Can Modern Orthodoxy be defined?

By -
Gil Student tries to pin down what Modern Orthodox people believe (though he mixes the terms “Modern Orthodox” and “Centrist Orthodox”.)

The problem with that is that it's much easier to define people fairly accurately by a label the farther to the religious right they are. Charedim have specific hashkafot in place for the various groups, and complete adherence is expected of members. Centrist Orthodoxy is a little harder to pin down onto a range of individuals and by the time you get to "Left Wing Modern Orthodoxy" or "Open Orthodoxy", there's not much of a party line and the mass of individuals represent quite a spectrum of beliefs.

Personally, I like it that way. It forces people to get to know one another as individuals instead of projecting a label on them.

Comments

  1. frumskepticFebruary 20, 2008 at 11:04 PM

    I hate lables. Maybe because I am "Modern" and its harder to "pin down" my hashkafos.

    Nice Blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JessicaFebruary 22, 2008 at 8:38 AM

    It's all about perspective. If you were a in the religious right it would be tough for you to give one label to all the different sects and for the people who are more left-ies, well, they'd probably just call them "modern". Either way, I'm gonna have to go with frumskeptic here, I hate labels. All they're doing is causing an even bigger rift in the Jewish community.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yehudi HilchatiFebruary 26, 2008 at 12:39 PM

    I have mixed feelings about labels - see my next post, titled "Labels revisited"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boycott the Chidon HaTanach?

By -
Bat-El Levi, 15, from Be'er Sheva is one of the 4 Israeli finalists in the Chidon HaTanach, the international Bible competition for Jewish teens sponsored by Israel. She is also a Messianic Jew who believes in Jesus. From The Jerusalem Post: The controversy surrounding the participation of 16-year-old Bat-El Levi, from Beersheba, began last week as a result of a campaign led by the haredi anti-missionary organization Yad Le'Achim. Yad Le'Achim discovered that Levi belonged to a messianic Jewish congregation. The organization immediately contacted rabbis and other spiritual leaders. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leading religious Zionist halachic authority, called to boycott the quiz if the messianic Jew did not forfeit her participation. His call was joined by other rabbis aligned with religious Zionism, including Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu. Sources close to the Levi family, who did not deny their ties with a messianic Jewish congregation, said there had been attempt
Read more

Tzniyus Fetish

By -
Apparently, Rabbi Yair Hoffman has too much time on his hands. In an article in the 5 Towns Jewish Times , he calls attention to a serious problem, that of women dressed inappropriately when dropping off their sons at Yeshiva, because they are heading for the gym and are dressed for exercising. Among other things, he writes: "What further complicates the issue is that many women are entirely unaware of the problem. They do not know that it is the nature of a pencil skirt worn with leggings to rise above the knee." The problem, actually, is that Rabbi Yair Hoffman spends enough time thinking about this so that he knows what a pencil skirt is (I don't) and is familiar with the details of leggings "a nylon-lycra blend" and that pencil skirts are apparently made of spandex. He also apparently thinks deeply about the necessity of "a skirt that entirely conceals the shape and form of the thigh" When do we start telling the truth, that rab
Read more

What kind of skeptic are you?

By -
A comment on my last post got me thinking: There are 2 types of skeptics hanging out in this zone of the blogosphere. Skeptic type #1: I only believe what is proven by empirical evidence. There is no logical reason to believe in god or any divine source to Judaism, especially since one can trace the entirely social development of superstitious belief in gods or god in various cultures. Plus, in light of modern science, archeology, and historical research, the divine revelation and many other events related in the Torah could not have happened. The definition of a rational human being is one who bases belief on observation. I am such a rational being. It would make no sense for me to believe in something intangible like god. That is outside the realm of empiricism and therefore does not exist. The entire basis of Judaism is riddled with inaccuracies and ancient misconceptions. The Torah is clearly not divine. Therefore, the entire basis of the religion is a myth. Skeptic ty
Read more