The Orthodox Gains and the Hyphenated Orthodox Declines
Rabbi
Dovid E. Eidensohn
The Orthodox
Increase in population is powered by large families and by people who
are not Orthodox deciding to become Orthodox. When the Posek HaDor
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt”l died, a secular newspaper revealed
that he left over a thousand progeny of children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, etc. What did this fact mean to the secular
Israeli? What it meant is that here is a person, one man, who
produced over a thousand people who were either all or most basically
Orthodox as he was. Compare this with the secular Israel who has a
very small birth rate. The sad comment on the secular Israeli’s
propagation is that a family produces a child and a dog. The child
then goes to Japan to marry somebody who is not Jewish, and the dog
doesn’t vote.
Years ago the
secular Kibbuts, perhaps controlled by leftist or even Communists,
produced the senior officers of the army. But today those Kibbutsim
have declined or disappeared, and the new element powering up the
Israel army is completely Orthodox soldiers who believe that
defending the holy land is a great mitzvah. After a period of some
years, these Orthodox soldiers have made a good name for themselves,
and they are on their way to be the future generals. The recent
battles in Gaza were led by an Israeli colonel who is completely
Orthodox. He spent years in America learning from and teaching
American soldiers. If he wasn’t Orthodox he would probably have
become a general by now. But making future generals Orthodox is a
great threat to the secularists who control the army. But rejecting
Orthodox soldiers from the highest positions is futile, because
nobody else in Israel is so motivated to be a top soldier.
Our remarks here
are not about the secular Jew, but about those who call themselves
Orthodox or those who call themselves Orthodox plus a hyphenated word
such as Modern Orthodox or Open Orthodox. When we say that they
decline, what do we base this on? Basically, somebody who is Orthodox
plus Modern or Open reveals that his Orthodoxy is tampered with other
beliefs, and these beliefs are contrary to Orthodoxy. Otherwise, who
needs the hyphenation? Just say you are Orthodox.
Let us examine the
Orthodoxy of Modern Orthodox Jews. Are they completely Orthodox?
First of all, who are they? Many of them come from Yeshiva
University. Now, Yeshiva University was the only game in town in the
early years of the twentieth century. Great European Gedolim taught
there and instilled a Jewish spirit in many people who were ready to
go to a secular college and get completely lost. But after a class or
two with the European Gedolim, these American college students then
studied under the atheists who teach in the secular colleges. Here is
hyphenation. And it produces confusion. But confusion is not the
right word. It produces an understanding that Orthodoxy is a
compartmentalized religion. Part Rav Soloveitchik and part the people
who teach about Einstein and other things that are filled with
anti-Torah ideas. But things are worse than that. Let us be specific
about the problems with Modern Orthodox. Yes, they are Modern in one
compartment and then Orthodox in a separate compartment. Is this
somebody who believes in Sinai and the Torah or somebody who is two
people part believer and part denier?
Let us talk about
Modern Orthodox people who play the American game and want the
highest degrees and the best jobs. How many years does it take to get
a doctorate or training in some advanced specialty? We are talking
about unmarried people, because until they graduate with all of their
required degrees and begin making some good money, marriage is
unlikely. The rabbis required marriage at the age of eighteen and no
later than twenty. But for the Modern Orthodox person, that is
impossible. Getting a master’s degree takes years, and getting a
doctorate takes years. A doctor must spend years after he gets his
degree doing actual medical work until he eventually is granted his
full license to practice. He is not young. His biology has been
boiling for years. And yes, he has not been without girls. And they,
too, have biology. Since they are Modern Orthodox, the dating is also
compartmentalized. Don’t ask for details.
A YU student told
me that there are students in the Modern Orthodox YU world who cannot
marry but do have intimate relationships that are proper only for
married people. The Rebbes in YU spoke out about such people. The
very fact that they practice keeping the Mikva and are alone like
husband and wife on a regular basis, could possibly create a pesak
that they are married. If so, if the woman leaves this man and
marries with somebody else, without a GET from the first man, her
children are mamzerim. Yes, the hyphen goes a long way. It is
terrible.
Now let me tell you
a story that happened with me recently, that is quite relevant to our
discussion. I spoke to people who are hyphenated Orthodox and I had
for them what I thought was a home-run idea. Kiddushin often destroys
the wife when the husband won’t give her a GET. So let them marry
with Pilegesh, and anyone can leave anytime. I sweetened the pot by
saying that when a Kiddushin lady remarries without a GET, her
children from the new marriage are mamzerim. In Pilegesh there is no
such thing, no mamzerim. I was shocked to realize that my idea was
completely rejected. I don’t mean they rejected Pilegesh. They did
not. But they rejected the negative information that Kiddushin can
produce mamzerim. And the tone of voice was that this was completely
wrong to even discuss. I was confused.
But now I am
beginning to understand. When a person is two opposites, Modern and
Orthodox, he or she is compartmentalized, which is not my invention,
but I heard it from others. The part of the hyphenated Orthodox is
really Orthodox. But the part that is Modern is completely free to
have sinful relations with people who should be married to do certain
things. If you talk to that person’s Orthodox side, you see a full
fledged keeper of Shabbos and kashruth. But when you talk about
anti-Orthodox things that are the property of the Modern, you cannot
talk at all about Orthodox sin, so just keep quiet.
I do not believe
that everybody who joins a Modern Orthodox Shull or group is
compartmentalized. I believe that many of them accept that they are
one person and yet are simply too weak to obey the Orthodox teaching
as they should. Such a person can readily discuss what he practices
and what he does not practice, without hesitation, without
inventions, without being two people but being one person. Such a
person has a much easier time of considering dropping the hyphenation
and becoming completely Orthodox. But the compartmentalized person
doesn’t always believe in Orthodoxy, sometimes he is “Modern”
and then, the Torah is not important.
When I say that hyphenated Orthodox is in decline, I mean that an
Orthodoxy without Torah is a complete farce, and any intelligent
person knows that. And although the many hyphenated people and
compartmentalized people are firm believers in splitting the brain
into two people, such a trick is not strong enough to appeal to
people who think normally in terms of one brain and one person and
one set of beliefs. Thus, the Modern Orthodox with its opposite
brains is a state of impossible confusion, and can only produce more
confusion. The hyphenated Orthodox are busy splitting into Modern and
then Open. One who reads their material knows he is dealing with
people who don’t think straight. This is a formula for division and
decline.
