The current struggle to attune Orthodox

Jewish belief with secular society is opening a

window into the deepest meanings of Judaism

for the 21st century. The reports here and the

1

Editor's Notebook (page 29) outline different

dimensions of the issue.

ritual roles for women, was heard in
many workshop sessions.
The diversity of dress provided an
obvious illustration of the ideological
span found at the conference.
Some women covered every strand of
their hair with wigs and scarves, while
most left their heads uncovered. Some
wore long sleeves and long skirts, others
wore shorter skirts, and yet other
women wore slacks. .
Most of the men wore colorful shirts
and knitted kipot, though some were
dressed in the more somber attire of
dark suits, white shirts and black kipot
common in the fervently Orthodox
community.
A multiplicity of visions for the
movement was also evident as partici-
pants bandied about alternatives to the
term "modern Orthodoxy."
In his presentation on 'Assessments
of, and Visions for, Modern
Orthodoxy," Lehmann disavowed the
term "centrist Orthodoxy," a label that
has gained currency in recent years
among Orthodox Jews who feel that the
modifier modern is, well, too modern.
Lehmann offered as alternatives the
terms "open Orthodoxy," "progressive
Orthodoxy" and "post-modern
Orthodoxy." He also jokingly suggested
"bourgeois Orthodoxy."
Many committed to a modern
Orthodox integration of religious and
secular life have in recent years felt dele-
gitimized by the haredim, or fervently
Orthodox, who view the religious and
secular worlds as essentially incompati-
ble.
A longtime hallmark of modern
Orthodoxy — a willingness to dialogue
and work with non-Orthodox Jews —
has eroded in recent years as the move-
ment's institutions, like the Orthodox
Union and Rabbinical Council of
America, and a growing number of their
constituents, have withdrawn from such
endeavors on national and local levels.
The feeling of delegitimization is
played out not only on the institu-
tional and leadership level, said

some of those attending the confer-
ence, but also in a personal way.
Dassi Rutman, one of about 200 uni-
versity students who attended the con-
ference, said she came from Toronto,
hoping that she would "feel more secure
with my identity" as a modern
Orthodox Jew.
"I'm modern Orthodox, but I feel the
pressures from people around me,
friends who are moving to the right,"
said Rutman, who studies biology at
York University and says she is one of
the only people in her community who
wears pants.
"It's hard keeping your ideals when
people around you feel its wrong," she
said.
In his keynote address kicking off the
conference on Sunday, Berman, Edah's
director, said that modern Orthodoxy is
a religious path defined by "maximum
integration with society" whose adher-
ents "simultaneously affirm a passionate
total commitment to Halacha," or
Jewish law.
"We have chosen the more difficult
path" than those on the right-wing side
of Orthodoxy, who choose "maximum
withdrawal and maximum isolation"
from general society, he said.
But it is in the dialectic between two
seemingly antagonistic value systems
that modern Orthodoxy can make a
contribution to both personal and com-
munal life, he said.
"There are moments of conflict
between faith and reason in the life of a
Jew," he said.
But "both are God's gifts and we
need to receive them both," he said.
"We don't have to give up universality to
retain our sense of particularism.
"We have a message to bring to
American society — that in work there
can be holiness. If you bring the right
kavanah (intent), we can transform the
mundane into the sacred.
"We need to invite all of Jewry to
join with us in this quest for holiness in
the secular world," he said, as his listen-
ers stood in and ovation. LI

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