Home › Forums › Decaffeinated Coffee › Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik — A Godol B’Kiruv › Reply To: Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik — A Godol B’Kiruv
HaKatan:
They didn’t just “disagree with him” as in “eilu viEilu”. They condemned him for his “innovations” and the like.
Rav Aharon Kotler stated that Rabbi Dr. Soloveichik was responsible for “all the tuma in America”.
I’m aware of that, but I didn’t address that. I do think they would credit him for saving Jews who otherwise would discard any level of observance and identification with Orthodoxy to, instead, remain at least partially observant and identify as Modern Orthodox.
As to the main point you were trying to make, had he created “Modern Orthodoxy” as a temporary kiruv stage, then that would have been bad enough.
But, instead, he claimed (when creating MO) that only his (Maskilic) way would survive, and “separatist orthodoxy” would become a museum-piece. Of course, netzach Yisrael lo yishaker, as we just read, so his prediction would obviously not be possible, but that is even more obvious in hindsight.
B”H, the opposite has happened (compare the numbers in BMG and other yeshivos versus those in YU, and also note all the “flip-outs” who realize that “Modern Orthodoxy” is absurd, and then go to NIRC or other such yeshivos after being shmaded in YU, and become traditionally orthodox instead of “Modern Orthodox”). BE”H, this will continue to happen until the heresy and idolatry of “Modern Orthodoxy” finally becomes history.
I don’t disagree. He didn’t make entirely clear that MO was a b’dieved; certainly better than becoming Conservative or Reform but also acceptance of not full adherence to the Taryag Mitzvos.
But, to his credit, RJBS in his “Five Addresses” said (note the bold) “secular culture . . . . AS LONG AS ONE CAN LIVE WITHOUT IT SO MUCH THE BETTER FOR THE SPIRIT”. RJBS said that the traditional Ultra-Orthodoxy (he refers to them as “isolationist” Orthodox, or “extreme” Orthodox), would theoretically be the best choice. But in America, he opined, it cannot survive. Forced by a new “economic and social order” and high-speed advances in technology to abandon our traditional Torah Orthodoxy, which will get “swallowed” and “completely assimilated”, we must “prepare”. “Preparations” included, among other things, creating a “new type of Talmid Chacham”, who “you will find . . . in the free professions such as medicine, science, law, and also in business” (Five Addresses, p.155), and joining Mizrachi in the building and supporting of the State of Israel, since “we cannot pin much hope on the Diaspora. Assimilation grows daily . . .True, there is a bit of Torah in the Diaspora; however the number of Torah students is proportionately very low, and it is impossible to forecast what will happen in future generations. . . whereas in that very non-observant Israel the future of Torah and traditional Judaism is far more secure.” (ibid p.33) “We reject the theory of isolation as dangerous for the continued existence of the people. The force of circumstances in recent years that lead to the majority of Jewish people being moved to the West and becoming connected, language-wise, economically, and politically with society in general, has rendered the approach of the isolationists suicidal. In such an approach lurks the danger that we shall dwindle to a small sect with little life expectancy” (ibid p.176)
Yes, Rabbi Soloveichik in his Five Addresses does explicitly acknowledge and admit that Ultra-Orthodoxy is the proper way to live a Jewish life.
But he thought (and states) that “separatist Orthodoxy” would disappear and only MO will survive. Like you pointed out above, “tourist attractions” he says Chareidim would end up. Clearly he was 100% mistaken. And it was that which he said justified “Modern Orthodoxy” – survival, nothing else.