Yiddishkeit or Pluralistic Judaism? Mrs. Blogs decides

I owe the teshuva I am about to do to Daniel Finkelstein (deputy editor of The Times). His comments in this week's JC were so pathetically ignorant I felt sorry for him. Does he think Dayan Ehrentrau's rulings on Jewish life and what constitutes a Jew are based on the learned Dayan's personal opinions and viewpoints?? Surely an intellectual like Mr. Finkelstein can reason that dayanim make rulings based on Jewish law, tryng to preserve our ancient heritage as much in-tact as possible so that it doesn't just disintegrate into mere culture? To a Liberal Jew, however, Judaiam is exactly that: a cultural identity. A heritage in theory, not for actully putting into practice today (but for acknowledging its greatness nevertheless). I would have thought that before one can describe oneself as Liberal, Orhodox or anything else, one must first be educated in Jewish matters to know 'what is what'; what one is taking on or rejecting. How can an ignoramous say catagorically "I am a Liberal Jew"?? With respect, Mr. Finkelstein, how do you know you are a Liberal Jew?? Did you choose this road after learning that Reform, Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox are not your thing??? Or did you just find yourself born into Liberal Jewish life and you were content to drift along with that, so that actually you have never really addressed the question "what makes me a Jew at all, Liberal or any other?" ????? And as for your non-Jewish colleagues who you describe as being "dismissive about" or "hostile" towards ultra-orthodoxy, the mind boggles! What do they know about it? Surely this is where the word "arrogance" is most in place, not with reference to Dayan Ehrentrau and his stalwart efforts to keep Judaism Jewish! The dayanim and rabbonim who signed the declaration know what they are standing up for. They are not courting the popular vote, and they are not interested in whether an ignoramous who thinks he is educated enough in Jewish matters to describe himself as Liberal, thinks "the argument for very strict orthodoxy is very weak". They are the trustees of a highly precious fund, to be preserved for posterity. It is their duty to preserve it and to safeguard it for the future generations. It would not have been "wrong" on your part to let your comments pass Mr. F., it would actually have been very wise. But you have helped me to see the errors of some of my past ways, and for this I am indebted to you. Now I, on the other hand, as an educated Jew, CAN describe myself as Liberal, Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, or Ultra-Liberal - but I am happy just to be Mrs. Joe Blogs. Let the less learned partake of Limmud. Chief Rabbi, your job awaits you.

Giluy Shechina vs. Giluy Daas

So much has happened since I attended the Chief Rabbi's induction back in September, I'm not even sure if he is still in office.  If he is, OH DEAR.  Anyone who thinks the Big Bang has already happened has heard nothing yet.

According to the Giluy Daas that appeared in the Lech-Lecha JT, attending the Limmud Festival and calling oneself 'orthodox' cannot go together.  But the Chief, who believes himself to be an Orthodox Rabbi of Anglo-Jewry, has vowed to attend Limmud this year.  Where on earth does this leave the average orthodox yid who follows rabbinic edicts to the end of the world?

My reading of this edict is that orthodoxy has (once again) tightened its chastity belt in the face of ever-increasing threats to halachic Judaism.  Modern approaches to modern problems went out of the window when the Enlightenment first surfaced, and we have been living a reactionary Judaism ever since. 

In order to blot out the Reform approaches, we have closed our minds to MODERN yet still ORTHODOX approaches to halachic issues of our day, some of which probably need not be issues at all without us being any less loyal to orthodoxy; we have imposed ever greater stringencies on how we practise our halachic yiddishkeit; and we have gone overboard with our defensive attacks on mixing with people who hold wider views and values.  But we have not been able to stem the tide of Reform Judaism.  It has taken hold despite the best efforts of the rabbis.   

Now there is a happy union of Reform and Orthodox coming together, NOT to throw eggs at and to lambast one another but to celebrate what they have in common.  It will be the nearest thing to a hippy convention that Judaism can offer.  Real Achdus.  Except that the right wing will not be participating because our rabbis don't want us hearing about modern solutions to problems like agunah, driving on shabbos, family purity vs. multiple wives and numerous other contemporary issues.  They don't have the answers, but they know Reform is not the solution. 

It follows that Limmud  poses a serious threat to rabbinic Judaism and along with denim skirts, trousers for women (permitted by R. Ovadia Yosef I understand) and unsupervised milk it must be shunned on pain of no shidduchim for our kids and similar threats. 

Poor old us - threatened not only by Reform influences but by our own rabbis holding us over a barrel.  Personally, I blame Hillel and Shamai for encouraging debate in the first instance.