Relationships between Jewish religious movements
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This article discusses the relationship between the various denominations of Judaism.
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Modern History
Haredi views
When dealing with others of their own faith who have different philosophies, Haredi Jews often perceive differences to be generated by heretical intent or a perceived attack on Judaism. They view Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism and Conservative Judaism as heretical non-Jewish movements whose actions are more damaging to the Jewish people than any physical threat. Haredi leaders have accused these movements of attempting to "destroy Judaism", have stated that they "counterfeit the Torah and bring about assimilation", and have stated that Reform is farther from Judaism than Christianity and Islam. Haredi authorities have strongly fought attempts by the Reform and Conservative movements to gain official recognition and denominational legitimacy in Israel, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has gone so far as to say Reform Jews should not be allowed to move to Israel. Haredi groups and authorities will not work with non-Orthodox movements in any way, as they view this as lending legitimacy to those movements.
The relationship between Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism is more complex; most Haredi Jews see Modern Orthodox Jews as allies, but they disagree with their accommodations of modernity, and view them as lax in their observance. According to Rabbi Norman Lamm, Dean of Yeshiva University and a leader in Modern Orthodox Judaism, at least one prominent Hasidic rabbi is unsure whether modern Orthodox Jews like him are still part of the Jewish people. [1] (http://www.yu.edu/lamm/O-U-print-98.html)
Strife between Haredi groups
Some Haredi groups have a history of physically attacking each other, on rare occasion:
- "The Hasidic sects, actually poles apart from each other theologically, contended not only with non-Hasidic, non-Jewish neighbors but also with each other, often on ideological issues in addition to political control of their neighborhoods, much like the Hasidic rabbinic feuds of 18th and 19th-century Poland and Russia. Physical struggles often erupted: in spring 1975 the Satmar hung an effigy of the Lubuvitcher Rebbe from a telephone pole. In the summer of 1977 and 1978 physical conflict arose between Lubavitcher (Crown Heights) and Satmar (Williamsburg) Hasidism over turf, over differing views of involvement in North American society, and over attitudes toward the state of Israel. And Belzer and Satmar Hasidism, two years later, clashed in the synagogue of the Congregation Belz over a similar ideological issue. (18)"
- "In the spring of 1981 hundreds of Satmar, who fiercely oppose Zionism and a Zionist state not established by the Messiah, again pelted a Belz synagogue in Williamburg with eggs and bottles, and threatened to harm the Grand Rebbe of the Belz if he came for a visit from Israel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Belz's arrival in North America....in the summer of 1983 Lubavitch leaders accused the Satmar of abducting a Hasidic rabbi of the Borough Park Lubavitch sect (who had left the Satmar community), forcing him into a van, assaulting him, and then shaving him of his beard (and Orthodox sign of piety) before dumping him in the street. (19)
- Profiles in American Judaism Marc Lee Raphael, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984
- (Footnote 18) New York Times, 1 June 1977, Part 2, page 1; 29 October 1979, Part 2, page 3. Bernard Weinberger "Satmar and Lubavitch: The Dynamics of Disagreement" Jewish Life, Part 2, no.2-3 (Fall-Winter 1977-1978): p.55-65
- (Footnote 19) New York Times, 8 March 1981, Part 4, page 6.
Modern Orthodox views
When dealing with others of their own faith who have different philosophies, Modern Orthodox Jews try to understand that differences have not been generated by heretical intent, but by an honest attempt to reconcile modernity with the Jewish tradition. Thus, although Modern Orthodox Jews find all non-Orthodox forms of Judaism to be wrong, they are usually not viewed as enemies per se; rather they are perceived to be competitors offering an inferior product, so to speak, and that the masses of these movements need to be enlightened as to the superiority of the Orthodox stance.
Until the 1970s the Modern Orthodox and the non-Orthodox movements worked together in the now-defunct Synagogue Council of America. However, the relationship between Modern Orthodoxy and the non-Orthodox movements has worsened over the last few decades. Haredi Judaism has seen a great resurgence in its popularity, and many formerly Modern Orthodox rabbis have been swayed to some degree by their views. As well Reform Judaism rejected the traditional definition of a Jew via matrilineal descent, effectively severing the united peoplehood that had linked Reform and non-Reform movements. For practically all Orthodox Jews (and many Conservative Jews) this was seen as splitting the Jewish people into two mutually incompatible groups. The confluence of these two phenomena helped drive most of Modern Orthodoxy further to the right, and effectively ended all official cooperation between Modern Orthodoxy and all of the non-Orthodox denominations.
Some within the Orthodox world advocate that while non-Orthodox forms of Judaism are incorrect, they nonetheless have functional and spiritual validity. Rabbi Norman Lamm writes:
- Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist communities are not only more numerous in their official memberships than the Orthodox community, but they are also vital, powerful and dynamic; they are committed to Jewish survival, each according to its own lights; they are a part of Klal Yisrael; and they consider their rabbis their leaders. From a functional point of view, therefore, non-Orthodox rabbis are valid leaders of Jewish religious communities, and it is both fatuous and self-defeating not to acknowledge this openly and draw the necessary consequences-for example, establishing friendly and harmonious and respectful relationships and working together, all of us, towards those Jewish communal and global goals that we share and that unite us inextricably and indissolubly.
- non-Orthodox rabbis and laypeople may possess spiritual dignity. If they are sincere, if they believe in God, if they are motivated by principle and not by convenience or trendiness, if they endeavor to carry out the consequences of their faith in a consistent manner-then they are religious people...But neither functional validity nor spiritual dignity are identical with Jewish legitimacy. "Validity" derives from the Latin validus, strong. It is a factual, descriptive term. "Legitimacy" derives from the Latin lex, law. It is a normative and evaluative term.
- Seventy Faces, Moment Vol. II, No. 6, June 1986 - Sivan 5746
A number of modern Orthodox rabbis advocate good relations with their non-Orthodox peers. In 1982 Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought published a symposium on the state of Orthodox Judaism, with contributions by many leading Orthodox rabbis. The first question the editor asked the rabbis was "Do you believe that recent developments warrant the triumphalism exhibited by segments of Orthodoxy which predict the total disappearance of non-Orthodox movements?" Rabbi Marc D. Angel replied that "we should be frightened by the possibility. With all our theological differences, yet we part of one Jewish people and work together in so many ways for the benfit of the Jewish community....It is not a happy prospect that the overwhelming majority of American Jews will lose their Jewishness. It is also unlikely that the vast numbers of the non-Orthodox community will move into Orthodoxy in the relatively near future." Rabbi David Berger replied "I confess that I would not look forward to such a disapperance....The Jewish loyalties and observances of non-Orthodox Jews are decidedly better than nothing....The only weakening of Conservatism and Reform for which Orthodoxy can legitimately hope would come through conversion to Orthodoxy. No such development appears imminent in statistically significant numbers." The message of other rabbis rings a similar note; no rabbis profiled in the symposium believed that most non-Orthodox Jews would ever convert to Orthodoxy. Thus Orthodoxy should work together on some issues with non-Orthodox Judaism, and it is far better for Jews to be members of non-Orthodox Judaism than to assimilate and not be religious Jews at all.
A small number of modern Orthodox rabbis cooperate with non-Orthodox rabbis on a regular basis through smaller organizations such as CLAL (The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership) and the New York Board of Rabbis.
Some American Modern Orthodox rabbis have recently created a new modern Orthodox advocacy group, Edah, which includes members of the Rabbinical Council of America. Edah's mission statement says: "The Vision of Edah is an Orthodox Jewish community in which we, as members, leaders, and institutions....reach out to and interact with Jews of all the movements as well as non -affiliated Jews as an expression of the wholeness of, and in an effort to strengthen, the entire Jewish people."
Conservative views
Conservative Judaism holds that Orthodox Judaism is a valid and legitimate form of normative rabbinic Judaism; its respects the validity of its rabbis. Conservative Judaism holds that both Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism have made major and unjustifiable breaks with historic Judaism, both by their rejection of Jewish law and tradition as normative, and by their unilateral acts in creating a separate definition of Jewishness (i.e. the latter movement's acceptance of patrilineal descent as an additional way of defining Jewishness.) Depite this disagreement, Conservative Judaism respects the right of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews to interpret Judaism in their own way. Thus the Conservative movement recognizes the right of Jews to form such denominations, and recognizes their clergy as rabbis, but does not generally accept their decisions as valid. Thus, for example, the Conservative movement typically does not accept Reform converts to Judaism whose conversions did not meet the requirements of Jewish law as being Jews.
The Conservative movement, while respecting the validity of Orthodox Rabbis, believes that Orthodoxy has deviated from historical Judaism through an excessive concern with recent codifications of Jewish law. A prominent Conservative spokesman has written:
- Reform has asserted the right of interpretation but it rejected the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the principle of authority, but has in our own and recent generations rejected the right to any but minor interpretations. The Conservative view is that both are necessary for a living Judaism. Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds itself bound by the Jewish legal tradition, but asserts the right of its rabbinical body, acting as a whole, to interpret and to apply Jewish law.
- (Mordecai Waxman Tradition and Change: The Development of Conservative Judaism)
The Conservative movement, however, has clashed with Orthodoxy over its refusal to recognize the Conservative and Reform movements as legitimate, and in February 1997 Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, claimed that Orthodox organizations in Israel politically discriminate against non-Orthodox Jews, and called on Reform and Conservative Jews, as well as the Jewish Federations throughout the United States, to stop funding Orthodox organizations and institutions that disagree with the Conservative view of pluralism. Several weeks later, at the movement's annual Rabbinical Assembly conference in Boston, he likened the "ultra-Orthodox" groups who denounce the non-Orthodox to those who rationalize Yitzhak Rabin's assassination with "medieval" Jewish law, and called for the disintegration of Israel's chief rabbinate and its network of courts. [2] (http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/10304/format/html/displaystory.html)
Reform views
Reform Judaism currently espouses the notion of religious pluralism; it believes that most Jewish denominations (including Orthodox groups and the Conservative movement) are valid expressions of Judaism. Historically the Reform view of Orthodox Judaism has been highly negative. Reform began as a rejection of Orthodox Judaism, and early battles between Reform and Orthodox groups in Germany for control of communal leadership were fierce. Reform viewed Orthodoxy as a backward movement, attempted to do away with most traditional practices, and in the 20th century often predicted its demise. While the rhetoric generally cooled, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, head of the American Reform movement, has called the Israeli Chief Rabbinate "[e]xtremist and radical and fanatic...a medieval chief rabbinate that is a disgrace to the Jewish people and its religion", described Haredi Judaism as "ghetto Judaism", referred to "utterly fanatic ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel who are becoming more extreme every day" and has accused "the ultra-Orthodox" of having "abused Torah for their own selfish purposes and brought it into disrepute," and in a 1998 article for New York's Jewish Week, described haredi insularity as "nothing less than a betrayal of America." Simeon Maslin, past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbbis (Reform), has stated that Haredi Jews (who in his words "pray rapidly in sing-song Hebrew, pore over the Talmud in segregated yeshivot, and buy from glatt kosher butchers") have forfeited the right to be called "authentic Jews."
Relations with the Conservative movement are much more cordial, and Conservative and Reform leaders co-operate on many areas of mutual concern. However, some of Reform's leaders have also predicted the demise of Conservative Judaism, a prediction which Conservative leaders have called "delusional" and the product of "immature" analysis.[3] (http://www.interfaithfamily.com/article/issue129/berkofsky.phtml)
Strife at the Western Wall
In the late 1980s non-Orthodox movements began attempting to hold non-traditional services as the Western Wall, in order to assert what they viewed as their denominational rights. These attempts have typically been met with strong opposition from Haredi Jews praying at the Wall, and this opposition has sometimes been violent, with documented attacks on those holding the non-traditional services. On the other hand, many claimed attacks have later turned out to be false. Various attempts by the Israeli Supreme Court to legislate solutions, and by the Israeli government to mediate compromises, have met with little success. An extensive list of links (at the end of this article) documents these attacks, and the false claims as well.
References
- Seth Farber, Reproach, recognition and respect: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Orthodoxy's mid-century attitude toward non-Orthodox denominations, American Jewish History, June 2001 v89 i2 p193(23)
- Samuel G. Freedman Jew vs. Jew: The struggle for the soul of American Jewry New York, Simon & Schuster, 2000
- Ammiel Hirsch and Yakov Yosef Reinman One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them Schocken, 2003
- David Landau Piety & Power: The World of Jewish Fundamentalism, Hill and Wang, 1993. Written from an Israeli modern Orthodox perspective.
- Di Tog Morgen Journal, November 19, 1954. Letter by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik warning Jews not to attend services in non-Orthodox synagogues.
- Jack Wertheimer A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, BAsic Books, 1993
External references
Misc. topics
- Reproach, recognition and respect: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Orthodoxy's mid-century attitude toward non-Orthodox denominations (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jshubow/Soloveitchik.html)
- Prologue to "Jew vs. Jew" (http://www.samuelfreedman.com/prologue.html)
- Conservative Jewish view that Conservative Judaism is authentic Judaism (http://www.beki.org/nobuts.html)
Articles relevant to Haredi views
- HEMDAT The Council for Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture in Israel (http://www.hemdat.org/discredit.htm)
- Anti-Israel ad angers mainstream Orthodox Jews (http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/01/mar15-01/main.asp)
- Reform Jewish leader criticizes Orthodoxy (http://uahcweb.org/reform/uahc/rjmag/998sm.html)
Haredi defenses
- Open season on Orthodox Jews (http://www.momentmag.com/archive/feb00/feat1.html)
- Jewish Media Resources - Chareidim and Their Critics (http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/issues/3/)
- The Jewish Observer and Rabbi Avi Shafran Respond to their critics (http://www.shemayisrael.com/jewishobserver/archives/jan/rshafran.htm)
- Follow the tradition (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1087891962703&p=1006953079865)