Monday, May 27, 2013

Rav Nachman describing the impact of Modernity

There was was once a time says the master of prayer when each of us had gone to his own special place. The warrior. the orator. and all of the king's men - each had gone lo renew his particular strength.

At that time a great wind storrn swept over the world. The entire earth was confounded. Dry land was transformed into sea and sea into dry land. Deserts came up where there had been towns. And new towns sprang up in areas where there had only been desert. The whole world was turned upside down by the wind.

When the wind came into the king's palace, it did no damage at all. As it whipped through the palace, however. it grabbed up the beautiful child and carried him away in an instant. The king's daughter ran off in pursuit of her child. Soon she was followed by her mother. the queen. and then by the king himself. Thus all of them were scattered and nobody knows their place.

None of us was there when this happened, as we each had gone off to renew our strength. When we did return to the palace. we found no one there .... Since then we have all been scattered. and none of us can now get back to that place where he needs to go to renew his strength. Since the wind came and turned the entire world around, changing land into sea and sean into land. The old paths no longer are of any use. We are now in need of new paths because all the places have been altered. Meanwhile we can not renew out former strength. We do, however, retain an imprint of those former times and that in itself is very good.

8 comments:

  1. Or we can hide in our little ghettos and pretend that the wind didn't happen and that everything is just like it was before and then wonder why we're having trouble interacting with the outside.

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  2. Modernity is a very relative thing.
    When the Israelites entered Israel, they were unable to fight the Phillishtim, since they had iron chariots - modern technology for that age.
    When King Herod refurbished the temple, it was in modern style, but was eventually accepted by the Rabbis.
    when Saadia and Maimonides learned Greek philosophy (in arabic), they were the Moderns of their day, and their thinking was revolutionary.
    So nothing is new under sun, there is always a modern vs an established.

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    Replies
    1. That's what the problem with calling the movement "Modern Orthodoxy" is. It implies a constant need to change simply to remain faithful to the term.

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    2. So now I guess we need post modern Orthodoxy.

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    3. So now I guess we need post modern Orthodoxy.

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    4. as the world changes, so do we.
      This website, and the contributions it has made , especially in the areas of reporting abuse, are a sea change in the Orthodox world. I am not accusing it of being MO, but it is responding to circumstances.

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  3. Mighty Garnel Ironheart
    Our way of life will always be out of sync with the outside. When you strip enough away that we look like them and think like them we are no longer ourselves. This is what is happening in America. People as individuals and communities as a whole are making concession after concession to the American way of life.

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    Replies
    1. You mean like reporting abuse--finally.

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