a spelling error, and corrected these.

All of a sudden my wife says from downstairs, “Why are you posting so many blog posts all of a sudden”. I said, “I didn’t do that many, what are you talking about”. As an example, she mentioned one about Zephania  from quite a while ago. I replied that I had not blogged about him in ages. It then dawned on me that the “dumbish” software decided that an edit, such as adding a category or a spelling correction turned it into a “new” post. Of course, these aren’t new posts and I regret that they gave that impression. It was unintended. I will see if there is a way to keep an original (old) article and make a minor change without causing it to be “republished and seem like a new post”. Sorry for the bother to those affected by this deluge of not “new” posts, and those who are wondering what is actually new in something that was published a while back.

I’m also (failing) to organise it that the advertisements that are foisted on my blog by the blogger software (from which I make no money) are less risqué and more appropriate, but I’m not sure if I succeeded. Regrettably I don’t see the ads!