"And Thou Shalt Love..."

"And Thou Shalt Love..."

6 Sivan 5722 - June 8, 1962 The Jewish Press

Yesterday, another Conservative Temple was dedicated.
Yesterday, ten more Jews married outside their faith.
Yesterday, a hundred thousand Jewish families sat down to enjoy a non-kosher meal.

Still yesterday, a million Jews lounged about the house discussing their Saturday auto ride to visit the relatives, while in New York and Cincinnati a score of young men prepared for their coming ordination as rabbis in the Reform movement.
Again yesterday, the largest gathering in the history of the Rabbinical Assembly - the national association of Conservative rabbis - convened to map its future program.

Yesterday, Reform rabbis continued to marry and divorce, and convert individuals in violation of Jewish Law. And yesterday, three million Jewish children played in the streets, victims of their elders' ignorance and apathy, divorced from the beauties and truths of traditional Judaism, wanderers down a path that could end only in religious destruction.

Our Age

The age we live in is not an age of faith. It is an age of reason, of doctrinal skepticism, of pragmatism, of agnosticism. It is an age of science that questions all. It is an age of Marxism that preaches materialism, not spirit. It is an age of cynicism and fraud. It is an age where religion is pushed to the side, doubted by the intellect, attacked by the Marxist, played with by the masses.

It is an age that threatens the values that we hold dear. Torah and its pillar - faith - face a life and death struggle with this new age and its flashing rapiers, doubt and materialism. Day by day the struggle continues. In every hamlet, in the soul of every Jew, the battle rages. Day by day traditional Judaism is faced with greater and greater problems, with an ever-widening gulf between it and the mass of our brother Jews with ever growing heartbreak.

The Need

If ever there was a need for brotherly unity it is today; if ever there was a need for the clasping of our hands in love and fellowship it is at this moment.

But it is not so. The disease of disunity is an ancient curse among us. Its shadow lies across the remains of our wrecked hopes, hovers about us, frustrating our dreams. It is as if a suicidal urge to destroy ourselves drives us to waste our energies in petty bickering, absurd name calling and minute hair splitting.

We have so much energy. Energy to heap abuse on those other Orthodox Jews who might deviate ever so slightly from our particular standards. Energy to painstakingly search out the minutest failings in the other Orthodox Jew. Energy to condemn every Orthodox institution which ddes not conform every day in every way to our own strictures.

Great Chasms

We live amidst yawning chasms and divides, separated by mountainous barriers. We live with fences and partitions, and refuse to meet and know our brothers. It is true for all sectors. False and foolish tales are told about a Yeshiva University, and absurdities are spread concerning the Hassidim of Williamsburg. To the one, the young American rabbi is an impious ignoramus, and to the other the European scholar is an outdated and backward fossil. Fantastic pictures are given of a Mizrachi, and cynical slander of an Agudah.

It is tempting to feel martyrdom, to imagine that all the world is wrong, and we ' alone know the truth. And so, Mir has its way, and Telz its "derech," and Chaim Berlin its shitah, and Torah - poor Torah, mah t'hay aleha - what shall become of it?
If only we were all motivated by sincerity! How soon we would see that the differences are small, and the fantasies great; that the similarities are many, and the sins really so few. If only we were motivated by love! Our hearts would have no room for the hatreds that poison us, our arms would be too full to push our brothers away. If only we would open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our minds to think and to ponder and to consider.

Love

The Ari Ha'Kadosh wrote once: "Before every tfiloh (prayer), let there be taken upon oneself the Mitzvas Asey - the positive commandment - of V'ahavta Le Rayacha Kamocha: Love thy neighbor as thyself. And he shall intend by this to love every one of Israel as his own soul ... Therefore should he say with full sincerity: Behold, I accept upon myself the positive commandment of V'ahavta Le Rayacha Kamocha."

Consider the price that we pay for disunity, for this failure to love our fellow Jews. Consider how this love could help to create a great and unified Orthodoxy to build and grow and bring back the lost flocks of our people. But perhaps this is irrelevant, perhaps it is immaterial. For is not the mitzvah of loving a fellow Jew important just for itself? Is not just that one mitzvah alone what the world is all about?

In any event, now is the need, now is the time. What immeasurable strength lies within the power of Orthodoxy! What untold resources lie buried within our midst. What a treasure of manpower and financial assets can be ours if we but make use of them!

If the Nelson Gluecks and Mordechai Kaplans of the world bother us - surely they will not go away by our attacking the Jews of Williamsburg. If the United Synagogue and Temple Emanu-El disturb us - it is clear that they will not disappear with an attack upon Orthodox organizations or Siddurim (prayer books). We are tilting with windmills, we are fighting with ghosts, we do battle with false enemies.

It is enough! Let men of good will from all the wings and shadings of Torah Jewry put an end to the depressing and endless sterility of dispute. Surely it is clear that there never was and never will be a time when every Orthodox Jew will agree with every other one. It is obvious that there will always be errors and mistakes by Orthodox Jews - organizations, rabbis, and laymen. The main point, however, must surely be for us to understand that the motives of all are basically pure and unselfish.

Surely men of good will, reasonable men, mature men TALMIDEI CHACHAMIM - can see that the way of division, of hair splitting, of name calling can never aid us, but may G-d forbid help to destroy us. Surely, by the same token, they can recognize the truth that lies in the concept of merger of the righteous being good for them and for the world.

We must become obsessed with the idea of Orthodox unity. We must become obsessed with the wonderful dream of Orthodox love. We must see this before ourselves at all times. Long enough have we dwelt in the valley of disunity. Let us show that we can rise above factionalism. For the sake of Heaven, and for our own sake let us find ourselves again before it is too late.

###

(Return to the Essays Main Page)