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Torah True Judaism-
Unity or Uniformity
By Shael Siegel
Torah True Judaism, a phrase I’ve never quite understood is
bandied about at every which way, and has become part of the
Jewish nomenclature. It is a pejorative platitude in that it seeks
to be elitist and exclusionary. It is a judgmental cliché in that
its subtext insinuates that anyone not subscribing to that
particular understanding of Torah is not the genuine article and
not welcome in the club. There are variations of this puzzling and
vexing phrase such as Torah Jews, Mesorah Jews and Torah True
Jews. Another apparently popular one is the Torah Community.
Jonathan Rosenblum concluded his excellent well articulated piece
entitled “Right of Reply”, Hamodia, May 9, 2007, with the stunning
reference to the Torah Community. It was the one exception I took
with the entire article.
What is it about the orthodox community that preoccupies itself
with not only demonstratively insular behavior but seeks to
distinguish itself from the main body of the Jewish community?
Actually a Torah True Jew or a member of the Torah Community can
be anyone who believes or accepts Torah as their guiding force.
This would include the entire corpus of the Jewish community that
takes itself seriously, such as the reform, reconstructionist
conservative, humanist and renewal communities. They all take
Torah seriously and is the focus of their lives. It is only a
question of interpretation. Unless of course we employ qualifiers
such as Torah true Jews according to the Shuklchan Aruch as
interpreted according to the Badatz, Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah,
Lubavitch or Machazikei Hadas. Take your pick.
Unless one uses the appropriate qualifiers a reform Jew could
conceivably count themselves among the chosen because they too
live their lives centered by Torah values. If however the intent
of those platitudes is to distinguish themselves from the corpus
of the Jewish people then we are in trouble. What reason could
there ever be to balkanize the Jewish community? J.R. articulated
why it was not in our interest to react to mild or genteel
anti-Semitism. To do so, he argued would play into the hands of
our detractors, that our reaction is stifling criticism,
suppressing freedom of speech, both critical to a pluralistic
society. The same things that are correct, fundamental and core
values of a democratic, pluralistic society is also the same fuel
which powers the life force of the Jewish community. J.R.
recognizes this and hence his argument is valid.
The Jewish community going back to antiquity prided itself on its
unity, not its uniformity. From the Talmudic period and forward
Judaism has encouraged the exchange of ideas and the clash of
opinion. “Both these and these are the living words of God” convey
this understanding. The sages of the Talmud, to their credit
encouraged and cultivated the culture of dialogue. “The Torah has
seventy faces” was understood to reflect the method and analysis
of debate as practiced by our sages. There was no uniformity
although there was unity. Even when consensus was not attainable
there was not intellectual coercion, rather an appropriate
conclusion was noted by a TEKU-stalemate. And when decisions were
made, the minority opinion was carefully documented and noted.
Rabbi Yehudah cautioned that the minority opinion needed to be
noted, since a majority opinion will stand for as long as there is
a majority standing behind it. The assumption is that the majority
opinion may shift and change. While unity is desired, uniformity
is not. Pluralism, it would seem was the ultimate expression and
desire of our sages.
To be sure, there were times when as a result of our pluralistic
society and the Socratic Method so integral to our culture and our
intellectual integrity that marginal, but extreme sub cultures
were created. One example of this was the Karaites. Although they
were extreme in their rejection of Rabbinic Judaism it took
hundreds of years before they were finally relegated as out of
bounds. Scholars such as Abraham Ibn Ezra while not accepting the
Karaites understanding of Judaism quotes and refers to their
writings in his own commentaries, recognizing the merit of their
scholarship in Hebrew language. There were other groups over the
centuries such as those who followed Sabbatai Tzvi or Jacob Frank.
Our rich tradition of intellectual freedom and our sense of
inclusion allowed that which was legitimate to flourish. What did
not conform minimally ultimately atrophied.
With this in mind, platitudes like Torah True Jew or Torah
Community seem to fly in the face of our heritage and wisdom of
the sages. Our sages desired unity, not uniformity, inclusion not
exclusion. All of us ought to be embraced and gathered under the
canopy while noting the dissenting opinions. Creating language
that balkanize the Jewish community is not in the spirit of our
tradition.
Shael Siegel, educated in the United States and Israel is a
post-denominational rabbi, educator, commentator and observer of
the Jewish religious/social landscape. He manages a web site and
writes a weekly blog which can be accessed through
http://www.shaelsiegel.com |
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