THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
the Orthodox. Yet, outside
of New York, the significant
majority of day school stu-
dents come from Conserva-
tive, Reform and secular
homes. Indeed, the Orthodox
day schools are training the
future lay leaders of the
Conservative and Reform
movements — as well as
Federation — although for
the moment they are not ex-
pressing pride in that truth.
The presence on college cam-
puses of Orthodox youth
wearing kipot provides
Jewish models and helps
change the assimilated tone
of the university. Chabad
houses have had a special
success in reaching out to
Jewish children in trouble,
on drugs, etc., many of them
from non-Orthodox homes.
And for the children of Con-
servative, Reform and secu-
lar homes who seek a mysti-
cal religious approach and
strong authority and disci-
pline, it is important that
there be a Lubavitch or
yeshiva option. In an open
society, the alternative solu-
tion to such unmet needs
could well be Reverend
Moon, Jews for Jesus, or
Hare Krishna.
Thus, each movement
strengthens- the others with
its own strength which in
turn strengthens the entire
Jewish community. In con-
trast, a social split would
lower the numbers available
to each group. In many
cases, reducing the number
below a certain critical mass
will weaken the capacity of
the community to support
needed institutions for all
the groups. A Jewish civil
war will undoubtedly lead to
an increase in intermarriage
and other negative social
phenomena.
Delegitimation of the other
denominations diverts each
one from facing its own real
issues. When the Orthodox
totally deny Conservative
and Reform, they can dismiss
the women's question as
something which has been
raised, by the non-Orthodox
and therefore illegitimate.
This distracts the Orthodox
from facing the challenge of
inequities in halacha, such
as in divorce, and from fac-
ing the fact that they have
not fully incorporated 50
percent of the talent and
religious potential of their
community in a maximum
way.
When the Conservative
and Reform define their own
legitimacy by dismissing the
t
,
.
.
.
Orthodox, they end up defin-
ing success as breaking with
the rigidity of the past. Thus,
for example, translating
prayers into English is mis-
takenly believed to solve the
problem of worship. They fail
to face the fundamental
problem of prayer, of modern
man's difficulties with
prayer, and of how we can
pray out of power as we have
prayed out of powerlessness.
Ideally, Jews from
all denominations
should go away
together for
weekends and for
chances to
exchange agendas
and
understanding.
To solve their internal
problems, each group needs
the help and presence of the
other. The Conservative and
Reform movements desper-
ately need more discipline,
more ability to demand from
their lay people, and a de-
eper sense of tradition. The
rabbis who see this need are
frustrated by the limited re-
sponse of their lay people.
The best way to get the lay
people to grow is by having
them relate to models from
the other gruops. Out of
sympathetic contact with an
Orthodox family, Conserva-
tive and Reform Jews are
more likely to experience the
beauty of Shabbat or the
strength of the family yom
toy and are far more likely to
begin such observances
themselves.
The Orthodox community
needs more capacity to re-
spond sensitively and effec-
tively to contemporary
urgencies. It needs to be
helped to focus on social ac-
tion and the call to justice. It
needs help in enriching the
spirituality of its lay people,
11 ■■
14
as against excessively
mechanical observance in
which the spiritual forest is
lost for the trees of details.
One of the best ways Or-
thodox lay people could be
encouaged in these directions
would be from contact with
simpatico Conservative and
Reform Jews who are active
in these areas. Ideally, Jews
from all denominations
should go away together for
weekends and for chances to
exchange agendas and
understanding. But that is
not possible with the present
mood of alienation and sep-
aration.
The greatest evil resulting
from a split could well show
up in a moral side effect. We
learned in the Holocaust that
spiritual distance from
others and lack of respect for
their religion translated into
moral indifference to their
fate. This is why so few
Christians helped Jews. Will
separated Jews stand idly by
at the blood of the other
Jews when they are in
danger? Would each group
repeat the erroneous attitude
of native French Jewry
towards `Ostjuden' in 1939-
1940? Under the vichy re-
gime, the native French
Jews were tempted to accept
the round-up of "stateless
Jews" (or Ost juden).
Instead of separating, Jews
should be binding themselves
to each other as closely as
possible, lest one group be
tempted into indifference to
the other's fate. Rabbi Sol-
oveitchik proclaimed this in-
sight decades ago in his
classic essay Kol Dodi Dofek.
But the Orthodox movement
has failed to translate this
mandate into halachic be-
havior and outreach to in-
clude the others within Or-
thodox solutions.
Theologically, the separa-
tion of the Jewish people is
an outrage. We live after the
Holocaust and the rebirth of
Israel. Clearly, the over-
whelming message of those
two events is the unity of the
Jewish people — the unity of
fate which Rabbi Soleitchik
has described as brit goral —
the covenant of common fate.
There were no distinctions in
the gas chambers. To elevate
the distinctions between
Jews to absolute status is to
deny the truth that all Jews
carry the fate of the cove-
nant, or run the risks of suf-
fering for it. All Jews are
God's witnesses.
Israel represents Jewish
Continued on next page
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