I am not in favor of abolishing the prohibitions of stam yeinam or bishukl akum. Nevertheless I have some sympathy for aspects of Rabbi Reuven Hammer's essay.
1) Despite the contemporary popularity of the Ivan Karamazov position, the overwhelming majority of rabbinic sources think there is an ethic beyond halakha (see my article [
www.yutorah.org]) If this ethic does not outlaw harming innocent people, what does it do? Our ethical intuitions cannot overturn Torah law but they can influence interpretation in ambiguous situations and pesak in cases of debate. I think it religiously correct that we should feel more drawn to sources that affirm gezel hagoy as a biblical prohibition. Contra the factors raised by R. Broyde, this is an ethical position and not based on pragmatic factors.
2) Honesty should force us to confront problematic elements in our community. What makes a rabbi more suspect in the frum world, saying that women can receive aliyot or writing an article extolling the six mizvot performed by Baruch Goldtsein (something done by R. Yitzchak Ginsburg)? If some traditional sources can be used to support R. Ginsburg, we need to think about how to teach a message that neutralizes this danger.
3) R. Heshy Grossman's response is the kind of tone we should avoid. One can passionately defend Hazal without resorting to insults. Referring to "Dr. Hammer" as "a professor of Jewish literature" is one example. His closing paragraph is another:
Perhaps, there is actually one consolation in all this: Dr. Hammer and his colleagues are aware that nobody is really listening to their pronouncements, not even among their own dwindling constituency. Certainly, no one looks to them for moral guidance, instruction in Jewish Law, or what kind of Judaism to teach our children. Ten minutes of fame can likely be garnered in a release to the secular press, and I am sure they have generated many ‘likes’ on Facebook, but there is not a vibrant Bais Medrash anywhere in the world that will even bother to analyze and study their rejectionist ideas.
Accusing R. Hammer of being motivated by the desire for popular acclaim is uncalled for. I assume R. Hammer is motivated by a desire to practice a Judaism of moral and spiritual greatness even if I disagree with how he goes about this. Such writing does nothing to win adherents to Orthodoxy and promotes triumphalism and negativity.
Yitzchak Blau
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2016 04:19AM by mlb.
