I’d like to respond to Avraham Glustein’s question about defining Modern Orthodoxy for day schools.
There are two ways of looking at this question. The first is a more context-neutral way of explaining the core commitments of Modern Orthodoxy. As a Head of School, when presenting to prospective parents, community members, or people interested in what the school stands for, I focus on the school’s core values as emblematic of the school’s mission that flows from a definition of Modern Orthodoxy: Torah, Chochmah, Derech Eretz, Acharayut, and Yisrael.
These represent the core commitments of Modern Orthodox Judaism. What does it mean to be a Modern Orthodox Jew? It means a dedication to Torah and Jewish practice, both as a subject to be learned but more importantly as a central force in your life; a desire to understand the world in which we live and to be educationally prepared to engage in broader society; a true commitment to treating others with respect, dignity and kindness; an understanding that, as Jews, we have a responsibility to help make our communities and our societies better, more just and more welcoming; and a deep bond and connection to the State of Israel, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel as the enduring Jewish homeland.
Taken seriously, that’s a pretty weighty list of commitments…but also not particularly controversial.
However, when I speak about what distinguishes Modern Orthodoxy from other forms of Orthodox Judaism—as I do in a shiur I have given at our high school Shabbaton on multiple occasions—I need to explain far more than these five core values, which in some form or another also apply to other types of Orthodox Judaism. In these settings, I drill down into five areas of focus: Torah ve-Chochmah; attitude towards non-Jews; women and society; approach towards Israel (also wrapped up in the attitude towards serving in Tzahal); and development of halakhah.
Each one of these areas or topics is a paper in and of itself. So, for example, Torah ve-Chochmah means more than just the core value of studying both Torah and other academic subjects: we are committed to them because we believe that so-called secular studies are inherently valuable and contribute to our understanding of the world, our ability to navigate the world, and even to our religious personas. Moreover, we do not easily dismiss chochmot ha-goyim simply because it comes from outside of the Jewish world. We are alert to tensions between Torah and Chochmah, and we make it our business to think about how they relate to each other. In schools, this shows up in all sorts of ways, but an easy example is how we deal with evolution. Most Modern Orthodox schools teach evolution in biology class and do not dismiss it out of hand as inconsistent with Bereshit.
With regards to women and society, Modern Orthodox schools acknowledge that changes in women’s roles in society at large have an impact on their role within the Jewish sphere as well. How this plays out differs in each school. In most Modern Orthodox schools, this is perhaps most notable in Judaic learning, where girls and boys are provided equal access to Talmud study and high-level other Judaic learning in their classes (whether co-ed or separate) and girls regularly give divrei torah in front of mixed groups.
I could go on with each of the other shiur topics, but this post is already too long.
In sum, I think that Modern Orthodox schools do share some version of the five core values that I outlined above (Torah, Chochmah, Derech Eretz, Acharyut, and Yisrael) but do not necessarily share consistent stands on the five areas that I outlined in my shiur on Modern Orthodoxy. However, what the schools do share, I believe, is a sense that each of these topics is very relevant to Modern Orthodoxy and that they must grapple with them regularly. We may differ—even considerably—in our approaches to these topics, but none of us dismiss them as unimportant or irrelevant. That, in and of itself, makes these themes part and parcel of the criteria for defining—or at least considering—Modern Orthodoxy.
Joshua Levisohn, Ph.D.
Head of School
Berman Hebrew Academy
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2016 07:40PM by mlb.
