Category — Jack Wertheimer

Dear Dr. Wertheimer,

As we all know, the Conservative Movement has tossed the remnant of their tallis to the gay bathhouses to be used as a towel at their discretion.

And for a long time, many of us with ties to the Left-wing Modern Orthodox world have looked to you with admiration, and confusion that you associated theologically with the Conservative Movement. Which isn’t to say we questioned your decision to associate with the academic wing of the JTS. We are not Agudahniks over here, and respect the academic wing of the JTS. That’s no problem. Academics are academics.

But it is time, sir. It is time for you to come home, to the Left-wing Modern Orthodox Jewish community. Now I know you will be tempted to go to the UTJ instead. But please don’t. It is more of the same focus, obsession with “social revolution,� just like at K.O.E. (yawn). They only cared about what new gender-bending innovation Rabbi Halivni would sanction. Haven’t you had enough of that? The LWMO community is interested in other aspects of Judaism and Jewish history, not just “gender issues.�

Bring your scholarship to our camp. You can reinvigorate the Left-wing Modern Orthodox community, in a strategic way Rabbi Berman could not. Get Orthodox smicha, repudiate the official JTS policies you had to nominally comply with, become our grand rabbi, and don’t get too close to JOFA. It’s killing the LWMO. It’s like trying to watch the ballgame while a woman brandishing a rolling pin is screaming at you. It’s hard to convince your friends to come over and hang out with you on your sofa.

But please – don’t go to the UTJ. It’s a dead end. And worse, they are boring. Come to the Left-Wing Modern Orthodox community. We deserve you, and have always admired you. We would appreciate you, and therefore, you would be able to help us more than you can those in the Conservative Movement, who have less respect for scholars than we do. You could really make a difference if you joined us.

Think about it.