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37/638 February 2007/Adar 5767 A publication of

Inside Talk About the Passion Yehudah Mirsky Yehudah Mirsky Talk About the Passion ...... 1 h’ma’s readers, it seems safe to say, share a number of characteristics. University-edu - S cated; economically middle class or better; broadly liberal-minded in outlook and pol - Samuel C. Heilman itics, pluralist with regards to their understandings of Jewish tradition and community; at The Changing Face of Orthodoxy ...... 2 the very least respectful and regularly outright devoted, passionately, to Jewish tradition and Jewish continuity; spiritually curious and at times adventurous; at home, at least to Nosson Scherman some extent, perhaps conversant with the world of Jewish texts, and the texture of Jewish & Shmuel Goldin rituals; appreciative of the many genuine intellectual, ethical and political benefits of sec - A Conversation on Haredi Life ...... 4 ular modernity, though not unaware of its fraught relationship with Jewish life; people for whom their Jewish identity is a vital, perhaps the central component in an ongoing process Simon Jacobson of self-creation and expression, by the lights of their understanding of morals, community Divine Sparks ...... 6 and spirituality, a process they share with other families of humanity, and with concerned Online Diaries ...... 8 individuals everywhere. This is of course a broadly Sima Zalcberg Who are these people who The Many Shades schematic (though I think roughly ac - of Black ...... 9 curate) picture. There are, however, choose not to act according some very different pictures of Jewish to the liberal narrative? Asya Vaisman life in our time, deeply at variance Women’s Voice and Song ...... 10 with this one and in this issue we hope to open a window onto one of them, a window through which we look on them and, Avi Picard hopefully, ourselves. This issue is devoted, primarily, to the ultra-Orthodox, the Haredim. : A Religious Response In the pages of this issue you will encounter ultra-Orthodox women in Jerusalem, their to Cultural Distress ...... 11 spiritual lives, their musical culture; a self-described “Hassidic Heretic,” who blogs anony - Abraham Socher mously from Brooklyn; the editor of the publishing empire, whose combination Mendelssohn and of Haredi ideology and top-of-the-line production and editing values has created a new Modernity ...... 12 and powerful Orthodox readership; Hasidim; who have found their Naomi Gryn best vehicle to power and dignity in in the creation of a Sephardic ultraorthodoxy The Paradox that never existed before. Also included is an analytic perspective on the “shift to the right” of Liberalism ...... 13 in Orthodoxy, the ambivalent heritage of modernist Jewish philosophy, and for a compar - Discussion Guide ...... 14 itive perspective, a reflective look at contemporary European Islam. Haredi Judaism, a phenomenon that is shot through with paradox, has in recent NiSh’ma ...... 15 decades generated an extraordinary amount of academic discussion. There is no doubt Hal M. Lewis that Orthodox halakhah more closely resembles the way of life lived by the vast majority of Sh’ma Ethics ...... 16 Jews for centuries than do other contemporary forms of Jewish life. At the same time, ultra- Orthodoxy is not a simple, unmodified continuation of the tradition, but is itself — in its Bulk copies of this issue are ideological self-consciousness, internal organization, creation in Israel of an entire subcul - available. Contact ture of full-time adult students, sophisticated and often compelling uses of religious free - [email protected] dom and the opportunities of democratic societies, not to mention its integration into $2/copy for 10 –50 copies information technology and its creating its own marketing niche — involved in a range of $1 for 51 or more copies. fascinating, surprising negotiations with modernity. There is striking diversity within the Please include contact Haredi world and within Haredi groups as well. information for requests. People and groups who choose not to act according to the script laid out by modern - ization theory and the liberal narrative of secularism’s march through civilization challenge To subscribe: those of us who do. The categories we deploy to understand them, such as “fundamental - 877-568-SHMA ism,” at times obscure as much as they explain. www.shma.com Shmuel Eisenstadt, the dean of Israeli sociologists, defines fundamentalists as “strong February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 2

sectarian-utopian movements oriented to a runs deeper than terminology and cate - pristine reading of the tradition, in light of gories and speaks to how we live our Jewish which they seek to reconstruct the social-po - lives. Indeed recognizing the inadequacy of litical order.” Yet Ashkenazi Israeli Haredim most social science categories to capture the consistently refuse to serve in ministerial posi - lived realities of religious life is maybe its tions and argue that is the ruinous own reminder that never really fits in sectarian utopia of our time. Even so, the word boxes. “pristine” may hold the key. Unlike liberal One thing that all the people and groups Yehudah Mirsky, a Jews and even unlike Modern Orthodoxy, presented in this issue share is passion, a pas - member of the Sh’ma Haredi Judaism offers a pristine Torah, a liber - sion for Judaism, for Jewish learning, and for Committee, lives in ation from this world, a vision unblemished by Jewish peoplehood, however they understand Jerusalem where he is a the ruptures, discontinuities, failings, and it, a passion that shapes their lives and by our fellow of the Van Leer often terrible fragmentation that constitute shared peoplehood, shapes our lives as well. Institute and the Jewish the modern lens onto reality, which is the epis - Do we, who move in Judaism’s more avowedly People Policy Planning temological and metaphysical price modernity liberal spheres, have an equal passion, some - Institute. He is complet - pays for its own vision of liberation. thing that could enable us all to work to build ing a doctoral dissertation The boundary marking Haredi and not, the Jewish future together? at Harvard on Rav Kook. The Changing Face of Orthodoxy Samuel C. Heilman ver the past 35 years, there has been a be both fully Orthodox and fully American, in Ogradual shift in the center of gravity of practice they became largely occupied by their the most traditionalist of American Jewish reli - professions, pursuit of an American lifestyle, gious denominations. That shift is constituted power, and some wealth. In contrast, Haredi by a consistent “slide to the religious right,” Jews who remained in the Orthodox enclaves during which elements of what has come to be became the Jewish educators, , Torah called “Haredi” Orthodoxy have grown in - scholars, religious functionaries, and the like creasingly assertive and public, in many in - because they believed that all that was Jewish stances becoming the dominant voice and face was all that counted. While contrapuntalists of Orthodoxy. They stand in contrast to the went to the university and pursued careers Orthodox who embrace the plural and some - outside the four cubits of Jewish life, even as times inconsistent life of American culture and they maintained loyalties to Orthodox praxis parochial Jewish Orthodoxy. These Jews, and deferred to the rabbi/scholars in matters whom I call “contrapuntalists,” and who turn of halakhah, their Haredi counterparts stayed increasingly outward toward a concern with a in and built up the walls around the Orthodox cosmopolitan lifestyle, seek to remain firmly enclaves, which they fashioned according to planted both in contemporary mainstream their standards and parochial norms. In time, culture as well as the world of parochial Jewish they naturally came to feel that they “owned” commitments, even if that entails tension and these enclaves and spoke for Orthodoxy. living with inconsistency. Moreover, as they have grown more politically The more traditionalist Haredi Jews reject astute and experienced, they have also begun this stance and choose instead to remain en - to exert clout in local and national politics. Al - sconced in Orthodox Jewish enclaves, keeping though at this point in time, the Haredi pop - American culture at arm’s length. Moreover, ulation still appears to constitute a numerical because they stay put almost completely inside minority, at most somewhere around 35 per- these enclaves, and “Jewish” is for them the cent of the approximately 750,000 to 800,000 paramount concern and field of activity, they of American Orthodox Jews, their confidence have become the keepers and defenders of is that of a majority. Orthodoxy and its institutions, as well as the Demographically, the numbers of those

February 2007 framers of its ideology and mores. While their who chose to remain in the enclaves are grow - Adar 5767 contrapuntalist counterparts sought engage - ing both because of their high birthrate (more To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA ment with the outside world believing that by than three times as high as the rest of Jewry) www.shma.com doing so they would demonstrate one could and their ability to discourage religious drop - 2 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 3

ping out. At the same time, all other Jews are at day schools and coupled with, 3) the best stagnant, if not in demographic decline. decline of contrapuntalists in the ranks of the American Orthodox Jewry has not only been Orthodox rabbinate and Jewish education, extraordinarily successful in holding onto its such that the values and practices of Judaism offspring, it has actually spawned youth that to which the next generation was exposed distinguish themselves by choosing to move were no longer in sync with those of the con - further to the traditionalist right, both in reli - trapuntalist parents but rather were made to gious ideology and behavioral practice, than reflect those of the educators who were in gen - their parents. This is an Orthodoxy that looks eral committed to a far more parochial and to Haredi rabbis and teachers for leadership traditionalist Orthodoxy; and, 4) the emer - and is far more assertive than ever before in gence as an essential experience in Orthodox Upcoming both speaking for and setting the agenda of education and a tool of continuity of the year in Sh’ma Orthodox Jewry, if not for American Jewry in or more of study in Israeli yeshivas and MARCH : general. This is an Orthodoxy that demands women’s seminaries by high school graduates. A Jewish Lens on galus hanefesh, a moral and spiritual “sense of In these institutions, young American Ortho - Immigration Policy separateness and estrangement” from the con - dox adolescents are separated from their temporary, often enticing, westernized, materi - home environment and culturally reshaped in APRIL : alistic world that they continue to believe religiously rightwing enclaves; they are pre - Jews and “devours those who seek to embrace it.” They sented with values and practices that celebrate Evangelicals: Can want no competing melodies in their lives, no highly parochial Judaism and Jewish identity We Work Together? dissonant harmonies, no lives in several keys as the most noble form of life. — as do the contrapuntalists. They want one As these adolescents have come of age, tune, a Jewish one, with only the inflections of they have increasingly chosen an assertively the tradition. parochial Orthodoxy to represent their ver - Several factors have lead to this phenom - sion of “Torah-true” Judaism. Moreover, they enon, including: 1) the perceived decline of have done so in an America where religiously American culture, which led to an anxious re - rightwing, highly particularist, and proudly treat among many Orthodox from their rush ethnic identities are no longer considered out to embrace that culture, its values and institu - of step with the norm. tions; 2) the complete handover by the family As Haredi versions of Orthodoxy have of the responsibility of Jewish education to the grown, the variations within it begin to loom larger. Hence the differences between the The opinions expressed in Sh’ma do not necessarily reflect those of Lithuanian-style Orthodox and the the editors. Donations to Sh’ma Chair Sh’ma Advisory Committee: are tax deductible. Sh’ma is avail - Hasidic groups; between those who work Rabbi Neil Gillman able in microfilm from University (however partially) in gainful employment Editor: Susan Berrin Microfilms International, Ann Publisher & Executive Arbor, MI, and in audio format and those whose goal is to make Torah learn - Editor: Yosef I.Abramowitz from the Jewish Braille Institute. Founding Editor: Rabbi Eugene Address all editorial correspon - ing a full-time vocation supported by others; Borowitz dence to Sh’ma , P. O. Box 9129, Art Director: Jill Winitzer Newton, MA 02464. Telephone: those who embrace material wealth and its Webmasters: Hyung Park and 617.581.6810. Sharon Sbarsky Email: [email protected]. pursuit and those who see such concerns as Chair, Jewish Family & Life! Address all subscription queries vainglorious. But these potential fracture lines Board: Evan Schlesinger and address changes to Sh’ma , CEO, Jewish Family & Life!: P.O. Box 439, Congers, NY 10920- are only visible from inside Orthodoxy. Amir Cohen 0439. Sh’ma Advisory Committee: Telephone: 877.568.SHMA. Whether or not they will deepen and lead to Sandee Brawarsky, Sharon Brous, Email: [email protected]. Aryeh Cohen, Brigitte Dayan, Sh’ma is published by Jewish Fam - competition for resources and authority re - Mimi Ferraro, Shoshana Boyd ily & Life! monthly except July mains to be seen. Moreover, the ability of Samuel C. Heilman is Gelfand, Felipe Goodman, and August. Application to mail Distinguished Professor Caroline Harris, Richard Hirsh, at periodical- class postage rates those within strictly Orthodox enclaves to fi - Artie Isaac, Steve Jacobson, Phil pending at Newton, MA 02464. of Sociology at Queens Miller, Adam Mintz, Yehudah Subscriptions: $49/2 years in nancially sustain their way of life, without the Mirsky, Jonathan Schorsch, Susan U.S.; $29/1 year; $59/2 years in - College C.U.N.Y. and Seely, Carl Sheingold, Akiva Tor, ternational; $39/1 year interna - traditional support they have in the past re - Devorah Zlochower tional; $21.97 for one year author most recently of Contributing Editors: Michael senior/student. Bulk subscrip - ceived, remains uncertain. As well, the Jews Sliding to the Right: Berenbaum, Elliot Dorff, Arnie tions are available at reduced Eisen, Leonard Fein, Barry Fre - prices. Please notify the subscrip - who have built the walls against the cultural The Contest for the undel, Rela M. Geffen, Neil Gill - tion office in writing if you prefer and social domains outside may find their iso - man, Irving Greenberg, Joanne that your name not be given out Future of American Jew - Greenberg, Brad Hirschfield, on rented lists. lation something less than splendid and their ish Orthodoxy. Paula Hyman, Lori Lefkovitz, Copyright ©2007 Jewish Family & Richard Marker, Deborah Dash Life! institutions withering from lack of economic Moore, Vanessa Ochs, Kerry ISSN: 0049-0385 December 2006 February 2007 WITH ALL SPONSORSHIPS, resources. As a consequence, the future of Or - Olitzky, Riv-Ellen Prell, Harold Adar 5767 Schulweis, Elie Wiesel, Arnold SH’MA RESERVES COMPLETE Jacob Wolf, David Wolpe, Michael EDITORIAL CONTROL OF thodoxy as it is evolving continues to remain To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA Wyschogrod CONTENT. an open question. www.shma.com 3 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 4

A Conversation on Haredi Life, Israel, Shmuel Goldin: I just returned from a events, just as we must know the history of the year’s sabbatical in Israel where I had the op - Civil War and Reconstruction to understand portunity to spend time with my sister who race relations in America. lives in Har Nof, a Haredi community. Are the Goldin: In my Modern Orthodox com - two Haredi communities — in the U. S. and munity, Zionism is a major part of our gestalt. in Israel — different? How do you feel about the existence of the Nosson Scherman: While I can’t really State of Israel? speak authoritatively, the Haredi community Scherman: The Haredi community, in Israel seems more self-contained — they whether in the U. S. or in Israel, is opposed to don’t mix much with the rest of the popula - the political leadership of the country. The tion, which is a shame. Haredim here in the Knesset, the government, and the Supreme U. S. interact more — there are more people Court under Aharon Barak, are engaged in a in a profession or in business. Even those in stealth war against traditional Judaism. Both hinuch , education, do outreach and are there - the Haredim and the secularists are demo - fore less insular. It’s changing, but by and nized by one another. large the traditionalists anywhere tend to be Goldin: Are you opposed to the policies insular. By the way, insularity cuts more than of a particular government, or are you op - one way; non-religious Jews are often quite posed to the institution of the state? ambivalent about getting to know us. Scherman: I’m not opposed to the insti - Goldin: How do you feel about the title tution of the state. Haredi? Goldin: Is the Haredi community sup - Scherman: Although I don’t like labels, portive of the existence of the state of Israel? rightwing or fundamentalist, the title Haredi Scherman: Yes, the vast majority are. In was adopted by the fervently Orthodox people the last two U.S. elections, the general Jewish 100 years ago. It comes from the last chapter community was over 80 percent Democratic, in Isaiah, where God describes people who but Haredi Jews voted over 80 percent for serve Him zealously. Bush in 2004 and for Republicans in 2006, pri - Goldin: Why are the Haredim insular? marily because of Bush’s support of Israel. It’s Scherman: Primarily because Haredi Jews true that in the pre-state years, Haredim were must preserve their values and religious way of afraid that the secularists would mount an all- life. I think we both agree that what passes for out war against traditional Orthodoxy. And modern culture — the worship of money, loose many of them wanted to do exactly that. It sex, general crassness, and vulgarity — is not took Ben Gurion — as non-Haredi as they what we want for our children. All Haredim come — to convince his colleagues that unity agree about that. But there are subtle differ - was more important than ideological victory. ences between the so-called Lithuanian yeshiva While many Haredim opposed statehood on world, which is more study-oriented and more theological grounds, history shows that the rigid in matters of principle, and the Hasidic vast majority went along, voted, and were rep - world. Hasidim are more likely to be in the busi - resented in the Knesset from the start. A few ness or workforce and often more ready to ne - years ago, there was a mass rally in Washington gotiate. But these are generalities, not hard and in support of Israel. There were mostly Mod - fast rules. Much of the insularity in Israel, get - ern Orthodox Jews but there was a large rep - ting back to your question, dates back to the resentation of Haredim as well. But in the early waves of aliyah . Most of the immigrants papers and on the television, the stars of the who came to Palestine were rebelling against show were a dozen or so Neturei Karta people the Orthodoxy of their parents and grandpar - demonstrating against Israel. And in Israel, in ents. They arrived and saw the traditional the Knesset there are Haredi political parties Haredi community that was already living in — Agudath Israel, Degal HaTorah, and Shas. Yerushalayim. The newcomers derided it as a The political system in Israel is sick — but not black, medieval community that refused to because of the conflict between Haredim and February 2007 Adar 5767 come into the 20th century, and this created a seculars; it’s just a sick system. To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA great deal of hostility. The ill will remains. One Goldin: One difficult issue is that most www.shma.com must know history to understand current Haredi children do not go to the army. I hear 4 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 5

Learning, and Divine Providence many Israelis say, “My children go to the army. Scherman: It happens. It’s wholesome to My children defend the country. And I find it be insular but not extremely so. And most problematic that there is an entire population people I think are really not extremely so. It’s within Israel that isn’t doing that.” There’s a impossible to draw hard and fast lines because perception that the Haredi community is ben - human beings can’t be pigeonholed. efiting from the sacrifice of others. Goldin: The kolel (adult male yeshiva) has Scherman: It’s hard to respond to that be - always had a major place within the Jewish cause the response is something that most peo - world. But it has always been a place for the ple today cannot accept. A young Hasidic man best and the brightest who would then some - tells this story: “How does Israel come through how give back to the Jewish world in kind, all of these crises? Well, there’s a miraculous way, whether it was as a dayan or rabbi. But today it and there’s a normal way. The miraculous way is appears to have become a goal within the if the Jewish people can settle their differences Haredi community that everyone should sit and become unified and work together, and the and learn all day. Is such a situation sustain - Arab people are ready to make peace. The nor - able financially, or humanly? mal way is for God to intervene.” Theologically, Scherman: Young men do not become the Haredim are learning and praying and really serious about learning until they’re 16, doing breathtaking amounts of chesed in Israel. 17, 18 years old. So several years in the kolel is Rabbi Shmuel Goldin The mayor of Yerushalayim created an organi - part of the educational experience. When has served as spiritual zation, Yad Sarah, where tens of thousands of you’re just a young man getting married, you leader of the Orthodox volunteers help the sick and needy. Of course still need more learning; even a year or two in congregation, Ahavath there are other people who smoke cigarettes on a rarified Torah atmosphere sets the tone for Torah in Englewood, New Jersey, since 1984. street corners and say that they’re Haredim so future family life. He is an instructor of they don’t have to go to the army. I hold them in Goldin: Many of our children go for a year Bible and Philosophy at contempt. But as for the people who are really of study in Israel immediately following high the Isaac Breuer College learning Torah, we believe they are our protec - school, which is definitely beneficial. But more and the James Striar tion; the survival of Israel depends on God’s and more young people within the Haredi School of Yeshiva Univer - mercy and protection. The , based on a community, and some within Modern Ortho - sity and serves on the Ex - verse in Jeremiah, teaches that if there was ever doxy, are choosing to sit and learn as a life goal. ecutive Committee of the a moment when there was no Torah study hap - Scherman: For many people it’s an excel - Rabbinical Council of pening, anywhere on earth, Creation would lent idea. For others, it’s horrible. In my obser - America. cease to exist. And it is the people who serve vation, when the men reach a point where they God sincerely and often at personal sacrifice can’t manage anymore or are not growing any - Rabbi Nosson Scherman who earn that protection for the entire country. more, they leave the kolel . Either they go into studied at Torah Vo - daath and its post-grad - Goldin: How do you feel about secular teaching or business or a profession. uate division, Beth knowledge, culture, pursuing a career? Do the Goldin: There are lots of families, though, Medrosh Elyon. After benefits of secular knowledge and secular cul - who are living in poverty, who are not manag - fourteen years as a ture go beyond just making a living? ing in Israel or the U. S. teacher and principal, he Scherman: I’m certainly not opposed to Scherman: Let’s be practical. When it became general editor of having a profession to make a living. Secular can’t be sustained anymore, people will go to ArtScroll/Mesorah Publi - culture for the sake of secular culture is not a work. There is a tension between two impor - cations. He is the author traditional Jewish value. That’s a difference tant values. On the one hand is the impor - of the Stone Edition of between the Haredim and the Modern Ortho - tance of Torah study as a benefit to the family the , the dox. Going to the ballet because the ballet is and its spiritual influence on the cosmos. On ArtScroll and beautiful or going to the Metropolitan Opera, the other hand, a husband has the responsi - , and the re - that’s where we diverge. bility to support his family. Families make cently completed three volumes of the Rubin Goldin: I think we diverge more about the their own decisions. Edition of the Early study of mathematics, or science — the acqui - Goldin: Today, there are parents who are Prophets. sition of knowledge. Is there intrinsic benefit not sitting and learning so they can provide to secular knowlege, or is such learning only to for the children who are sitting and learning. February 2007 be pursued for the purpose of a career? Is the But when the children who are sitting and Adar 5767 Haredi community closing itself out from ben - learning have children, they’re not going to To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA eficial dimensions of knowledge and culture? be able to provide for them. www.shma.com 5 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 6

Scherman: Societies and individuals large, aren’t we doing our young people a dis - cope with economic realities — over time service? making needed adjustments. The explosive Scherman: On the other end of the spec - growth of yeshivas and kolels has transformed trum, in the U. S. — especially in the Jewish Jewish life exponentially for the better. The community — the ideal is a college education, Orthodox world was almost moribund before preferably graduate school. But there are plenty it happened. I think it was Divine Providence of good Jewish boys and girls who can’t hack it. that gave the Jewish community and this coun - Goldin: You’re right. No community ben - try the prosperity that made this possible. efits from having just a cookie-cutter mental - What will happen next, no one knows. ity. I wonder whether we wouldn’t all be better Goldin: But you can project learning as served if we reset our expectations. What one option; not the sole option. Doing so about the dropouts — people leaving the would prevent giving those who don’t sit and Haredi world? learn the sense that they’re failing because Scherman: I think that by and large it’s they’re not in the elite. like the Neturei Karta demonstrating with the Scherman: I agree with you. Some of the Arabs or going to Teheran to embrace men who are not suited to full-time learning Ahamanidinejad. They get the headlines. Of feel that they’re failures. Every yeshiva recog - course a tiny percentage leave, but nothing nizes that problem. But if the Rosh Yeshiva like what the publicity tries to portray. gives options, then their institutions — and the Goldin: How does the Haredi commu - Jewish people — might lose the most talented. nity perceive the concept of or l’goyim, playing Goldin: But we are saying two things to a role in world events on a positive level? Will our community: first, that there is one partic - this be accomplished by active interface with ular goal that everybody should aspire to, and the non-Jewish world, or by just having non- anyone who doesn’t quite make that grade re - Jews emulate our lives? ally isn’t cutting it. Then, quietly, we say to Scherman: It’s not by close interaction. those who aren’t cutting it, “you’re not really The Talmud’s definition of kiddush haShem is a problem.” Aren’t we creating an unhealthy to live the way the Torah wants us to live and situation particularly for the men who can’t sit have people look at us and say, “Wow, how for - in a yeshiva and learn? If we create an unrea - tunate and praiseworthy are the parents who sonable expectation in the community at have such children.” Divine Sparks Simon Jacobson ’ll never forget the question posed to me by dox, Conservative, or Reform? Anyone with Ia woman in South Miami Beach. I had just even a rudimentary understanding of spiritu - finished a lecture about my book, Toward a ality knows that one cannot stereotype and fit Meaningful Life , presenting the teachings of the soul into man-made labels and structures; the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem the soul is a Divine force in each of us, infus - Mendel Schneerson, to the secular public. ing us with an indispensable mission to fulfill “Did the Rebbe recognize Conservative in our lifetime. Judaism?” asked the woman. “If not, I don’t I learned this fundamental truth in want to buy the book of a bigot,” she bluntly Chabad, as a student and Hasid of the Lubav - stated. The auditorium fell silent. itcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. I paused before I replied. “No, he did not Rabbi Schneerson, or as he is lovingly recognize its legitimacy.” The audience be - called, “The Rebbe,” was the seventh in a dy - came uncomfortably restless, until I contin - nasty of rebbes, spiritual leaders, that began ued: “But he also didn’t recognize Orthodox with the founding of the Chabad , ultra-Orthodox, reformodox, recon - movement in Belarus by Rabbi Schneur Zal - structodox, and all the other ‘doxes’ that have man of Liadi (1745-1812). Rabbi Schneur Zal - been and will be created. The reason being: man, whose lineage traces back to King David, February 2007 was the youngest student of Rabbi Dovber of Adar 5767 Nowhere is mention made of all these labels To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA in the constitution of Judaism — the Torah.” Mezeritch (d. 1772), who in turn was the stu - www.shma.com And then I asked them: Was Moses Ortho - dent and successor of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer 6 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 7

(1698-1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov, the Divine in every aspect of life, to integrate per - founder of Hasidism in 1734. sonal independence with the highest moral The contribution of Chabad Hasidus can standards of Torah, to blend fiery passion with be appreciated by placing its advent in histor - profound intellect. ical context. The primary challenge facing the The ultimate litmus test for the success of Jewish people following the Emancipation in any movement or philosophy is its future: the 18th century was: how to benefit from Does it inspire passion and commitment in its newfound freedoms while not compromising youth? Does it have the power to perpetuate the integrity of millennia-old Jewish tradition. into future generations? Indeed, modern assimilation was birthed as a Since its inception, some 250 years ago, result of a people unprepared for the chal - Chabad has spawned generations of adher - lenges of accelerated emancipation. The chal - ents, men and women from all walks of life. lenge would take on different forms in the Today, Chabad is a vibrant force in Judaism. subsequent years — the battle between reli - Infused with a profound sense of mission, tens gion and science, between church and state, of thousands of young revolutionaries can be and between faith and reason. Some chose in - found all across the globe, directing Chabad sulation to protect themselves from these pro - houses, schools, synagogues, and community gressive forces; others compartmentalization, centers — perpetuating Jewish life and ignit - and yet others assimilation. ing souls. Rabbi Schneur Zalman, and the six suc - What lies behind this power is a profound cessive generations of Chabad rebbes, devel - philosophy that plumbs the depths of Talmud oped an eloquent and comprehensive system and and integrates it into a system - to bridge the schism between the material and atic lifestyle, joining ritual and spiritual in a the spiritual, offering a dynamic blueprint for seamless union. The intimate appreciation of Jewish life, one that makes the spiritual jour - each soul’s dignity — regardless of back - ney personally relevant to contemporary ground, education, or Jewish experience — times. drives the Chabad individual, welcoming all Drawing from the vast corpus of mystical with an unmatched warmth and non-judg - and talmudic teachings, Chabad (an acronym mentalism. Eternal and humble respect for for chochma, binah, dat, the three defining intel - the mysterious journey of every unique soul, lectual faculties — conception, understanding, and the responsibility to do everything possi - knowledge) teaches that within all of matter ble to actualize that soul’s potential, lies at the lies potent spiritual energy. Each of us is heart of a Chabadnik’s commitment: to not charged with the mission of discovering the Di - just warm yourself in this cold universe, but to vine “sparks” allocated to us in our respective warm all those around you. A Jew is a Divine corner of the world and sphere of influence. soul, period. And “who can know their [every Simon Jacobson is the We relieve the tension between matter and soul’s] greatness and excellence of in their author of Toward a spirit by spiritualizing the material, releasing root and source in the living God...all Jews are Meaningful Life the Divine energy embedded in every person, called real brothers” ( Tanya chapter 32). (William Morrow, object, and experience. Redemption is the nat - The Hasid is driven by the absolute belief 2002), founder of The ural culmination of this process. Recognizing that we now stand at the threshold of redemp - Meaningful Life Center the Divine soul in each person naturally leads tion, when all the Divine “sparks” will be actu - (meaningfullife.com), to a loving attitude toward every individual, re - alized. We therefore are compelled to do and publisher of the Yiddish-English weekly, gardless of background or persuasion. everything possible to finish our work of refin - The Algemeiner Journal If Kabbalah manifests the Divine in the ing and transforming the material universe (algemeiner.com). Rabbi human, then Chabad Hasidism transforms the into a Divine home; to be “a light unto na - Jacobson served as the human into the Divine. This interface be - tions” and reveal the Godly “spark” in every documenter and pub - tween God and man allows us to enter the human being and in every part of existence. lisher of the seventh emancipated world without compromising Then our accumulative effort, coupled with Lubavitcher Rebbe’s pub - timeless values. On the contrary: it begets the the hard work of generations past, will finally lic talks from 1979 till opportunity to integrate both freedoms, ma - erupt into a global surge of goodness and spir - 1992. terial and spiritual, by refining and spiritual - ituality, bringing on the age of redemption, izing material secularism, turning the world the messianic age, when the world will be February 2007 Adar 5767 into an intimate home for the Divine. Chabad filled with Divine knowledge as the waters To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA offers man the tools to perceive and reveal the cover the sea. www.shma.com 7 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 8

Online Diaries: Blogging and the Hasidic Life*

ne of the core things the Internet has horrendous — I had never really learned to Otaught me is that the rabbis are not al - write. But since the other bloggers were much ways right. Ironically this realization proves more accepting of the dogma and were only the rabbis right. For years, the rabbis, insisting critical of the lifestyle, compared to my heresy, that access to the “impure” Internet corrupts I had people who cared to read, debate, and the mind and soul, forbade it. convince me to change my sinful ways. Soon I grew up Hasidic, totally oblivious to the I found good fellows who took their time to world outside our community. Television, correct my English and teach me how to be movies, radio, or English newspapers never more articulate. Most of my readers, I believe, entered the house. I went to c heder , where we are Hasidim. Some are likeminded who iden - spent most of the time learning Torah; “Eng - tify with the tale, or proselytizing-minded who lish” studies consisted primarily of arithmetic. try to convert me. But, surprisingly, I get Socialized to act and think differently, I emails and comments from people I wouldn’t thought of myself not as a stranger but rather believe would be at all interested — people as a superior being — a chosen one. from southern states or from as far away as And then, some years later, I found the In - Germany, Brazil, or Malaysia. ternet and uncovered my ignorance. Although After writing a few posts mostly just for fun the Internet was forbidden (at that point I was with no thoughtful plan at the urging of a vir - still practicing), I couldn’t accept the idea the tual friend, I found the interaction with read - rabbis insisted as doctrinaire — that reading ers very curative. It gave me my own beaten and thinking about the core tenets of Judaism chair in the mythological Hyde Park to stand is prohibited. As suspicious as such a decree on and preach to half-interested bystanders might sound, I managed to cognitively reason and the occasional tourist with a camera. that this ban was for those people who might Alas, the longer I stood selling my idea, understand the questions but not wholly grasp the tougher it became. I found myself scream - the answers offered by the great rabbinical ing at times, begging bystanders and support - philosophers, and so, to not walk into a poten - ers alike to bring me a shred of evidence with tial soul-destroying peccadillo one should re - which to hang on, naturally to no avail. Con - frain from reading “outside” material. I tinuing to live the life of a frum Jew didn’t help believed in myself a little too much, I guess, and matters too much. It’s one thing to fast believ - thought that I would understand all the an - ing that you serve a higher purpose, it’s quite swers. I began to explore and question every - another to drive my family to the shopping thing I had been taught — wondering if it just malls on December 29th (taking advantage of might be a farce. I realized that the rabbis did the season’s sales), while fasting because the not have satisfying answers; I suspected that no children know that the tenth of Tevet is a fast one did (nor did they have the questions). day. Had I known what I was getting myself From this realization to acting out — in secret, into, I might rather have remained ignorant. of course — did not take long, and soon I Before long, people I know in real life began to voice my frustrations and speak online would mention blogs in general or mention with a community of likeminded questioners. the bad-boy “Shtreimel” (my pseudonym). I I took my cue from other Hasidic bloggers had to try very hard to inconspicuously avert who write to a diverse array of readers, not the subject. The absurdity peaked one day only likeminded Hasidim. I started writing my when I took a Hasidic hitchhiking couple own online diary, calling it “A Hasid and a from Brooklyn to Monsey. The man, sitting Heretic” (hassid.blogspot.com). In one of my with me in the front seat, wouldn’t stop talk - * This essay was written first posts I admitted to eating on Yom Kippur ing about the “Heretic” who “washes our dirty anonymously to protect and to a host of other transgressions and sins laundry in public,” while the woman in the the identity of the writer. and got shocking responses both online and back talked about the Internet’s bad offline — controversy really does sell. Unlike influence. February 2007 Adar 5767 my blog heroes “Hasidic Rebel” (hasidi - Most Hasidic bloggers are aware of the dan - To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA crebel.blogspot.com) and “Shiagetz” (the - gers of people finding out their real identities. www.shma.com shaigetz.blogspot.com), my grammar was “Baal Devarim” (sitra-achra.blogspot.com) is a 8 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 9

great new addition to the frum blogsphere. For shunned by the community for a blog. And some time he commented on other blogs none of us want our children to be expelled under the name “szhgknb,” and he is “not eager from their schools — and we are all aware of to find out” what might happen to him if his se - that possibility — so we go the extra mile to cret is revealed. Another blogger, “Hasidic hide our identities. I post a disclaimer on Rebel,” is aware that “there are always fire - every page: “In order to hide my identity,” it brands — folks who can decide to demonstrate reads, “I use a lot of misinformation and in - outside my home, [where] a random rock tentionally misguide you on anything that might find its way into my daughter's bedroom.” could lead back to me… God is in the details The greatest danger lies in the potential they say, and when I gave up on God I gave up destruction of the family fabric. No one deems on the details too, but the essence of anything it worthy to break up a marriage and get I write is unfortunately true.”

The Many Shades of Black: Diverse Voices in Haredi Society Sima Zalcberg

here is a tendency to see the ultra-Ortho - women feel provides a more flattering appear - Tdox society as a solid mass of “black hats.” ance. One of the reasons the color black was In actuality, however, this society includes a va - chosen for the kerchief is that “there are no riety of groups that differ from one another shades of black,” and yet the women have figu - in their worldview, way of life, and degree of ratively introduced “shades of black” by wear - commitedness to the tradition and halakhah. ing the black kerchief in different ways. Moreover, even these subgroups contain Among the women I studied, I encoun - voices that are not only different but are also tered a variety of voices that reflected the ex - sometimes in opposition. istence of different camps within the group — This phenomenon is true, as well, among ranging from extreme zealots, who reject all the women in one of the most extreme groups innovation, to those who favor more progress in Hasidic society, the Toldot Ahaaron. The and openness. Hasidim of Toldot Aharon, known for their There were, for example, a variety of extreme stand against modernity, secular voices about the character of the girls’ school. knowledge, and Zionism, stand out because of Some women supported offering art classes in their unique outward appearance. The the school, saying that “the girls live in this women, who are required to wear plain, dark- world, so they must be given the tools to cope colored clothing, shave their heads upon mar - with it.” Others were opposed to such classes riage and wear a black kerchief. This outward because they believed that art would confront appearance sends the message that the group the girls with “elements that will taint their has a unified collective identity. spirit.” The debate eventually led to a split in Although all of the women wear similar the school and great tension. dark-colored clothes and black kerchiefs, subtle This was not a trivial debate, as it involved differences do not merely reflect the woman’s essentially different opinions about how the personal taste, but attest to differences in the girls should be educated, as well as the group’s strictness with which the women adhere to the view of its relations with the secular society community’s modesty restrictions and their de - and modernity. The different views reflect a Sima Zalcberg has a PhD gree of religious zealotry. For example, the ker - continual tension between tradition and in Sociology and Anthro - chief considered “most modest” is the longest modernity — between the need to adapt to pology and works as a so - one, fitting closely to the woman’s head and changing situations, on the one hand, and the cial researcher at the covering the entire scalp. The two ends of the tendency toward conservatism and the rejec - Meyers-JDC-Brookdale kerchief come down the woman’s chest, serv - tion of all novelty, on the other. Institute in Jerusalem. ing to hide it. In contrast, the kerchief consid - These differences demonstrate that February 2007 ered “the least modest,” not only fails to hide Toldot Aharon is not monolithic and that Adar 5767 the woman's neck and chest but is raised from human reality is never black-and-white. The To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA her head by a thin sheet of foam, which the ultra-Orthodox society, including Toldot www.shma.com 9 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 10

Aharon, defines itself a priori as the most modernity to some degree, different camps religiously stringent and uncompromisingly arise. This multi-vocality reflects the complex - committed to halakhah. A hierarchical struc - ity of the ultra-Orthodox society, demonstrat - ture, therefore, develops according to the de - ing that different camps — even in the most gree of commitment to tradition and extreme groups — exist, and that even they halakhah each group displays. Since the mem - are not invulnerable to the influence of bers of Toldot Aharon inevitably adapt to modern society. Women’s Voice and Song Asya Vaisman

n a Sunday two years ago, I set out for the though women do sing during all-female gath - Oneighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn erings — for example, at a party for a bride to record Hasidic women singing Yiddish songs. the weekend before her wedding. Women My first appointment was with Mrs. F., who had seem to sing most when they are school-age told me on the telephone that she knew a num - and when they have small children. As they ber of Yiddish songs but did not have a good get older, women generally sing less, to the voice. As part of the interview, I asked her about point where many of the women interviewed the songs. “I’m not into singing,” she replied, who were in their sixties claimed to have for - insisting that she never sings. When I reminded gotten all the songs they knew for lack of occa - her of our earlier conversation, she reluctantly sions to sing. There are, of course, many conceded that she did know a few songs. When exceptions, such as women who run daycare she began singing, it turned out that one of the centers or teach small children. songs was actually a lengthy ballad to which she Most of the songs I’ve collected have some knew all of the words. This pattern was repeated religious content — songs about Jewish holi - during many of my interviews: women would days, faith, and the role of God in the life of deny knowing or singing songs and would then Hasidim. There are also historical songs, proceed to sing extensively. mostly about the Holocaust, as well as lullabies At the end of the interview, Mrs. F. took and songs with stories from the Torah. The me to several of her neighbors’ apartments, songs about the Holocaust are particularly in - from which I acquired a large repertoire of teresting and disproportionately popular in songs — Sabbath songs, children’s songs the community. These songs struggle with dif - about biblical figures, elaborate songs from ficult theological questions, such as how far a musicals, and some original compositions. Jew can go to save his life. The responsibility to The material I collected is mostly unknown make a decision between pikuach nefesh (saving to people outside the Hasidic community. Kol one’s life) and kiddush haShem (dying for one’s isha, the halakhic regulation of a woman’s faith) lay on the shoulders of ordinary people, Asya Vaisman was born voice, forbids Hasidic women from performing not wise rabbis with years of halakhic training. in Chernovtsy, Ukraine. publicly or recording songs; additionally, the In one song, for example, a mother is forced She is a PhD student insular nature of Hasidic communities makes to leave her child with non-Jews to protect studying Yiddish at this material almost inaccessible. The inter - him, and she warns the child: “Don’t speak an - Harvard University, views I conducted with women from Satmar, other Yiddish word, don’t sing another Yid - working on Yiddish Ger, Bobov, and Tolner Hasidic communities dish song, but remember in your heart that songs and singing prac - provide rich insights into the role that songs you are a Jew.” In another song, a woman sings tices of Hasidic women. and singing play in a Hasidic woman’s life. a lullaby to a child she had adopted whose She is also a Yiddish mother had been killed by the Nazis. singer and songwriter. The Yiddish songs I heard were learned (http://www.people.fas.h by the women primarily in one of four ways: While the melodies of most songs are orig - arvard.edu/~vaisman/s at music classes in all-girls’ schools, at all-girls’ inal, some children’s songs are sung to non- ongs/) camps, at home, or from tapes. Generally, the Jewish melodies — like a song about body girls are given photocopied booklets with song parts sung to the tune of “Frère Jacques” and lyrics, and they learn the melodies to the a Rosh Hashanah song to the tune of “Oh My February 2007 Adar 5767 songs by ear. They almost always sing in Darling Clementine.” Women usually do not To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA groups or choirs, and this affects their style of seem to be aware that these melodies origi - www.shma.com singing. Singing at home is less frequent, al - nate from outside their community. 10 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 11

Most of the Yiddish songs that I have col - ings, they do not sing these songs as often. lected are sung regularly only by women. Men Much can be learned about Hasidic generally sing niggunim , songs without words, or culture by examining the songs of Hasidic songs in Hebrew, rather than in Yiddish. While women, speaking to the women who sing women know the men’s songs from hearing them, and learning about their singing their husbands singing and from public gather - practices. Shas: A Religious Response to Cultural Distress Avi Picard

or more than fifteen years, ultra-Ortho - cess in the 1996 elections, for instance, to the Fdox political representors in Israel’s Knes - distribution of amulets by the kabbalist Rabbi set have come from a group whose own Kadouri. They explained the large turnout in standing in ultra-Orthodox society is second - 1999 as a protest vote against the indictment ary, namely Sephardic Haredim. The ultra- of Shas leader Aryeh Deri and the 2006 vote as Orthodox worldview, of course, developed a protest against the economic policies of among Eastern European Jews struggling to then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. define themselves against the Haskalah, Jew - But these explanations can be easily re - ish Enlightenment, and Zionism. In Israel, futed, and the need for a different explana - likewise, ultra-Orthodox society is essentially tion for each election suggests that something Ashkenazi; those who refuse to use Hebrew as deeper is at work. a mundane language speak instead the lan - Social activists, meanwhile, ascribe Shas’s guage of , Yiddish. How, then, success to the social services it provides, from has it happened that the principal ultra-Or - formal and informal education to hot meals thodox representation in the Knesset belongs for the poor. But a statistical study would show to a small, marginal group of ultra-Orthodox that the number of those who benefit from Sephardim? Shas’s social services is smaller than the num - The Shas movement was founded with the ber of its voters and therefore cannot explain support of an Ashkenazi scholar, Rav Eliezer the dimensions of Shas support. Movements Shach, who led the Lithuanian branch of ultra- that have offered services far more broadly, Orthodoxy. In his battle for the spiritual lead - moreover (the Labor Party, for instance, by ership of , Shach harnessed the means of the Histadrut), have not always suc - sense of discrimination that the Sephardim ceeded in persuading those who received felt. Since its founding, not only has Shas freed their services to vote for the movements that Dr. Avi Picard, a visit - itself (to a large degree) from the patronage provided them. ing professor for Israel Studies at the University of Agudat Yisrael, but it has in fact become Another explanation for Shas’s support of Maryland, researches among non-ultra-Orthodox voters looks at how twice as powerful, with twice as many seats in the Israeli society with a the 2006 election. The reason for this success the movement tried to rectify what had been specialty in ethnic rela - lies in the fact that a majority of people who for years the Israeli classification of the cul - tions. He lives in the de - voted for this ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party tures and traditions of Jewish immigrants from velopment town of were not themselves ultra-Orthodox — at least Islamic countries as second-class. In order to Yerucham and is one of not according to the standard Israeli definition integrate into Israeli society, Jews from Muslim the founders of Midreshet of the term. These were voters who work for a countries were required to shed their culture BeYachad-Yerucham, an living, serve in the army, identify with the state and undergo “modernization.” Those who educational center ad - of Israel, and live in mixed neighborhoods. In - clung to the traditional cultural patterns com - dressing Israeli social deed, a not insignificant number of Shas voters prised the lower rungs of Israeli society, what problems and solutions. are not observant, defining themselves as tradi - would come to be called “the second Israel.” Translated by Benjamin Balint. tional, or even secular. Many of those whose parents had emi - So how can we explain their vote? In try - grated from Muslim countries in the 1950s February 2007 ing to solve this puzzle, political analysts have thus inherited a condescension toward their Adar 5767 tended to focus on circumstantial explana - parents’ culture. While the social parties — To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA tions. They attributed Shas’s remarkable suc - and other parties that pretended to speak in www.shma.com 11 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:49 PM Page 12

the name of discrimination against Sephardim an answer to their distress. They saw the very — mainly addressed economic gaps, Shas existence of Shas in public life as a way to re - sought directly to touch a more sensitive nerve. claim the self-esteem that “modernization” It insisted that poverty and educational failure had undermined. Only Shas, this very “un- were but the symptoms of a much deeper mal - modern” movement, could confront the de - ady: the trampling of Sephardic heritage and, mand to modernize, which itself concealed a as a consequence, of Sephardic pride and less explicit demand: to become Ashkenazi. identity. Shas sought “to restore the crown to In this way, Sephardic Jews, those who see its glory” (a Shas motto employed by Rabbi Shas as the party that shores up their identity, ). bestow upon it great political power and have, Many Sephardic Jews, including those therein, created a disproportionate ultra-Or - who were not religious, saw this restoration as thodox representation in Israeli politics.

Mendelssohn and Modernity Abraham Socher n the beginning, the question of Enlighten - astonishment that a Jew could fill such a role Iment was intertwined with what came to be in the German Enlightenment. Another called the Jewish question. Did the ideals of of Mendelssohn’s nicknames, the “Jewish the European Enlightenment require Jewish Luther,” refers to the reforms that some peo - rights? And if they did, what did Jews have to ple hoped he would initiate to integrate his give up in return? How “Jewish” could they be, brethren into enlightened civil society, a task and of what did Jewishness consist? Could En - he declined. lightenment universalism countenance Jewish If Moses Mendelssohn can be said to have particularism, and vice versa? written anything equivalent to Luther’s “95 In Prussia, every liberalization of Jewish Theses,” it was his book Jerusalem: On Religious rights from 1780 to 1812 came with a corre - Power in Judaism. He wrote Jerusalem in 1784, sponding demand to change or give up some - near the end of his life, after the publication thing: one’s name, one’s beard, one’s of an anonymous pamphlet that challenged language. In France, Napoleon convened a him with being inconsistent and several “Sanhedrin,” which was asked such questions decades when he tried to diplomatically fi - as to whether their first loyalty was to mem - nesse the questions of how the modern state bers of the French nation or to other mem - must reform itself in order to fully integrate bers of the exiled Jewish people, wherever Jews and how Jews must reform themselves to they might be. be citizens of that state. Such cultural imperialism is impossible to The anonymous pamphlet ended, “One justify. On the other hand, civil society is im - step more and you will become one of us. ... possible in the absence of some real cultural Your most sincere admirer, S**** Vienna, 12. commonality. While I have no ready answers June 1782.” Mendelssohn and his friends won - Abraham Socher is Asso - (and distrust anyone who does), such contem - dered if the writer was Joseph von Sonnenfels, ciate Professor and Direc - porary questions do make the Jewish experi - an advisor to Emperor Joseph II, who advo - tor of Jewish Studies at ence in the 18th-century Enlightenment of cated a liberalization of Jewish rights in ex - Oberlin College. His particular interest now. No one is more iden - change for religious and cultural concessions. book, The Radical tified with this experience than the philoso - But Sonnenfels was also the son of a Jewish Enlightenment of pher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). apostate, so the suggestion seemed to be that Solomon Maimon: There are moments in which the large and Jewish enlightenment required not only cul - Judaism, Heresy and pressing questions of the day seem to coalesce tural reform but religious conversion. In Philosophy, was just in a particular human life. Mendelssohn’s short, Moses Mendelssohn found himself in published by Stanford Christian contemporaries sometimes referred the position of medieval predecessors like University Press. to him as the “Socrates of Berlin,” in honor of Moses Nachmanides, forced to debate an his most popular book, Phaedon , which up - apostate. February 2007 Adar 5767 dated one of the great Platonic dialogues. But In fact, “S*****” wasn’t Sonnenfels, but To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA he was also called the “Circumcised Socrates,” an obscure scribbler named Cranz. And yet www.shma.com a particularly pointed way of marking their the pamphlet managed to draw forth 12 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:49 PM Page 13

Mendelssohn’s deepest thoughts and highest the observance of your religious laws more irk - rhetoric on religious and cultural autonomy some than they are. Nevertheless, persevere, and the separation of church and state. In the remain unflinchingly at the post to which marvelous closing paragraphs of Jerusalem, Providence has assigned you ...” Mendelssohn addressed both his fellow Jews And to those Europeans for whom this and his fellow (Christian) Europeans. seemed insufficient, he wrote: “in order to be “ ... House of Jacob ... Adapt yourselves to under the care of the omnipresent shepherd the morals and the constitution of the land to the entire flock need neither graze in one pas - which you have been removed; but hold fast ture nor enter and leave the master’s house to the religion of your fathers too. ... It is true through a single door.” on the one hand, the burden of civil life is Mendelssohn’s ideals still resonate for us, made heavier for you on account of the reli - the Jewish children of the Enlightenment, but gion to which you remain faithful, and on the the question of how to fulfill them remains as other hand, the climate and the times make difficult for us as it was for him. The Paradox of Liberalism Naomi Gryn

Fundamentalism has been talked about mostly, since have developed a taste for diversity. But there 9/11, in the context of Islam. Some say this is unfair, is a growing sense of crisis about the rapid rise even biased. Others insist that it is inevitable — an to center stage of Muslim dissenters to our sec - unavoidable byproduct of contemporary political, re - ular ways. ligious, and social trends worldwide. The following In contrast to the extended family net - essay by Naomi Gryn reflects on how even liberal, work supported by religious communities, pluralistic sensibilities can collide with the religious our nuclear families are in meltdown. Our elements of Islamic fundamentalism. — SB children seem confused and undisciplined, obsessed with celebrity and material posses - live in the heart of what has become the sions. On the face of it, our communities IArab Quarter of London. At the bottom of have much to learn from each other. But the street is the Reform synagogue where my Britain woke up to the reality of its disaffected late father was rabbi for 32 years. These days, Muslim population when four suicide a Lebanese grocery store next door to the syn - bombers — three of whom were British-born agogue is probably its best defense against ter - — killed 52 commuters at the height of the rorism, even though escalating membership London rush hour on July 7th 2005. Since fees reflect conventional security measures, then, security alerts have become as common - and armed police greet congregants on the place on the Underground as they were dur - High Holy Days. ing the IRA’s bombing campaign of the When peace in the Middle East still 1970s, and we have, almost without question, seemed within grasp, I facilitated dialogue traded personal freedoms for constant sur - groups between Jews and Muslims and trav - veillance by closed circuit television. The po - eled throughout the Arab world searching for lice now have unprecedented powers to “stop deeper understanding between our commu - and search,” and our prisons are filling up nities. Maybe I lost hope on that fateful day in with suspected terrorists as we plunge toward September 2000 when the second Intifada an Orwellian dystopia. erupted, or maybe it was a year later, watching London has been a safe haven since the with horror as the World Trade Center col - 1980s for radical Islamic groups whose activists lapsed, triggering a global brawl between “us” declare that they are working toward world and “them.” domination of Islam and the implementation As national borders become blurred by of Sharia law. One such group, Al-Ghurabaa, the European Union and birthrates dwindle, organized a demonstration last February that Europeans have benefited both socially and marched through Central London to protest February 2007 economically from recent waves of immigra - against the publication of the Danish car - Adar 5767 tion, and though there are concerns about toons. The protestors’ placards shocked To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA how we might absorb such large numbers, we Britain with their bloodthirsty slogans: www.shma.com 13 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:49 PM Page 14

“Butcher those who mock Islam,” “Europe you continued from page 16 will pay, your 9/11 is on the way,” and “Free Notwithstanding the sages’ account that even speech go to hell.” he had difficulty giving up his post, the Torah Al-Ghurabaa has now been banned under makes it clear that Moses succeeded in setting new legislation outlawing the glorification of aside his personal needs for power for the terrorism, but as Voltaire wrote as long ago as long-term good of the people. So committed 1764: “the law is impotent against these attacks was he, for example, to the development of of rage; it is like reading a court decree to a new leaders that he tolerated, indeed encour - raving maniac. What can we say to a man who aged, the unconventional and untested lead - tells you that he would rather obey God than ership aspirations of Eldad and Medad men, and that therefore he is sure to go to (Numbers 11:24-29). Further, the biblical nar - heaven for butchering you?” rative makes clear that it was Moses himself As the spiritual inheritors of the Enlight - who pushed God to name his successor (Num - enment, Europeans usually sneer at American bers 27:15-17). And, according to Rashi and creationists with their quirky ideas about intel - others, in the end Moses not only acknowl - ligent design and consider fundamentalists of edged Joshua’s selection, he embraced it every creed to be religious weirdoes. While Is - wholeheartedly (Rashi and Sifre to Numbers lamists might view European society as a deca - 27:23). Thus, despite the great sense of loss dent cesspit plagued by binge drinking and experienced by many at the end of their serv - sexual promiscuity, in Western minds, honor ice, Moses’ example serves as a dramatic re - killings and the persecution of homosexuals minder that an uncompromising focus on the are far more appalling. future needs of the enterprise must always We’re told that Muslims have been radi - trump one’s quest for personal glory. calized by Israel’s occupation of Palestine and A variety of contemporary best practices America’s invasion of Iraq. It’s a tidy argument from industry and academe confirm the wis - that appeals to many Europeans’ guilt about dom of these ancient insights. Even in the best Western imperialism. But fearing angry mobs of circumstances, leadership development is a and further reprisals, freedom of expression difficult, protracted process. It succeeds only — the central doctrine of democracy — is at with the imprimatur of the incumbent leader - risk as a new spirit of self-censorship takes ship who must 1) create an ongoing organiza - root. In this most accommodating of societies, tional culture in which future leaders are how can we tolerate the intolerant? It’s a par - constantly identified, nurtured, and trained, adox that has sent into a tailspin our fragile and 2) when appropriate, personally embody system of values. that principle by recognizing that the boldest I long to apply my instinctively liberal sen - act of effective leadership is often the decision timents to Muslim women’s right to wear hijab, to pass the torch to the next generation. but walking down nearby Edgware Road, swamped in summer months by visitors from the Gulf taking refuge from the heat, the sea Discussion Guide of black burkas fills me with dread. After bat - Bringing together myriad voices and experiences tling so hard for equal rights, it turns out that provides Sh’ma readers with an opportunity in women’s emancipation from male domina - a few very full pages to explore a topic of Jewish tion still can’t be taken for granted; neither interest from a variety of perspectives. To facili - Naomi Gryn, a writer can equality for homosexuals. tate a fuller discussion of the ideas, we offer the and documentary film - It was in the Netherlands — famed for its following questions: maker, is Chairman of liberal social policies — that in 2004, a Mus - 1. Does modernity collide with an ultra-re - the Society of Authors’ lim assassin killed Theo Van Gogh for making ligious life? How do we integrate tradition Broadcasting Group. a film about the abuse of Muslim women by with freedom? Details of her work can Muslim men. Now Dutch authorities have be found on produced their own film to prepare potential 2. How does the concept of “Divine sparks” www.naomigryn.com. Muslim immigrants for the realities of life in explain the outreach efforts of Chabad? Europe, with images of two men kissing, 3. Does religious-state separation preclude February 2007 naked breasts, and bad weather. Muslim fun - Adar 5767 the wearing of religious garb in the mili - damentalists have been warned: Europe is To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA tary? www.shma.com fighting back. 14 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:49 PM Page 15

ere is a prophetic verse, in numerous senses, the cradle. The ways of the outside world are abominations, Hwhich describes some of the dynamics in the their days spent frivolously, concerned only with mindless mirroring-self-definition of the Haredi. “Your matters of the material world, their aspirations only for chayei brethren who hated you and cast you out for My sha’ah, temporal life. We, on the other hand, aspire toward Name’s sake.” The Haredim have not forgotten the chayei olam, eternal life, toward which all our thoughts and ill-treatment that their Va’ad haHatzalah, Rescue actions are directed. emun Committee, received during WWII, when the pur - In our fervent desire to keep our communities pure and veyors of “civilized Judaism” thwarted their attempts, our lifestyles intact, we have disengaged from the world out of embarrassment, to meet with President Roo - around us, wishing only to be left alone to live by our cher - sevelt. The more vindictive among them read the ished traditions. Surrounded by mind-numbing materialism NiSh’ma rest of the verse “... He shall appear to your joy, and and the relentless erosion of moral and spiritual values, we they shall be ashamed” with anticipation. Indeed, fear its impact on us and our children. Let us hear feelings of grievance felt by the self-righteous are at But as Jews we have been tasked not only with serving the center of fundamentalist ire, felt currently God through fulfilling His commandments, but also to bring throughout the world. about an awareness of God and His will to all people. To teach, Rabbi Dr. Menachem But the compassionate Haredi* will remember to influence, and to inspire. And for that we first need to care. Kallus was born into a the teaching recorded by the disciples of the Baal Only when we care about the material well-being of all peo - Hasidic family that emi - Shem Tov: “The Messiah will justify the actions of all ple, and respect their spiritual yearnings, can we teach. And grated to Brooklyn after Israelites, claiming that even the wicked are justified. most certainly, only then can we teach by example. We must WWII. He received By defending them they will repent and bring salva - not fear being scorned, vilified, even hated, because we’re per - smikha from Reb Zalman tion, for the Great Salvation depends on repentance. ceived as stand-offish, if that would’ve been our task. But we and Reb Miles and his The lesser righteous love the less wicked, but the must examine carefully whether we’re shirking our duty to PhD from the Hebrew great tzaddik loves even the others by losing their respect, jeopard - University for most wicked, and one who pro - izing in turn our ability to bring all of a dissertation on the claims the merits of all creatures saiah 66:5, “Hear the mankind to an awareness of the Di - contemplative practices manifests messianic conscious - word of God , you who vine. —Sholom Deen I of Lurianic Kabbalah. ness.” [ Teshu’ot Chen 1816] tremble [haHaredim] at We may define the Jewish his small verse captures the He is currently working concept of Divine-dread, His Word. Your brethren Tsplendid confidence and on a translation of and haredi’ut , as the awakening of who hated you, and cast the cruel provincialism I found commentary on the con - conscience on account of self- you out for My Name’s when I lived among Brooklyn’s templative teachings of perceived guilt. The self-per - sake, said,‘Let God be Lubavitcher Hasidim. There’s the circle of the Baal ceived guilt of the tzaddik no irony here: they are inti - glorified: but He shall Shem Tov and lives in enables her/him to justify the mately entwined. For a searching Jerusalem with his wife wicked, seeing their shortcom - appear to your joy, and agnostic like me, the Lubavitch - Betsy and their son ings mirrored in his/her own ers’ rock-strong faith was deeply they shall be ashamed.’ ” Yochanan. deficiencies (being “ashamed” compelling. On these gritty at oneself) and justifying their Brooklyn streets, people walked Sholom Deen grew up in shortcomings by appreciating the circumstances that around expecting that, one day, the Messiah would the Hasidic community brought them about. This awakening of conscience appear, banishing death, reuniting us with deceased of New Square and now sanctifies the Holy Name, by demonstrating the ex - loved ones, and ushering in a glorious new world lives with his family in pansion of Immanent Divinity from limited exclu - where God’s presence is as manifest as the sun on a Monsey, N.Y. sion to unlimited inclusion — mirroring the Infinite clear warm day. Those who believed — who felt God Divine potential. But until then, one may tremble so strongly that they trembled at His word — had Stephanie Wellen Levine before a God whose judgment seems fixed. If the re - found a form of paradise. Even the doubters often is the author of Mystics, ligiously-liberal would be so fully dedicated to Divine felt a rare peace, as long as they could follow the laws Mavericks, and Merry - and embrace the Orthodox life. evolution as to tremble before God in self-examina - makers: An Intimate tion, appreciating the aspirations toward holiness But those who couldn’t fit into Hasidic life — Journey among Hasidic found amongst the Haredim, we could win each ardent disbelievers, artistic rebels, gays and asexuals, Girls, other over, so that in the end, when the arrogance of and many others — were strangers in paradise. which won the both sides is overcome, no one will “be ashamed.” Some left Orthodoxy. Often their former commu - 2004 Moment Magazine *Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, z”l, used to say: Some - nity shunned them; at times, even their families shut book award for nonfic - times you’re walking down the street and see a Haredi them out. Still, the nonconformists trembled, too tion and was a Hadas - and feel contempt and other times, you feel love. The dif - — if not from the God of Orthodoxy, then from the sah book club selection. ference of reaction depends on whether the Haredi per - incredible passion they brought to their lives: a pas - She teaches at Tufts forms the mitzvot for the sake of his own salvation or for sion that grew out of the spiritual fervor that once University and speaks the sake of all creation. —Menachem Kallus surrounded them. The faithful and the faithless are often about her year all brethren in spirit, though, sadly, hatred some - among Lubovitch n the aftermath of the tsunami in the Pacific in 2004, I sat times divides them. The mother who ostracizes her teenage girls in public with some friends and asked if any had made any donations child, the teacher who scorns her former student, I venues. toward the relief efforts. None had. A thoughtful discussion the ex-friends of those who stray from the path: they ensued, in which the underlying sentiment of most became shall be ashamed. They are good, righteous people February 2007 clear: We care a great deal about our own, but pityingly little in so many ways. If the world holds the meaning and Adar 5767 about anyone else. logic they claim, they will realize their folly eventu - To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA It’s us versus them, a Haredi child is taught almost from ally. —Stephanie Wellen Levine www.shma.com 15 February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:49 PM Page 16

Succession Planning Hal M. Lewis Sigi ewish organizations wishing to develop new Notwithstanding the ubiquity of these ob - Jleaders face a number of systemic chal - stacles, however, ignoring the development of Ziering lenges. Among them: new leaders impedes an organization’s viabil - Ethics • Incumbents are hard-pressed to focus ity. Today, many of American Jewry’s leading This year our Sigi Zier - their energies on the next generation when institutions have long-serving lay and profes - ing column will focus current exigencies demand the experience of sional officers who, despite their longevity, on the ethics of lead - veterans. manifest little interest in addressing the issue ership. Each month an • It is uncomfortable to raise issues of of succession planning. Rare is the congrega - esteemed guest transition with organizational founders, phi - tion or Jewish group, for example, with a com - columnist will wrestle lanthropists, or tenured executives. prehensive approach to volunteer or with questions con - • Past leaders who remain involved often executive/rabbinic transition. Organizations cerning communal serve as encumbrances to the seamless devel - that wait for a retirement announcement be - leadership and its opment of new ones. fore thinking about future leadership jeopard - abuses. The column is Creating a culture in which leadership de - ize their integrity. Similarly, when decisions cosponsored by velopment is an organic component of the en - about the next lay leader are deferred to the Bruce Whizin and terprise, then, is far from easy. eleventh hour, an organization’s visioning and Marilyn Ziering in Premodern Jewish sources recognized planning are irreparably compromised. honor of Marilyn’s these challenges as well. Many understood Further, only an enterprise that is gen - husband Sigi Ziering, that power is alluring and difficult to aban - uinely open to new leaders and leadership of blessed memory. don. As the midrash states, “It is easy to go up styles can hope to attract and sustain the ongo - Visit www.shma.com to a dais, difficult to come down.” (Yalkut, ing interest of younger individuals. Too often, to view the series of Va’etchanan 845) While many believe recruit - prominent posts and important decision-mak - columns, with re - ing a leader is an insurmountable task, it pales ing go only to the elite few, those pledging sponses. in comparison to the larger challenge, making obeisance to conventional organizational room for the person who follows. Having sa - praxis. Leaders on the inside are likely to stay vored the limelight, holders of high office are there, with little more than lip service being often reticent to walk away. The Talmud re - accorded to alternate approaches. As recent lates this story: surveys make clear, in the 21st century serious Hal M. Lewis is Dean of Rabbi Joshua ben Quivsay said: “All my life I young Jews feel unwelcome in such environ - Continuing Education would run away from office. Now that I have en - ments and opt instead to dissociate themselves and Associate Professor tered it, whoever comes to oust me I will come down from communal organizations. of Contemporary Jewish upon him with this kettle.” (Jerusalem Talmud, A number of classical Jewish sources sug - Studies at Spertus Col - Pesachim 6:1; also see Menahot 109b) gest that the responsibility for making leader - lege. A former nonprofit ship development a top priority rests with executive, he is the au - Even Moses is said to have had difficulty thor of Models and forsaking the mantle of leadership. The sages those already considered leaders. Indeed, ab - Meanings in the History compared him to a governor “who … as soon sent such a commitment, the moniker of Jewish Leadership as he retired and another was appointed in his “leader” is simply inapposite. and From Sanctuary to place … had in vain to ask the gate-keeper to No one personified this precept better Boardroom: A Jewish Ap - let him enter [the palace].” (Deuteronomy than the Bible’s quintessential leader, Moses. proach to Leadership . Rabbah 2:5) continued on page 14

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