Rabbi Eliyahu Stern: January 2007 Archives

So burial grounds have now become the new battle grounds for American Jewish identity.

In a responsa regarding the permissibility of burying Jews and non-Jews together, Rabbi David Golikin, whom I have enormous respect for, closes his ruling that both Jewish and non-Jewish burial grounds must remain separated by saying, "Let us hope and pray that the phenomenon of intermarriage will disappear, so that in the future we will be able to build cemeteries without partitions."

Instinctively and halakhically, I agree with Rabbi Golikin's general position. Both the Orthodox and Conservative movements do not allow the burial of Jews and non-Jews together. As Rabbi Waxman points out, the position against mixed burial plots is based more on minhag (Jewish custom) than actual halakhic textual sources.

The problem is that Rabbi Golikin's blessing belies the reality that intermarriage is not going away and will continue to gain prominence as a lifestyle option for Jews. Likewise, there is something to be said for someone who wants to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. While being born as a Jew may have more halakhic weight, dying as a Jew is certainly an important statement regarding one's identity.

In some ways, what is a greater statement of one's identity than where they decide to be buried? If one's eternal burial choice does not tell you who they really are and what they want their memory to be, than what does?

That said, would we not bury an Israeli soldier born of a non-Jewish Russian immigrant in a Jewish grave? The sad reality is that many in Israel would, and do, not. While I am not advocating that a custom kept for thousands of years be suddenly revoked, it would not hurt us to rethink some of the particulars of what has become a very complex matter.

Rabbi Grossman gets it just right on the issue of Judaism’s relationship to bio-ethical issues. Here Judaism radically differs with certain elements of the Christian tradition. Instead of looking for an all-embracing universal theory that runs through every situation--such as the Catholic belief in the concept of life--Judaism privileges the particular. Each situation is a world unto itself demanding a re-weighing and reevaluating of the myriad of values found in Jewish law and thought.

By focusing on the specifics of each case Judaism gives ultimate significance to the individual and his/her particular existence. That said, whose to say that there are not situations when a nose job, breast implants, or growth hormones might be enormously redemptive, allowing a person to live with themselves and stop looking at themselves in the mirror? The fact that every Jewish male receives a brit (circumcision) when they are born signifies that Judaism does not see human nature as an end unto itself. Human beings are meant to perfect themselves, and sometimes that means even their bodies.

Rabbi Grossman, if you read my posts, you would see that I have no problem condemning Orthodox violence. I have done so many times before on this blog and in other publications. Nor am I, nor have I ever been interested in apologizing for any form of violence.

Regarding your claim that I am defensive about condemning violence: Huh? I don’t know where you got that from, maybe you are confusing me with a different Rabbi Stern.

If it makes you feel better, I would like to tell America: “I condemn Orthodox violence.”

All that I am saying is that I am bored silly with clichéd liberal statements about Orthodox Jews being violent. I have no problem repeating things and saying the obvious but not when such comments and statements become blinders preventing people from dealing with other issues. Your comments are at best obvious and at worst a blinder. Personally, if I was a conservative rabbi, I would asking myself why Orthodoxy has been so successful in the past 20 years while my own movement has not.

What you fail to address is the real story, which is that more Jews are becoming Orthodox. Why don’t you take a minute and try to understand that phenomenon and the allure of more right-wing Jewish groups. Is it, as Rabbi Waxman says, because of certainty? Maybe. Perhaps it's because Orthodoxy offers peoples answers in their lives?

You see, Rabbi Grossman, it is very easy to beat up on Orthodoxy. God knows how many times I could do it every day. What is more interesting and ultimately productive, however, is trying to understand Orthodoxy and its cultural logic.

Reading Rabbi Waxman’s post, I thought to myself “I could easily have written the exact same piece…10 years ago when I was freshman at Yeshiva University.” Much of what Rabbi Waxman says is correct. The problem is that it’s too easy, it’s too obvious, and it fails to explain the rise and allure of Orthodoxy.

Rabbi Waxman fails to address the fact that Orthodox Judaism is on the rise. As Steven Cohen put it a few weeks ago at the Association for Jewish Studies annual conference in San Diego “Orthodoxy is American Jewry’s China.” Cohen pointed out the large numbers of Jews under the age of 18 who identify with Orthodoxy and predicated that Orthodoxy will only continue to grow.

While I personally think that other factors may impede Orthodox teenagers from becoming Orthodox adults, the bottom line remains that Orthodox Judaism is not going anywhere and continues to gain adherents. (At a later date I will try to explain the social and religious logic of this phenomenon.)

But the biggest problem I have with Rabbi Waxman’s post is that in the broad scheme of things Orthodox physical violence–and there is no doubt that this group does have a greater propensity for violence than other Jewish groups–is still relatively speaking not much to write home about. For the most part, relative to its cohorts in other religious communities, it is a pretty peaceful and tolerant religious community. Comparing fundamentalist Jewish Orthodoxy with its Christian and Islamic counterparts is like comparing Little Red Riding Hood with the Big Bad Wolf. The bottom line is that no matter how violent fundamentalist Orthodoxy is, it is constantly being silenced, critiqued, and shunned by the broader Jewish community.

We have our crazies. Take Yigal Amir, the Orthodox Jewish assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the rabbis who supported him. But for the most part we do a much better job than other religious groups at ensuring that these groups are marginalized. In this regard I fully support Rabbi Waxman that we as a community must be vigilant in condemning militant and fundamentalist Orthodoxy.

Rabbi Waxman, unlike the Muslim community where a large, violent minority dictates the politics and positions of the mostly peaceful majority, at least 95 percent of Jews and Orthodox Jews object to and condemn all forms of interdenominational violence.


Rabbi Waxman: Open Closed Minds

Rabbi Grossman: Shun the Haters