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| Agudah’s Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Agudah website) |
There is an open letter to Agudah circulating (which can be read here) written by an anonymous resident of Lakewood that challenges the leadership role of the Agudah Moetzes.
Agudah has – since its inception – asked people who fit the above description of Gedolim to join them on an advisory board they call the Moetzes Gedlolei HaTorah. In that role their wisdom is treated as the infallible word of God.
Not that they actually deify them. They do not. They recognize that even Gedloim are human and can make mistakes. But in practice their advice is treated virtually like word of God, since they are deemed the most qualified to express His will. So much so that even as they might disagree, it is considered practically blasphemous to not follow them. They call it being Mevatel Daas - negating their own logic or common sense to the wisdom of people greater then themselves.
Agudah’s lay leaders and community rabbis of the Charedi world will therefore follow their Daas Torah edicts. If one attends an Agudah event – like the upcoming annual banquet always held around Thanksgiving weekend - you will hear Daas Torah repeated many times by multiple speakers – who will attribute defacto infallibility to them.
This pretty much sums up the power of the Moetzes in the Charedi world. No one would challenge them and be able to retain their Charedi credentials. In that world, if you are not Charedi, you are at best ‘Krum’ and at worst a heretic!
The latest ‘edict’ issued by 5 members of the Moetzes was something I addressed recently. It was an edict forbidding the Charedi world from attending the March for Israel. One cosigner of that edict actually compared attendance to eating pork! It should also be noted that although the rest of the Moetzes did not sign that edict - their silence about it indicates at least tacit approval its message.
The abovementioned letter noted that there appears to be a split in the Charedi world between Agudah’s natural constituency - which I call the moderate Charedi world - and those under the influence of BMG (Lakewood) Roshei Yeshiva. Although he didn’t talk about the infallibility of these Gedolim, that is what seems to be at issue for him.
The truth is that there are huge numbers of Charedim that have privately stopped seeing the decisions of the Moetzes as binding. This has increasingly been the case. No where was this more evident than at that rally where the Charedi world was amply represented. (There were lots of black hats there.)
The letter writer listed his Charedi bonafides and suggested that the Moetzes has lost much of their influence over people like him - Agudah’s natural constituency. A constituency that accepts the their world view that Torah study supersedes all else,. They are nonetheless actually working. Many of them have college or professional degrees, and generally engage with the world. Lakewood on the other hand has become more insular than ever. In other words there seems to be an unprecedented split in the Charedi world between moderates and right wing Charedim.
Does this mean the end of Daas Torah being seen as the infallible arbiter of all things mundane and holy?
I doubt it. Daas Torah as the Charedi world defines it will probably still wield its outsized influence on the right. The question is whether moderates, like this letter writer will still see them that way. They will of course still be seen as Gedolim. But their edicts will not necessarily be seen as the defacto word of God.
Meanwhile the right flank that Lakewood comprises will indeed still treat them as infallible. Which is why hardly anyone (if any) from BMG attended the rally (There will surely be exceptions on both sides. But I think in the main, that is how it will break down.) The question is which of these two Charedi segments will end up winning the day. Will it be the moderates or the right?
If I had to guess, I would say that the right will win the day – continuing to treat their Daas Torah as infallible
One may ask, ‘What about Modern Orthodoxy (MO)? Are they chopped liver? Truth is that they basically ignore the Charedi world and do not value their Daas Torah at all. Their edicts have zero impact on their lives. That is mostly true about the Modern Orthodox left.
But to a Centrist like me what happens in that world matters.
That’s because there is practically no difference in lifestyles between Centrists like myself, and the moderate Charedi world. Our Hashkafic differences do not alter how we lead our lives. Centrists are just a tiny minority compared to their numbers. So we have to know which way the wind is blowing. What happens in the Charedi world doesn’t stay in the Charedi world. It affects Centrists too.