Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Think Again: Limud: A rejoinder to Rabbi Cardozo




 https://www.jpost.com/magazine/opinion/think-again-331775

 RABBI DR. NATHAN Lopes Cardozo goes even further.

He does not just urge Orthodox presenters to take advantage of whatever opportunities they are given at Limmud, but to sit together with their heterodox colleagues and learn from them. What should they learn? Biblical criticism? Guitar-playing? Cardozo suggests that the Orthodox might have learned from the heterodox how better to read the “religious map” of world Jewry. Has he read the Pew Research Center study of American Jewry – the 71-percent intermarriage rate among non-Orthodox Jews, the wildly disproportionate over representation of Jews in cults, the million or more American Jews who describe their religion as “none” or “other”? Has he read last week’s JTA article on Conservative and Reform temples surviving by renting out space to Orthodox minyanim? Is there a comparable phenomenon in the Reform and Conservative movements to the ba’alei teshuva movement, which has brought tens of thousands of Jews into the Orthodox fold? Does he know Conservative and Reform Jews who are dramatically changing their lives around the question: What does God want of me? CARDOZO HAILS the courage of new British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for his decision to attend the upcoming Limmud Conference, and bemoans the cowardice of Dayan Ehrentreu and other senior religious figures for urging Orthodox rabbis not to attend.It is an open secret that the selectors of the new chief rabbi made attendance at Limmud a condition for the appointment. Mirvis may have decided that his considerable personal and organizational skills were just the thing to revive the moribund United Synagogue, and there was nothing to be gained by passing on the appointment – since whoever was appointed in his place would also go. And he may have reasoned that his opening address, with no heterodox rabbis on the podium with him, could do little harm, and he might even inspire some with his words of Torah and encouragement of Torah learning.But an act of heroism his attendance is not.

9 comments :

  1. If Dayan Ehrentreu asked for a single day for orthodox speakers, that is OK? Or would they still attack him, like they they did for the Eruv?

    And who would the Orthodox speakers be talking to on this special day? Would it be preaching to the choir? Or reaching to the others, who are not part of the choir?


    There is no real difference between what Dayan Ehrentreu suggested and what Rabbi Mirvis or Rabbi Cardozo did. Whether it is 5 minutes, 1 hour or 1 day, that is the time afforded to them. It would be the same attendees, who would or would not listen to the orthodox speakers. It would be the same location, and the same pople that organize.


    What Rav Cardozo i saying is that he listens to those who are outside of his orthodox bubble. He learns what they think and how they feel about things. Rosenblum does not want to listen , which is his choice, but then he only is able to preach to the choir.

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  2. A nine year old article? Rav Mirvish has raised the ire of the UO community plenty since then.
    But no one should be surprised with Cardozo's advice. He's what I call "Frum For Fun" - good observance of Torah and mitzvos until they conflict with secular liberal thinking. He's the guy who will attend a Gay Pride Parade but bring kosher snacks with him because he's "observant"

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  3. "It
    is an open secret that the selectors of the new chief rabbi made
    attendance at Limmud a condition for the appointment. Mirvis may have
    decided that his considerable personal and organizational skills were
    just the thing to revive the moribund United Synagogue, and there was
    nothing to be gained by passing on the appointment – since whoever was
    appointed in his place would also go."


    Lies from Rosenblum, who is known extremist and agitator.
    United Synagogue is not "moribund", what does Rosenblum know, isn't he american?

    They made up this stuff about Rabbi Goren, that he had to give the heter in order to get selected as chief Rabbi. Nope, he didn't. In 1964, he had just 1 vote less than Rav Unterman. He became world famous after the 6 day war, so it would be no surprise that he would be elected as Chief rabbi in the 70s.


    In UK, there were not many candidates for chief Rabbi after Sacks retired, and Rabbi Mirvis was the most well known. There was a possible candidate in Rav Alan Kimche shlita, somebody I respect - but he had no experience in the United Synagogue - his own minyan was independent, and didn't necessarily follow the minhagim of the U. S.



    The U.S. is not moribund - that is motzei shem ra on the part of J. Rosenblum. What has happened is that certain areas in England and UK have had a loss of Jews , who move to London, or Israel. Some synagogues have become so overcrowded, they need muliple minyanim and are still busy.

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  4. Nonsense - R' Cardozo does not go to Gay Pride parade, that is sheer fantasy on your part, perhaps better write such fiction on your defunct blog

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  5. Why wouldn't Rabbi Cardozo go to a gay pride parade? He was quoted as saying that he believes they (homosexuals) are not sinning by acting on their homosexuality. After all, he said that the abomination of homosexuality in the Torah only applies to individuals that are not really homosexual. Therefore, going to a gay pride event for him would not be a problem. I believe Rabbi Cardozo is a slave to political correctness just like Weiss, Katz, Lopatin, Linzer, and all of the crazy lefties. I prefer to be subservient to Toras Hashem as opposed to political correctness. Oh well, to each his own.

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  6. No, he posited the question, as a philosopher. He didn't make a psak.
    Read the article carefully, he is attacking the parade, but in polite language, so as not to offend.

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  7. Also, the author, Mr Rosenblum doesn't understand Anglo-Jewry at all.
    In the UK, Jews are traditionally united, regardless of synagogue affiliation. Many peopel in Orthodox denomination e.g. United Synagogue, have freinds and relatives who may have gone reform at some point, and also vice versa.


    He has a couple of yeshiva friends who are in the hareidi sattelite within the UK, and they feed him conspiracy theories, that is where he gets his info from.



    Just to point out, i do not support reform, LGBT or any other heresies - but as the Chazon Ish said, today we don't have real apikorsim, and moridim vlo maalin does not apply anymore, and we have to do kiruv.
    Rav Sonnenfeld also held by this, and did a mittzvah campaign with rav Kook, to the chiloni kibbutzim. This was before the Lubavitch rebbe and other outreach groups even existed.

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  8. That "quote" is attributed to R' Riskin, not Cardozo. R Cardozo simply said there needs to be more halachic research on the topic, and mentioned the Riskin view as one posible appraoch - he did not verify it, just included it amongst the views of different rabbis.

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  9. "Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, a rabbinic coordinator for the Orthodox Union and blogger, has even referred to Cardozo as "[having] now accepted the approach of the Conservative movement, which postulates that Halacha is not objective divine truth, is not fixed, and that it must change in accordance with the values of the times and with various needs."[5]"


    Halacha is not objective divine truth - it was decided by a majority of bd or Sanhedrin. Tanoor of akhnai shows that the divine truth has nothing to do with halachic process.

    It's also not fixed, we have Sanhedrin or bd or poskim in each generation.

    A psak or posek will look at current circumstances. If the claim of rabbi Gordimer were true, there would be no further codes after the Rambam.

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