Aseret B’Tevet
This past Shabbat I had a chance to read a bit of the memorial volume (mostly in Hebrew) for Prof. Zeev Falk. I had the merit of studying with Prof. Falk and speaking with him on many occasions outside of the classroom. The contents of the volume are a fitting tribute to this special individual. One of the articles is by Benny Lau and discusses the not very well-known HaTenuah LeYahadut Shel Torah (TYST). The TYST was founded in 1966 by a number of religious intellectuals such as E.S. Rosenthal, M.D. Herr, and E.E. Urbach. The movement was founded because of “a feeling that there is an urgent need to lead religious Judaism in confronting a changing reality” (Lau, p. 371). The movement had a committee to discuss halakhic issues and one of the issues discussed was the status, in post-1967 Israel, of the four minor fast days and the fast of the ninth of Av. Lau compares the response of the halakhic committee of the TYST to this question with responsa of the Vaad HaHalakhah of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel which called for making the minor fast days optional (see here and here for the Vaad HaHalakhah‘s responsa. For the sake of full disclosure, I was once-who knows, maybe still am-a member of Vaad HaHalakhah). Lau claims that while the TYST realized the need to relate to the four minor fasts in a different way, perhaps even ceasing to observe them, they did not want to be the initiators of this change, rather they (Lau focuses on E.S. Rosenthal) wanted to push for change through protestation and teaching-”לערער ולעורר, לנמק ולפרש, לכתוב ולומר”. Lau sees this as halakhic change from the bottom up. On the other hand Lau sees the Masorti Vaad HaHalakhah as trying to change halakhah from the top down. The response by David Golinkin to an earlier version of Lau’s article in Deot was that the lack of response to the call of the TYST for change and similar calls have shown one of the weaknesses of modern Orthodoxy. Lau’s article is very interesting, and his critique is a sincere one and I would agree with him that sometimes halakhic change should and often does come from the bottom up, yet I would also agree with my teacher David Golinkin, that maybe the people need a little push from rabbis once in a while (On the other hand by the amount of people I have seen at the Bar-Ilan University coffee shop on the minor fasts, I think that a good number of the religious public may have already spoken). May those who are fasting have a meaningful fast.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:20 am
[...] of comments, the writer seems to have touched upon a raw nerve (or an empty stomach). Also see this previous post in which I discussed this [...]
December 14th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I don’t know Menachem. The mentioned hohmat yisrael figures formed their movement in the wake of post six day war amidst messianic fervor. In their euphoria things looked different. When I look at the blessings of the homeland that we have, I see lots of room for tikkun and religious reminders that the redemption is not complete. I can appreciate that from a distance not everyone feels that way,on the one hand, while others especially those hanging around Bar Ilan’s coffee room celebrating their sense of redemption or ignoring it on the other may not think they need the reminder but anyone who sees the social inequalities and other injustices that need rectifying cannot help but take the prophetic words about what caused our downfall in the past seriously.
M
m | 01.10.06 – 6:06 am | #
I would agree that there is still lots of tikkun that needs to be done but the question is how might changed political realities influence traditional Jewish observances and liturgies without being swept up in messianic fervor. One does not have to make Tisha B’av into a day of ששון ושמחה (see Zechariah 8:18-19) in order to acknowledge that the reality is different today than it was one hundred years ago. I recall reading David Hartman describing having a conversation with Rav Soloveitchik some time after 1967. Hartman was all excited about everything that was happening and the Rav’s answer was to the tune of “slow down, let’s wait and see”.
Menachem Mendel | Homepage | 01.10.06 – 6:59 am | #
we waited we saw and things are further from the ideal. You are seeing liturgy as commemoration and I am see it as a mechanism for religious prodding – a reminder that things still need to be done to make things right. The rav is right but I think that there is more reason to fast and be reminded that we are not there yet. I can understand galut Jews not fasting – they don’t know what it is even to be a part of the picture but Israeli Jews – I quite frankly don’t understand Hartman or Golinkin – Would Urbach think the same way now as he did in 67? Would Falk?
m
m | 01.10.06 – 5:04 pm | #
“we waited we saw and things are further from the ideal”-You are right, but that does not mean that the founding of the state of Israel is not religiously meaningful.
“I can understand galut Jews not fasting”-I have trouble understanding those still in Galut who don’t fast.They are not the ones who are living in Israel.
As to what is/was the personal practice of any of the people mentioned in my post, I have no idea. My last thought is that maybe your are over-spiritualizing a religious observance which has very political overtones. I don’t think that the fasts are necessarily about yearning for a Yisrael shel Ma’alah, but rather for a concrete change in the state of Yisrael shel Ma’atah. Just think, Tu B’shevat is just around the corner.
Menachem Mendel | Homepage | 01.10.06 – 7:18 pm | #
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