As I’ve acknowledged, some bloggers do cross a line – sometimes egregiously so. The denigration of Torah and its scholars in the Orthodox blogosphere was first noted in an essay written over a year ago and widely circulated by the Ner Israel rosh hayeshiva, Rav Aharon Feldman. He saw a dismayingly high level of this denigration and blamed it on the so-called Slifkin affair and the bloggers.
Yes, the Slifkin controversy generated a tremendous amount of hostility to great Torah figures and therefore to kavod HaTorah. But the blame cannot be placed on one side. A lot of the negative talk was a reaction to the vociferous condemnations, issuing from certain rabbinical figures, of what until then had been considered mainstream thought regarding science and Torah on the part of educated Orthodox Jews.
Doesn’t Agudah leadership see that? You cannot label as heretical the beliefs of sincere and educated Orthodox Jews and expect them to just say, “OK, sorry about that. I’ll change my beliefs now.”
And it doesn’t help when a gadol tries to absolve large numbers of Orthodox Jews from the charge of heresy by stating, “Those who hold such views are not to be considered heretics for believing in heresy because of their ignorance of proper Torah hashkafa.”
You can’t separate a heretic from heresy. As Rav Chaim Soloveichik observed, “Nebech, an apikores is still an apikores.” So this only makes matters worse. And it puts a cloud over some truly great rabbinic figures who were educated in these subjects and are widely accepted even by the haredi world.
For example, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, zt”l, a genius whose knowledge in both limudei kodesh and limudei chol had few peers, held the very beliefs that are now being condemned as heresy. How does one reconcile the near universal acceptance of Rabbi Kaplan with the fact that his views on issues such as the age of the universe are now considered heretical?
This is not the way to win friends and influence people. Discussing blogs at a national convention without inviting Orthodox bloggers to participate isn’t going to sway thinking people and it will not advance kavod haTorah.
A far better approach (and it’s not too late to do this) would be to invite successful and intelligent bloggers like Rabbi Gil Student to address the Agudah Convention. Rabbi Student would give the convention some much-needed balance. What, after all, is to be gained by preaching to the choir? Agudah officials know full well their audience will endorse their pronouncements.
This would be the ideal time for Agudah to actually become the broad-based umbrella institution of Orthodoxy it claims to be. Why not invite non-haredi rabbinic leaders to address the audience on these issues – men like Rav Hershel Schachter or Rabbi Yosef Blau? Why not bring these other perspectives to the fore? If the goal really is to increase kavod haTorah, this would be a far better and broader way of doing it.
Imagine the impact the presence of other Orthodox groups would make. Agudah members would surely gain a heightened sense of respect for those whose hashkafos differ from theirs. At the same time, individuals who in the past may have felt alienated from Agudah would have a newfound appreciation for the organization and its leaders.
Mutual respect. Isn’t that the basis for real ahavat Yisrael? Respect does not mean agreement. We can agree to disagree on some issues. But instead of the enmity and name-calling one often finds on both sides, there could be a new sense of brotherhood. There would then hopefully be no more denigration of Torah leadership, whether by one side against members of the Moetzes or by the other side toward the Rav, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, zt”l, and his talmidim. And there is no better time to start than right now.
This is one Centrist who would welcome such a long overdue reconciliation.