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| The right wing delegitimization of TIDE (app) |
I found Rabbi Lamm’s various models of TUM (as outlined in his book of the same name) to be compelling and tend towards that version of Centrism.
TUM basically considers Torah and Mada (secular studies) twin towers of Jewish education that should be studied for their own sake. With Torah taking precedence over Mada.
TIDE, on the other hand values Mada only if it enhances Torah in some way.
Although ardent adherents of TIDE vehemently reject any connection to TUM, at the end of the day, they both place great value on secular studies albeit for different reasons. Both philosophies are legitimate expression of Centrist Judaism. But for purposes of this post, I will focus on TIDE and how both the right and the left of Orthodoxy treats it - with an emphasis on the right.
The left (formerly referred to as Open Orthodoxy) is problematic for me because they go too far in their embrace of controversial cultural values and try to squeeze them into Halacha. Values that have traditionally been rejected by mainstream religious leaders (both the past and present) across the board.
The philosophy of the right is ‘Torah Only’ (TO). In this version only Torah study is valued. The study of Mada although not forbidden is at best is seen as secondary and to be avoided if at all possible since it would take away valuable time for Torah study. Although this too is a legitimate expression of Judaism, I strongly disagree with their exclusionary version of it. But by attaching the term ‘Daas Torah' to all of the pronouncements it adds heft to this exclusionary view among their rank and file .
The right claims R’ Hirsch constructed TIDE out of whole cloth as a way to convince the Jews of his time and enlightenment culture to remain observant. True adherents of TIDE completely reject that analysis. Noting that any serious study of R’ Hirsch’s works will show that he considered TIDE to be the truest form of Judaism - both in thought and in deed.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch ZT'L
This Monday, 27 Teves, marks the 135th yahrtzeit of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch ztl. Rav Hirsch was the Rav in a number of communities across Germany in the 1800's and a prolific writer who stopped at nothing to spread the true light of Torah in a country in the throes of the Haskalah. His works, originally written in a beautiful German and translated into many languages, discuss Torah, Halachah, and Jewish thought and are still widely studied today.
Click here to read about the relevance today of Rav Hirsch's approach of Torah Im Derech Eretz.
Shelomoh Eliezer Danziger, an adherent of TIDE, penned an article that began as follows:
"How RELEVANT JS RABBI SAMSON RAPHAEL HIRSCH today?" is a question which is being asked not only by his critics of the right and of the left, but also in his own German-Jewish communities. The mere question is a symptom of the suspicion that historical and geographic changes may have made much that is Hirschian obsolete. As one who does not belong to any of the three groups mentioned, the present writer disagrees.
Danziger goes on to explain and reject both the right and the left’s claim of TIDE’s irrelevance in our day:
West makes the temporary solution of Torah im Derech Eretz no longer necessary. Yeshiva growth has reduced that concept to an anachronism, an heroic chapter in the history of Jewish survival, a glowing tribute to a great and saintly leader. Western Orthodoxy has developed Jewishly; matured to the point where it can dispense with Hirschianism and embrace the full Orthodoxy (TO) of the East. Thus argue the critics of the right today.
The critics of the left agree on the anachronistic nature of Hirschian thought in relation to a maturing Western Orthodoxy, but for opposite reasons. For them Hirsch's Torah im Derech Eretz was merely a transitional stage between the old ghetto and the total involvement in present-day life, which is, or should be, the goal of modern Orthodoxy.
Hirsch advocated familiarity and contact with Western culture, but an acceptance of only those aspects which met the standard of an unchanging Divine Torah. There was a dichotomy between an unchanging Torah and a dynamic, changing culture.
What is required today, according to the vanguard of the left-wing, is complete immersion in modern society, sociologically, psychologically, and philosophically. Dichotomy must give way to an organic interplay between Torah and Derech Eretz-a dialogue. Through this confrontation a mutual influence will~ensue that will creatively affect Torah values in relation to culture.
As Agudah indicated in their intro, I believe that Danziger’s observations are as relevant today as they were the many years ago when he expressed them. I agree with him – as do all serious and knowledgeable adherents of TIDE.
TIDE adherents have has been ‘Charedized’ and now amount to little more than Charedim that have retained s a few customs particular to their German Jewish heritage. That is a sad indication of the power of the right to destroy this once glorious heritage of observant German Jewry. A heritage that in my view is more important in our day than it was then. Charedi education has gone from embracing a dual curriculum of Torah and Mada into one that considers the study of Mada to be Bitul Torah – a waste of precious time better utilized studying Torah.
That Agudah’s daily bulletin indicated that TIDE still has relevance today seems to contradict the ‘orthodoxy’ of the Torah Only culture that they inhabit and promote
Is this their way of saying that they might not be fully on board with the current wave of Yeshiva high schools that are jettisoning any secular studies curriculum? Or was it just a way of keeping within their orbit Charedim that actually value secular studies?
I don’t know but I hope its the former. But it’s probably the latter. Hard to say. At any rate it’s interesting food for thought.