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| Rabbi Samuel Jakob Rose examines the galleys of the Survivor Talmud (JA) |
And yes, I think they should be fought tooth and nail in their quest for recognition in Israel. A denomination that includes ideologies which are anathema to the Torah is unworthy to be called Jewish.and must never be tolerated!
That being said, I actually have sympathy for today’s Reform rabbis. It’s not really their fault that their beliefs are so distant from the truth. This is the ‘truth’ they were fed from pulpits of the temples they attended (if they attended them at all). More importantly this is the ‘truth’ they were fed in their seminaries.
While it is a truth that in some cases (as in their quest for social justice) has some independent merit, it has little to do with authentic Judaism other then the fact that is but one small part of it. The idea that 613 Mitzvos are nothing more than suggestions at best - misses the entire point of Judaism. Which is about service to both God and man via the very Mitzvos required of us. Which are outlined in the Torah. And explained and expanded upon by our sages. All of which they reject as being unnecessary in our day.
I therefore do not see any of these rabbis as evil. Even as they try to undermine Orthodox authority over religious matters in Israel. They simply do not know any better.
I realize they would be insulted by a comment like this. I feel bad about that and it is not my intent. But it is the truth. A Reform rabbi is a Tinok Shenishbu. Which the Gemarah tells us is a child captured by an alien culture raised without any authentically Jewish teachings. A Reform rabbi is really no different. He cannot be blamed for his beliefs. (Unless he is a Shana U’Pireish – someone that was raised Orthodox, and rejected its teachings to become a Reform rabbi. There are unfortunately Reform rabbis like that. But I think they are by far a tiny minority among them.)
I mention this because I know that many Reform rabbis actually respect Orthodoxy even while disagreeing with it. And in some cases actually help advance the cause of it. When that happens it ought to be recognized. There is a time to fight and a time to praise. Reform rabbis should never be so totally condemned that they are cast practically in satanic terms. That is wrong and accomplishes nothing.
It therefore bothers me that when the efforts of a Reform rabbi on our behalf are ignored. Especially when those efforts bear fruit. This happened at the recent Siyum HaShas hosted by Agudah.
First I must give Agudah credit for dedicating their Siyum HaShas every seven and a half years to the memory of the Holocaust. This year it was done in a very unique and moving way.
The Hadran on Shas recited upon the completion Meseches Nidah (the final volume) was done over a volume from the ‘Survivor Shas’. A Shas published by the US Army in May of 1949 as a means of restoring the 185,000 survivors in the DP camps to the life of Torah and its study which they once knew. That was truly one of the more poignant moments of the Siyum.
That the US Army did that is a tribute to the Chesed that this country is all about. I cannot say enough about this great country of ours - that came to realize just how much a complete set of Shas meant to the survivors and then went to the trouble of publishing it for them. But there is more to the story. From Jewish Action:
A dedicated group of Jews led by Dachau death camp survivors Rabbi Shmuel Abba Snieg, chief rabbi of the US zone of Allied-occupied Germany, and Rabbi Samuel Jakob Rose, a student of the famed Slabodka Yeshiva, approached the US Commander of the American zone, General Joseph McNarney, and discussed the need to arrange for the publication of the Shas for the survivors living in DP camps.
Remarkably, in an inspirational case of Jewish unity, Rabbi Snieg was able to connect across denominational lines with Rabbi Phillip S. Bernstein, a Reform rabbi from New York who was serving as an advisor to General McNarney.
Rabbi Bernstein orchestrated a meeting between General McNarney, Rabbi Snieg and his group. In a memorandum to the General, Rabbi Bernstein captured the intense thirst that the Jews of the DP camps had for a Shas: Could General McNarney, acting on behalf of the US Army, provide “the tools for the perpetuation of religion, for the students who crave these texts?” An edition of Shas, Rabbi Bernstein argued, printed right after the horrors of the Holocaust, “published in Germany under the auspices of the American Army of Occupation, would be an historic work.”
It is clear that the rabbis recognized that this project would send a profound message: having the US Army print a set of Shas in Germany would constitute a concrete manifestation of Jewish survival, despite the now apparent, multi-year Nazi effort to exterminate the Jews, their culture and their religion. General McNarney, for his part, immediately understood the significance and potential impact of this project. Despite severe shortages of paper, ink and supplies, General McNarney ordered the project’s start.
If only we could replicate the kind of dedication to the entirety of Jewish people that this story represents by both Orthodox and Reform rabbis. Maybe Moshaich would indeed come. And what better time for that than now.