Responsa

[vettecat]

Several people have forwarded links and responses to the article, so I felt I should respond. (Briefly for the as-yet unbothered: a former classmate of mine wrote a NYT article complaining at length about the fact that the school newsletter hasn't published announcements about his marriage to a non-Jewish woman, and the births of their non-Jewish children. He acknowledges that everyone has been civil to him, but seems to feel that having his news in the bulletin is a sacred right. So to speak.)

Briefly, I think he's being illogical - which is odd coming from someone so intelligent.* (Though intelligent people aren't always socially acute.) He has rejected Orthodoxy and everything it stands for. But he wants the Orthodox community to embrace him and cheer his choices. This is the equivalent of slapping someone in the face, insulting them, and then expecting them to hug you and tell you you're wonderful - and being upset when they don't. You can't have it both ways. If you don't want to follow our laws, fine. That's your right, do as you like. But you can't expect us to celebrate you for it.

That's as cogent as I can be at this hour coming off a 25-hour fast... discussion is welcome, attacks will not be answered.

* Both his parents were Harvard professors (as he now is); the prediction for him in the class yearbook was "Harvard's entire faculty." I do wonder how his parents feel about his current actions... it must be very hard for them.

Comments

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

As I observed in my own response, Noah is not terribly different from millions of other fellow Americans that share his belief that God should yield to my personal inclinations.

Noah wants to think of himself as Baruch Spinoza, but a more accurate comparison is Pablo Christiani.

[civic-oracle.livejournal.com]

I know that this is an 'in-house' conversation in many respects. I am also aware that, as a gentile, I am lacking in a lot of context, no matter how aware of the modern Orthodox I may be.

Dr. Feldman, whom I know only through the NYT article and this discussion, seems like neither a Spinoza nor a Christiani. I will offer no opinion on the substantive issues. I'll just say that the Christiani comparison comes across as rather over-the-top polemical. I am sure that it comes from an authentic depth of feeling, which I will not question. It says, though, more about the depth of feeling than the reality.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am feeling rather strongly about this. But you are also focusing on the direct subject of the article (they excluded me) rather than the insuinuations of the article ("Modern Orthodoxy is a dangerous religious subgroup that seeks to decieive the public into believing they are mainstream").

Pablo Christiani, a convert to Catholocism, sought to convert his fellow Spanish Jews. You can find backgroun here: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=488&letter=C

Feldman does not limit himself to saying that he feels rejected and that Orthodoxy makes a big mistake in rejecting intermarraiges. Instead, he argues that the very idea of Modern Orthodoxy is at best a self-deception or at worst a deliberate deception of the world. He speaks of Leiberman's "apparent normalacy" while emphaisizing Leiberman's religious practices are similar to that of Opus Dei and other supposed "secret societies." I quotes a discussion which appears to demonstrate that Orthodox Jews place less value on the lives of non-Jews than they do of Jews, an implication reenforced by the rejection of his non-Jewish wife. He maintains that Yigal Amir and Baruch Goldstein are the natural outcomes of this sort of education. Then he holds himself up as a true model of Judaism so that the world should know that it is not he and his fellow enlightened Jews that feel this way, only us deceptive Modern Orthodox.

Personally, I would like to see Noah return to Iraq and stroll around outside the Green Zone. The hatred of Jews one finds is the natural outcome of Noah's arguments. History tells us that the attmept by one set of Jews to distinguish themselves from other Jews -- whether it be Reform from Orthodox, Orthodox from Secular Zionist, or any other catagorization -- fairs poorly. Inevitably, it melds into "death to the Jews" without any distinction. Which also explains why we don't take such antisemetic maunderings lightly.

[civic-oracle.livejournal.com]

He does take some rather underhanded swipes, yes. Not being Jewish nor Modern Orthodox, my feelings and ears are less finely tuned to these than yours. Thank you for offering the translations via your filter.

A couple of small remarks about my first reply. I know that the typical level of discourse in lj and on the web in general can be pretty low. FYI, I studied philosophy in college, so I know a great deal about the life and work of Spinoza. Christiani I did not recognize, but I took the time to read the article that you cited along with another before replying to your post. I will say that I only read the NYT article once, which is not enough to give a great depth of understanding. :-)

As an Audre Lourde fan and someone with personal experience of social oppression (heterosexism/homophobia), I have to agree strongly with your sentiments about hatred of Jews drawing no distinctions. Many so-called "ex-gay" activists have discovered the same reality in their attempted embrace of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, much to my dark amusement.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Christiani comparison is apt, not because he attempted to convert his fellow Jews, but because he went to the Pope using his knowledge of the Talmud and highlighted all the passages he felt would look like the Jews were dissing Jesus or non-Jews. The result was that the Pope (Clement IV) forced all Talmud copies to be submitted to the examination of Church censors, a committee that included Christiani and resulted in the removal of passages from the Talmud.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

That's a good observation. I've been told I should read your post (which I'm sure is well-written), but I'll have to do it later when I have more time.