Daas Torah – Postscript - From Friday's Rant on thefivetowns.com

I was heartened by the responses that I received from my last two posting regarding Daas Torah. Quite a few people sent me links and stories of rabbis both here and in Israel who don’t subscribe to a narrow or hard line view of Halacha. The message I took from all those responses was that the lunatics are not necessarily running the asylum, that there are rabbis who share a more modernized world view and that Judaism is not aping hard line Islam. Wow, that’s a relief.

Let me be clear, I am a lover of my people – all of them, religious and non, no matter what level of observance and identity. I respect people’s beliefs and value systems. I admire the spirituality of different movements and sects. Frankly, that’s my point. It’s not that one value system trumps another; it’s just a question of respect and facing reality.

While I pointed out in a previous posting the narrow mindedness of Agudath Israel in relation to say, the internet, I did not nor would I ever put down their choice to follow that line. However, words and rulings have consequences. To say that something is a sin that one should die for rather than commit, serves as an impetus for the followers to act aggressively against those whom commit the sin. It gives license to impose one’s will on another.

When did the taking on of a chumra (stricter adherence) become a license to deface public property, or to defy a Supreme Court ruling? Why must everything become complicated? I strive to live in a world, especially a Jewish world, which is based on love of humanity and betterment of mankind. Is that so difficult for us? Rather than attack a local rabbi who hosted a priest in his Shul (after services and the priest was dressed in a kippah and street clothes) who finds unmarked Jewish graves from the Holocaust, perhaps a respect for his opinion. Ditto learned rabbis who accommodate female scholars and tolerate (not condone, just tolerate) homosexuals.

I remember a quote attributed to an old Arab leader who said “leave the Jews alone, in enough time they’ll kill themselves.” This Chanukah, let’s all pledge to keep that prediction in the realm of the impossible, by embracing one another in peace and love.