ByJake Berger, Jake Berger
I was shocked and saddened to read Shimon Cohen’s article arguing that those who disagree with some Orthodox practices should leave Orthodoxy, but unfortunately not surprised. As an alumnus of Bnei Akiva, and currently engaged in full-time Torah study at Pardes in Jerusalem, my tradition-loving credentials are not in doubt. I am someone that the Orthodox institutions in the UK should be working as hard as possible to keep involved in the community. But I’m not sure I want to be a part of a community like the one that Mr Cohen describes. Which is a shame, as on the occasions that I’ve davened at his shul I’ve always felt very welcome.
The well-known midrash – although it appears to be not well-known enough – of the Oven of Akhnai in the Gemara (Baba Metzia 59a-b) illustrates the dangers of precisely Mr Cohen’s approach to ‘traditional’ Judaism. The sage Rabbi Eliezer disagrees with the majority about a halachic ruling concerning the kashrut of an oven. Despite the heavenly forces proving him right, Rabbi Yehoshua declares “lo ba-shamayin hi!” – “the Torah is not in Heaven!”
Subsequently the community decides to excommunicate Rabbi Eliezer for having the temerity to have a divergent opinion, with devastating implications for the Jewish community and the world.
As a direct consequence of the excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer, his brother-in-law Rabban Gamliel, the great head of the Sanhedrin, dies. Just as Rabbi Yehoshua emphatically argues that “the Torah is not in Heaven!” in the above Gemara, so too are our traditions not owned by a few closed-minded Orthodox institutions who claim that there is only one way to practise Jewish tradition.
Indeed, the notion that the idea “our adherence to our traditions” is the sole reason the Jewish people have survived for thousands of years is nothing short of ludicrous, in addition to intellectually dishonest. If a Tanna (sage) from the Mishnah, or an Amora (rabbi) from the Gemara were to walk into Hampstead Garden Suburb United Synagogue on Friday night for Kabbalat Shabbat, they would most likely not have a clue what was going on! Yes Orthodoxy has its core tenets. No one is contesting that. But to insinuate our tradition has been anything but fluid, subject to reflection, and full of diverse opinion is plain wrong.
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Our beautiful tradition has always welcomed makhloket l’shem Hashem (argument in the name of G-d), and in this sense, Mr Cohen’s closed-mindedness and insularity itself falls outside the boundaries of what our tradition encourages. Moreover, the magic of our people’s survival has been tradition’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The dangers of excluding those who disagree are highlighted within the very traditions that you argue necessitate exclusion!
I find this rhetoric of exclusion to be highly problematic, especially as we are in the lead up to Shabbat UK. Shabbat UK is fantastic and successful precisely because it is inclusive, where people who are not usually engaged in Jewish practice come and be a part of the community.
To welcome people into US shuls around the country who may ordinarily drive there this Shabbat, whilst simultaneously preaching a message of exclusion to those Jews who are engaged in our beautiful tradition, Torah and the halachic system but who happen to disagree on issues like the inclusivity of women, smacks of a hypocrisy that is surely damaging for our community.
Faux, selective inclusivity like this is not really inclusivity at all.
If the above means, on your thinking, that I’m not to be considered an Orthodox Jew, perhaps that is a necessary price to pay for the attitude change that is required for our community to grow from the stifling place that it clearly is for so many engaged Jews today. But whatever you think of me, Mr Cohen, I’m not going anywhere.
On Rabban Gamliel’s head be it.
Jake Berger is a Manchester-born Oxford graduate, currently a European Leadership Fellow at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.