Modern Orthodox Synagogue to Host Far-Right Recruitment Seminar
Project Inspire, an Aish HaTorah program, has a full-line of frummer than thou “kiruv professionals” lined up to promote Big Aish’s glitzy brand of left-wing ultra-Orthodoxy. Just look at these hats:
We have Rabbi Yosef Viener, author of the must-read MO classic, “An Overview on the Role of Da’as Torah.” We have Rabbi Eliyahu Bergstein, who got his start the way any Big Aish “kiruv professional” should…selling the Torah Codes! And we have Rabbi Yaakov “The Genius” Salomon.
And they have backing. From the most intensely anti-Modern leaders of the haredi world. Read the “haskama” (certificate of kashrut) they are touting. Signed by the leaders of Israel’s right-wing ultra-Orthodox movement, Rabbis Elyashiv and Shteinman, Big Aish/Kiruv.com boasts that their mission is to stop the “devastating spiritual holocaust.” and lashes out at the “Inciters from both within and without.” They want to “save” (this is their language, sound familiar?) secular and liberal Jews.
No surprise, these “kiruv professionals” will be gracing Ohr Sameach, Monsey. Guess where else they will be instructing the faithful to stop the “spiritual holocaust” and stand up to the “inciters”?
The Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills.
The Young Israels were traditionally Modern Orthodox, albeit right-wing Modern Orthodox. My brother, in fact, was president of his local Young Israel. Having a Big Kiruv conference there—especially considering who is backing them–is absolutely egregious. This Young Israel is holding hands not only with the left-wing ultra-Orthodox, but the right-wing ultra-Orthodox. These are the people who denounce secular studies and the work ethic in their entirety.
This is whom the Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills is collaborating with. This is whom they take directives from. Absolute, no holds barred, haredim.
Perhaps our friends at Beyond BT are promoting this series? They have posted information on it, and they themselves live in Kew Garden Hills. Perhaps they can explain why right-wing ultra-Orthodox recruiters are being invited to their own local Young Israel?
The National Council of Young Israel, who is so concerned that nothing of left-wing Modern Orthodoxy invade their synagogue spaces, apparently has no such parallel border when it comes to a policy against the radically fahfrumpt.
Maybe before allying to convert those “wandering in darkness,” the NCYI should take a long look in the mirror.
Just another stab in the back of secular and liberal Jewry by the right-wing Modern Orthodox.
This post was edited to better flesh the men behind the “hats.”
Further Update: It seems important, on occasion, to contrast the lies and fanaticism of Big Kiruv to that of the Modern Orthodox, (or close to it), even if it isn’t nearly as widespread. I feel they (Rabbis Student and Steve Brizel) want this known, so I’m going to help them out, and end on a positive note for the beginning of the week. I personally don’t really believe the following, but I don’t not believe it. And I do respect it as a legitimate approach to offer the secular and liberal Jewish community. Not like the Torah Codes/Gedoylim worship/Sloppy and Sleazy Salesmanship of Big Aish and Co.
Hirhurim writes,
Each Jew has an opportunity to be a part of something bigger, to transcend his own personal abilities and join a group spanning the world and the centuries, to not only follow in their footsteps but to add to their accomplishments — to add a unique letter to their Torah scroll. Perhaps you can do that with other religions but as someone born Jewish, you have a unique opportunity to join the famous Jewish story and add your own chapter to it. If you have to ask why, then this argument is not for you. However, I believe that in this modern world that is full of alienation, this is a powerful and attractive argument.
14 comments
Just look at these hats? Give me a break! I see no need to read any further.
See, DK, Jews who believe in Torah and mitzvos would rather have non-observant Jews exposed to outreach by those who do it best even if they wear hats. This is pretty much axiomatic.
Your whole approach is a slander on MO, because its premise is that they would rather that Jews not be committed to Torah and mitzvos than that they abandon the blandishments of “modernism” that makes your life so perfect.
You owe a huge apology to Modern Orthodoxy, as well as a dunce cap for utterly failing to follow this simple math! Now that’s a hat!
That’s right, fellahs, the problem is the hats they wear, not the fundie nonsense they spew.
Come off it.
Mark Frankel and I both voted for this project at our weekly Beyond BT and Aish joint venture meeting although neither of us were wearing hats at the time.
Don’t fall for that, DK! I seen these guys in hats!!!
B”H
I stick to my former opinion:
People who don’t like the Kiruv programs, AISH or Ohr Sameach are free to leave all the time. When I spoke to students from AISH or Ohr Sameach, they all told me that they love it.
Well, one can argue that they don’t know any better which is very true. The only thing bothering me is that these two Yeshivot don’t encourage the students from abroad to make Aliyah. Instead the majority is going back to America without getting to know Israel at all. They have absolutely no clue about what is going on in this country.
DK, you forgot one important point to mention but maybe only we in Jerusalem know about it.
There is a free Jewish hostel in the Jewish Quarter called the Heritage House.
http://www.heritage.org.il/
And as soon as someone checks into the Heritage House (being Jewish is a must !!!), he / she is already told about Yeshivot. If they don’t want to go for some classes at AISH + Ohr Sameach; the girls are being referred to Neve Yerushalaim.
Some years ago, I did so three times and went to Neve. The Heritage House admitted very openly that they receive money from those Yeshivot for each student they bring. They even paid the taxi for us.
However, for some people it might be a nice change studying about Judaism. The main goal of the Heritage House is, among the regular Kiruv and Yeshiva, bringing people away from intermarriage.
Whoever doesn’t want to participate, is free to leave. And many people do so.
Miriam, that’s true. They can always leave. But if they have no touchstone, they run the risk of believing that what they are observing is normative and all else is false. To someone in that position, someone who is seeking something that they can’t even identify, they have no basis on which to make a sound judgment. That’s the fear.
Ron, I have to respectfully disagree with your statements. Modern Orthodoxy has forgotten its roots. The Torah u’Madda/ Torah im derech eretz paradigm of Rabbi Norman Lamm and his peers got lost in the shuffle, along with the commitment to using one’s strengths to strengthen the entire community. The emphasis on secular intellectual pursuit has been subdued, the goal of professional achievement has fallen by the wayside. And people who should know better, parents who have benefited from the way things used to be, who have prestigious university degrees and professional incomes, are sitting idly by while this travesty occurs. The hypocrisy is right there for all to see. MO is owed no apology.
B”H
I don’t see a perfect solution. More available information on the Internet would be of advantage.
The problem is that once you are in AISH or Ohr Sameach, you don’t listen do critisicm anymore.
I am curious if AISH students read this site at all.
So, Judi, your view is that MO has left “modernity” behind in favor of mere “orthodoxy”?
Miriam, you say “The problem is that once you are in AISH or Ohr Sameach, you don’t listen do criticism anymore.” Do you feel that it is consistent with your position of critical inquiry and open-mindedness to make such a broad statement and to really have no proof not only that it is true — which it could not be; it is too absolute — but that it might even be kind of true? Or do you feel that merely being in an anti-Judaism environment such as this blog (”More available information on the Internet”) makes unsupported generalizations okay if they are directed against kiruv organizations? Is that better than “not listening to criticism,” or is it merely a matter of whose ox is being gored on the religious / anti-religious dividing line?
Just seeking “[m]ore available information on the Internet.”
No, Ron. In my view, Modern Orthodoxy has retained “modern”, but not in a progressive or beneficial sense. The changes are a result of the current atmosphere and are more restrictive and oppressive than the template version of Modern Orthodoxy. It’s new, but it’s not improved.
And the current state may no longer qualify as “orthodox” because that would imply that it follows correct or traditional thought, depending on your preferred definition. Tradition has been rewritten to make it frummer than it ever was and that revised picture is being passed off as the truth. Fortunately, there are people who still remember what Jewish life was like before traditionally orthodox Jews lived in a way that would now be considered sheigitzdich.
Judi, your premises are stated as conclusions. But it is not for me to defend modern orthodoxy, I guess.
Fortunately, there are people who still remember what Jewish life was like before traditionally orthodox Jews lived in a way that would now be considered sheigitzdich. Yes, that is the mantra of the non-halachic Judaism crowd. It’s not only silly — the concept that if Jews in America who belonged to orthodox shuls, in 1945, didn’t follow halacha, that is the definitive authoritative standard by which to determine what orthodoxy “should be” — but it’s full of irony, because it similar based on “writing out” extensive and well-documented contrary evidence indicating that Jews around the world, for most of history, did not, in fact, look like “the Goldbergs.”
B”H
@Ron
For more then ten years I have had many experiences with AISH and Ohr Sameach students. Many of them I got to know at different Shabbatot. If you are in the Old City of Jerusalem, it is easy anyway to get in touch with AISH guys.
And all the students I have met so far were really into it. They love their Rabbis (especially R. Motty Berger from AISH) and didn’t listen to any critisicm.
On the other hand, they were / are very grateful that they found a place like those Yeshivot in order to learn about their own heritage.
I don’t necessarily consider this blog as so anti - Judaism. Religious Judaism and Yeshivot have to live with critisicm. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
“that is the mantra of the non-halachic Judaism crowd.”
????
Who is talking about non-halachic Judaism here? Again, you’re jumping to conclusions by reading things into my comments that aren’t there. I am talking about the days before water was hechshered, when local rabbis poskened for their own communities and when people ate at one another’s homes. What’s so non-halachic about that?
Judi, no one — not even the OU — says water requires a heksher. If a producer of bottled water believes certification will enhance its profits, it may choose to pay for certification. Why would there be certification for bottled water? Maybe people would like to know it doesn’t have unkosher matter in it. This is not so insane. But no one requires this.
I live in Passaic. I used to live in Flatbush. In both Passaic and Flatbush, local rabbis pasken for their own communities and still do so. People also eat at each other’s homes. They also do this in Lakewood, if you will believe it!
So what exactly is your issue?
Miriam, you are entitled to claim that Aish HaTorah guys (including ones like me who love Motty Berger!) “don’t listen to any criticism.” I am merely calling BS on you. I think you are mistaking, “Were not impressed with Miriam Woelke’s criticism” with “don’t listen to any criticism.” But I wasn’t there.
Come to Passaic, if you mish, have a glass of uncertified water at my house (my local rav said this is okay), and I will listen to your criticisms of Aish HaTorah. Goodness knows I have enough of them myself.
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