In many ways, Mike Moskowitz is a typical ultra-Orthodox rabbi.
He wears a black suit and black hat. He sports a thick, curly beard beneath a closely shaved head. He peppers his speech with liturgical Hebrew and Yiddish words. He quotes from Jewish legal texts.
Moskowitz sometimes closes his eyes when he talks, swaying back and forth and rubbing his fingers together as if he’s engaged in deep Talmud study. He spent years upon years studying at traditional haredi yeshivas. Today he lives in Lakewood, a New Jersey shore town of some 100,000 residents well known for its largely haredi population.
rabbi Moskowitz has three ultra-orthodox rabbinic ordinations. He spent a decade in the largest yeshivas in the world and studied the entire Babylonian Talmud. He founded and headed a kollel - a sacred think tank, served as a rabbi at Columbia University, and of a congregation in Harlem. Rabbi Moskowitz explored academic Talmud at Yale and at Jewish Theological Seminary, where he is currently completing a Doctorate in Hebrew Literature. As one of the leading thinkers at the intersection of trans issues and Jewish thought, he is a sought after lecturer, educator, and researcher.
Jewish Theological Seminary. Not very ultra Orthodox
ReplyDeletePig's feet
He is NOT ultra-Orthodox any more.
ReplyDeleteHe may wear the garb, but that's just a costume.
A wolf in sheep's clothing.
Not so clear at first glance.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that Rabbis who headed the original Reform Shuls in Germany, that many were learned and observant. The fact that there was an organ in the Shul didn't necessarily negate their personal status. Same could be said of Rabbis whose Shuls went Conservative and the Mechitza came down. The top Rabbis at the Jewish Theological Seminary were known to be Talmidei Chachamim. Some "Traditional" Shuls had Rabbis who were Shomer Mitzvos despite presiding over a congregation that by and large was not. Some of the Rabbis of these Traditional Shuls sent their kids to yeshivas, or otherwise brought up their family keeping Mitzvos.
That being said, this man seems to have gone astray, based on the things attributed to him. I would venture to say you are right.
Jts used to be frum. (A century ago)
ReplyDeleteand therefore????
ReplyDeleteFor the record, Rabbi Weinreb is Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union. He is the one of the most influential people in Orthodoxy in America.
ReplyDeleteEveryone take a breath.
ReplyDeleteFrom the biography it seems that Rav Moskowitz is a talmid chacham and a qualified Rav. Assuming he has not been a secret Orthoprax practitioner all this time and that his learning and ritual practice are sincere, then one must ask: why does he think this is acceptable? He has an odd belief about cross-dressing but does he have halakhic sources to back his position up? How would another Rav respond to those sources? Has anyone even asked?
He would know that he would get this kind of reaction when he took the job. Has anyone asked him how he would respond to it?
He was doing his academic research there, so it is like using their library. The question is, whether academic research of Talmud is un-orthodox?
ReplyDeleteOh!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYPxD_XaCRk
ReplyDeleteListening to him deflect the question of a caller on the Zev Brenner show, you hear him being dishonest in pretending to be answering the complaint but in fact not addressing it. Typical way of corrupt dishonest people. That shows where he's at.
ReplyDelete