I am going on Aliyah in a few days, and this blog will be my forum. I will talk about Israel, the United States, politics, religion, sports and anything else that crosses my mind.
As the title of the blog implies, I will spend a great amount of time dealing with religion. Which is as it should be, as religion, or lack thereof, is fundamental to our lives. But religion must correspond to reality. The Catholic church is still living down it's trial of Galileo, where the position of the Church was that the earth stood motionless at the center of the universe. Galileo, who maintained that the earth moved around the sun, was forced to recant. Legend has him whispering under his breath as he left the hearing, "but still it moves."
The Torah is truth. When facts dispute our understanding of the Torah, our understanding must change to acknowledge the facts. We don't have to apologize for God, or lie in his behalf. It was Job who God acknowledged as being correct in his dispute with his friends, despite the friends giving the best theological apologies for Job's suffering. The facts were on Job's side.
When the RCA, in its majority opinion, disputes 99.5% of the doctors, in proclaiming that cardiac death, rather than brain death is the standard, they bring the Torah into odium. When they rule that one can receive a heart transplant but not donate one's heart, they bring the entire Orthodox world into disrepute. And when they cite the Rambam, (Maimonides) who, citing Galen, talks about the liver as equally important with the heart and the brain, they make the Torah into an object of ridicule.
Halachah is a path. It can be a wide path, but it must lead into reality. There is an old joke about the Rabbi who was asked for instructions on how to build a sukkah. The Rabbi referred him to the gemarah, the man came back to the Rabbi and complained that he followed the gemarah but the sukkah collapsed. The Rabbi answered "Tosfos (medieval French exegetes) asks that question!" We are not interested in sukkahs that collapse, nor are we interested in halachah based on outdated medieval science. Halachah must relate to this world, and that is why I am Unorthodox Orthodoxy.
DW
aleh v'hatzlach
ReplyDeleteand congratulations on the new blog
R Willig you have a good point. obscruant relgion is a turn off. Honesty counts
ReplyDeleteHowever, as one of my professors caationed, we must draw the line between healthy skepticism and unhealthy cynicism. [my words he called it hyper-criticism]
our understanding of Torah must evolve as we evolve.
However, there are 3 concerns to be mindful of
1. Zilzulei devai dina- once we start to bash rabbis we in turn bash the entire Rabbinic enterprise.
2. Pirzus Geder - once we undermine faith in Observance lazity ensues. Even Zecharya Frankel was mindful of allowing changes ONLY so taht they do not reduce "piety".
3. Slippery Slope. Reform started out with modest changes and questions. Soon Geiger was willing to toss out all of Torah by embracing stances against the Bible itself. Positive Historical Judaism really does not exist anymore. I think RZ Frankel has some good ideas, but it drifted outside the pale within a short amount of time.
The Hildesheimer Seminary provided enough Yiras Shamayim to allow for Modern Thinking without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. He could related with the Hirsch camp and the Frankel camp in a co-operative manner
Hachahmim Hizaahru bedivreichem. We see how Tazdooq and Batihus abused the words of Antigonus ish Socho
Best wishes for keeping it real
Shalom
RRW
here is an example of False Torah when it could be easily understood as plausible
ReplyDelete"The Midrash Rabbah says Yaakov did not LIE DOWN to sleep for 14 years
this has been misunderstood as he did not sleep at all!
Which contradicts the G'mara about a sh'vua that says one will not sleep for a week which is perforce a false oath!
This understanding of the midrash contradicts halacha p"suqqha, and therefore must be a false understanding. Others Yaakov would have been raised as an objection some where in the history of Halachah
We see how misunderstandings can alter the perception of what the Torah is really saying and makes it into "magic"
The Midrash simply means he slept in a chair or seat instead of lying down. Something a very studious person could do even in the 21st century The story is about Yaakov's diligence not about MAGIC. We are losing our way
The Midrash rabbah has a commentary that actuall says it correctly - I believe its the Mefoar edition
RRW"
Rich, sometimes Rabbis deserve to be bashed. When they censor their own, see R Nathan Kaminetsky, when they put people in cheirem for expressing opinions that they disagree with, see R Nathan Slifkin, when use their titles and prestige to bully an entire country, when they persecute geirim, because of political feuds they deserve to be bashed.
ReplyDeleteThere are two issues, halacha and hashkafa. Halachic disputes are legitimate. However, if the dispute is not halachic, their is no dispute, as the gemara will always ask what is the difference in halacha between two opinions. If there is no halachic implications, the dispute is meaningless.
What is the halachic implication of evolution, or THE MAKING OF A GADOL.
When these Rabbis treat others with respect, I will respect them. When they bash and bully, I will respond accordingly.
Are these blogs for Rabbis' only or for everyone? You lost me with Halacha, haskafa, etc. Keep the blog but keep it simple.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies. I was responding to a colleague and got carried away. Briefly, Halacha is a matter of Jewish Law, Hashkafa is Jewish philosophy. Judaism does not have a catechism, that is a Catholic idea. We allow freedom of choice in most things, the exceptions would be the existence of God, and the fact of revelation, although the contents are up for dispute. Outside of that, we allow different views, and the Rabbis who attempt to impose their views on others are acting in the tradition of Papal infallibility rather than in the proper role of a Rabbi.
ReplyDeleteI congratulate R'Willig for creating this blog. I often find his writing to be very interesting and extremely funny. However, he has certainly crossed the line at times (sepecifically when he posts on that anti-to come out on Shabbat morning Semitic rag blog "Failed Messiah). I also can't help wondering if he might be happier were he to adopt the halachic innovations of Conservative Judaism in the communities to his west. It's hard for me to figure out h getting more than about 40 people to come out on Shabbat morning, but that may just be a Cleveland thing.
ReplyDelete