Tsvi Bisk – Why Reform Jews are more Jewish than the Haredim
I assert that Reform Judaism is a more authentic reflection of the social and historical character of the Jewish people than Haredi “Judaism”. The way Reform Jews relate to their Rabbis and conduct their lives reflects the moral character and historical tradition of Judaism more authentically than Haredi “Jews”. Haredim relate to their Rabbis the way Christians relate to Jesus – as an intermediary between the individual and God. This is completely contrary to the unmediated individual relationship which has been the Jewish tradition since the fall of the Temple. This makes the Haredim more of a cult than a legitimate expression of a Jewish tradition that holds individual responsibility as an ultimate value – the Rabbi as guru with acolytes who surrender their individual moral autonomy and judgement to the Rabbi’s wishes in even the most commonplace aspects of their lives. Many revere their Rabbi as ‘holy’– this is an idolatry of a person; a mini-Jesus (Avoda Zara to the extreme). This is completely contrary to Jewish tradition. In the Mishnah Yehoshua ben Perachia says, “Make for yourself (italics mine) a Rav (teacher), The Rambam and the Maharal both explain that the Mishnah is careful to say “make” for yourself a teacher, not to “acquire” one; just like you “make” for yourself a sukkah. The Haredim do not make for themselves a Rav, they acquire one by being born into or joining a community where the Rav is a hereditary absolute ruler – a kind of spiritual North Korea. This is why I put Judaism and Jews in inverted commas when referring to the Haredim. They are more Judaist cults than historically authentic Jews; people who surrender their human autonomy; who surrender their very personhood to another human being – a Jewish version of the Moonies!
The European Enlightenment and the Jews
Reform and Haredim are both reactions to the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which stemmed from the European Enlightenment of the 17th century, which was a result of the Scientific Revolution of the 16th century, which was a consequence of the Renaissance. The Reform Movement was part and parcel of this revolution in Jewish life; the Haredim were the counter revolution. Most historians of Orthodoxy agree that Haredi Judaism, in its modern organizational form, actually began at the start of the 20th century, when in 1912, the World Agudath Israel organization was established. Chronologically, neither has preeminence over the other. The Haredi reaction was to build an ever rising wall to keep Enlightenment principles and scientific knowledge out – anything that might encourage critical questioning of so-called “traditional” religious observance. Rav Elazar Menachem Shach , a dominant figure in the non-Hassidic Haredi world, likened the study of ‘worldly wisdom’ (secular subjects) to apostasy and labored tirelessly to keep the hundreds of yeshivas and schools under his spiritual influence completely ignorant of science, math, technology, history, philosophy and languages. This is completely foreign to historical precedent. ‘Jewishness’ is an evolutionary identity that has preserved its cultural vigor over time by constantly adapting to its environment, not trying to hide from its environment.
Unlike the Haredim, Reform Jews attempted to adapt Jewish life and religion to the developments of the European Enlightenment – especially the science that gave it birth. In this they resembled Rambam who believed that what we discover about the universe obligates rabbinical interpretation of the sources (and not the reverse); that the Halacha must adapt itself to secular knowledge; that we cannot discard secular knowledge because it does not jibe with inherited Halacha – the Halacha being, by definition, in a constant state of enrichment. Supporters of the Haskalah felt (and feel) that Judaism must change in keeping with the social changes around them. Reform, Conservative, and some modern Orthodox Jews, as well as Yiddishists and Zionists are the result of this recognition for the Jewish need to adapt to modern culture in order to survive and flourish. The Enlightenment is when the Jewish people fully reentered human history as vital contributors to and recipients of world culture. This is when the Jewry and the Judaism of today came into being. This is when Israel and American Jewry became the two protagonists in the ongoing drama of Jewish history and when Jewish Nobel winners highlighted the role Jews play in human civilization.
Rambam
Rambam despised ignorance and believed that Jews required the knowledge of the nations in order to serve God – that to be great in Torah one had to be great in the worldly knowledge of the time. In The Guide to the Perplexed (written in classical Arabic using Hebrew characters) he specifies that the highest human achievement is the perfection of the intellect, which is impossible without the pursuit of truth, which is the only way to fully comprehend the Torah. He was greatly influenced by Aristotle and since Aristotle’s philosophy was the science of its day, it might be said that the Rambam was a scientist. He felt we were obligated to understand Torah in a way that was compatible with the findings of ‘science’ which is why he called on each generation to reinterpret the sources, since general knowledge constantly gave us better tools to conduct this reinterpretation. He did not live in an intellectual ghetto. He studied and was influenced by Moslem philosophers such as al-Farabi, Avicenna (Ibn Sina,), al-Ghazali, and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). He wrote in Arabic – the universal language of his day (much like English today). His thinking influenced St. Thomas Aquinas who actually referenced Rambam’s views (as ‘Rabbi Moses’) in his great work the Summa Theologiae, which has been the basis for Catholic theology until this very day. He was a physician, a jurist and an astronomer. If he were living in the time of Rav Shach he would have been condemned as a ‘muksa’ – an outcast, an apostate. He was Saladin’s personal physician and allegedly Richard the Lion-Hearted tried to tempt him away from Saladin to become his personal physician. What is really interesting for modern Jews is that he differentiated between true beliefs and necessary beliefs – beliefs not necessarily true but educationally necessary. Thus his list of 613 mitzvoth should not be understood at simple face value but as a way to educate the unschooled masses of his benighted time according to what they were capable of comprehending at that time. There were several competitors for the 613 but Rambam’s became standard.
613 Mitzvoth! Really?
But even more important for the thesis of this article is the fact not all the great Rabbis felt the 613 was a compulsory precondition to being considered a good Jew. Some declared the number not to be an authentic tradition; some claimed that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. Also, even when the number itself gained acceptance, disagreements arose regarding what commandments were to be included. Saadia Gaon, for example, did not endorse the concept of 613 mitzvoth. Ibn Ezra denied that this was even an authentic rabbinic tradition. In Yesod Mora he wrote “Some sages enumerate 613 mitzvoth in many diverse ways […] but in truth there is no end to the number of mitzvoth […] and if we were to count only the root principles […] the number of mitzvoth would not reach 613”. Nahmanides, (Ramban) argued that the very concept of 613 was in dispute; that rabbinic opinion was not unanimous. Rabbi Simeon ben Zemah Duran (the Rashbatz ) likewise rejected the dogma of the 613. In addition to being a Rabbi the Rashbatz was a student of philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Of course, this would make him very suspect in the eyes of today’s Haredim and as with the Rambam he would be condemned as ‘muksa’. Gersonides (the RaLBaG) held that the number 613 was only one rabbi’s opinion. Even the Vilna Gaon suggested that there were more than 613 commandments else much of the Torah would be unexplainable. Prior to the Middle Ages no Biblical commentary or discussion of Jewish law depended on the 613 system. To make it a standard of Jewish authenticity today is, therefore, both logically absurd and historically inaccurate.
Ironically, given the subsequent course of non-Hassidic Haredim under Shach and others, the Vilna Gaon encouraged his students to study natural sciences, and even translated geometry books into Yiddish and Hebrew (this implies he was fluent in other languages). At the age of eight, he was studying astronomy ; at the age of twenty even non-Jewish scholars, sought his insights into mathematics and astronomy. He rejected all honorifics and lived a simple life as a teacher rather than making his living as an official Rabbi or Rosh Yeshiva. In other words, he was closer to Rambam than to Shach and is proof that the path of intentional ignorance followed by subsequent generations of Haredim is doubly non-authentic.
Given this, Reform Jews not adhering to the 613 does not make them less authentic and certainly not less moral. Indeed, given modern concepts of morality actually following the 613 to the letter would make one a borderline psychopath. I make this jarring claim because many non-observant as well as observant Jews present the 613 as an Ideal rather than something that can actually be followed. But, just look at the four death sentences enumerated in the 613: Stoning, Burning, Beheading, and Garroting (seriously, this is an ideal?). The fact that the death sentence was rarely imposed because of the evidentiary, procedural and substantive barriers to conviction inherent in Jewish due process (the real ideal), in no way obviates the fact that there are actually 34 infractions that warrant the death penalty by one of these means – in other words, as an ideal of the Jewish belief system. These include a woman found not to be a virgin on her wedding night (enforcing this one alone we would end up killing more Jews than Hitler), adultery (ditto) extra-marital sex (a self-inflicted final solution). As regards animal sacrifice (around 100 of the 613 commandments) do we really want to turn the Temple Mount into a giant slaughter house; a MacDonald’s for the Levites in order that an anthropomorphic God’s olfactory senses be pleased by the fragrance of burning animal flesh? This is a Jewish ideal in the 21st century?
The Religion Business
On the other hand, we can infer the contempt the Rambam would have had for those making a living from the Religion Business. In the Mishneh Torah, he wrote:
Anyone who occupies oneself with Torah and not working, but supporting oneself with charity, desecrates the Divine name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil to oneself and forfeits life in the world to come because it is forbidden to benefit from the words of Torah in this world. Our sages say, “All who benefit [materially] from the words of Torah forfeit life in the world.” …And they also commanded, “Love work and hate the Rabbinate and all Torah that is not accompanied by work in the end will be negated and will lead to sin. The end of such a person will be that he steals from others.”
Israel’s present corrupt kashrut racket validates the last sentence of Rambam’s comments: “The end of such … person(s) will be that [they] steal from others.” Many of the 18,000 state salaried mashgichim never even show up for work in the hotels that pay them or supervise the restaurants and grocery stores they certify. Few if any have the technical and professional skills to adequately supervise the food industry; they are not trained mechanical or food engineers – mashgichim sitting next to a machine muttering the psalms does not guarantee kashrut. Many demand extra money under the table simply for the kashrut credential. Many young educated modern Orthodox Jews in the food and beverage industry have grown disgusted by this behavior and refuse to have their stores or restaurants credentialed by these people – but declare, on their honor, that their food is prepared according to Halachic standards. The Rabbis themselves do not depend on the validity of kashrut certification issued by the Rabbinate’s own mashgichim and will only eat food validated by independent mashgichim. Yet because the kashrut business is a vital cash-cow for the religion business the Rabbinate refuses to reform the situation. The hypocrisy beggars the imagination; the corruption inherent in this situation is an open abscess on Jewish dignity.
Would the Rambam not empathize, therefore, with present day secular Israel’s contempt for religion? If people who make an honest living in crafts, trade or the profession are preferable to people who make a living off of the religion industry wouldn’t he have more respect for Reform Jews as individuals than for today’s Haredim (while being deeply critical of Reform theology of course)? In my opinion he would have identified with the Conservative Movement’s official ideology and life style much more than the Haredim. All the early Talmudic sages worked and made their livings from an occupation other than being a Rabbi. Hillel was a woodchopper, Shammai the Elder was a builder. Others made their livings as field laborers, gravediggers, launderers, cotton dealers, school teachers, scribes, tanners, shoemakers, blacksmiths, merchants, tailors, vintners, farmers and cattlemen, beer brewers, salt traders, silk merchants, and doctors. Rabbi Shemaiah declared “I love work and hate the Rabbinate”. Rambam never took one cent for his duties as a Rabbi.
The Wisdom of the Nations
As far as keeping Judaism pure and free from alien cultural influences consider some of the great Rabbis and Jewish thinkers other than the Rambam who were influenced by Aristotle and Plato by way of Muslim thinkers, and were fully involved with the intellectual, cultural and social life of their time, and did not hide themselves within self-imposed ghettos. Yitzhak ha-Yisraeli (c.832– c.932) was an Egyptian-Jewish physician and philosopher. He was the first to combine the Neoplatonic idea of emanation with traditional Jewish doctrine of ‘creation from nothing’. For him, God created the first level of matter, and all subsequent levels of existence emanated from it. This philosophical position is a genome of the Cabala and is somewhat analogous to Catholic doctrine regarding ‘secondary causes’, (also probably derived from Neoplatonic thought). He was famous as a physician in the Arab world and served as physician to the caliph ‘Ubaid Allah al-Mahdi. Several of his medical works were translated into Latin in 1087 (150 years after his death) by the Christian monk Constantine of Carthage and used as textbooks in Christian Europe for several centuries.
Saadia Gaon (892– 942) wrote the first Hebrew dictionary (in Arabic). He translated the entire Bible into Arabic. His four proofs of God’s unity were based on Islamic traditions. He is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature. His philosophical work The Book of Beliefs and Opinions represents the first systematic attempt to integrate Jewish theology with components of Greek philosophy. He established a new school of Biblical exegesis characterized by a rational investigation of the contents of the Bible and a scientific knowledge of the language of the holy text.
Solomon ibn Gabirol was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher in the Neoplatonic tradition. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works about the Bible, philosophy, ethics and satire. He was one of the first teachers of Neoplatonism in Europe. He wrote The Fountain of Life in Arabic which greatly influenced the Catholic world (in Latin Fons Vitæ). He made use of Plato’s Socratic dialog form as a framework to discuss his theory of the ‘First Cause’ – an Aristotelian concept.
Ibn Ezra‘s (1092-1167) religious and philosophical writings were also based upon a Neoplatonist and rationalist (Aristotelian) framework. His rationalist commentary of the Bible anticipated the methods used by both the Reform and Conservative movements. He was a major figure in the history of mathematics. He wrote three essays on numbers which helped spread Indian numbers and other mathematical ideas in Europe – especially the concept of the Zero. George Sarton, a Belgian Catholic professor, was the founder of the discipline called the history of science. His Introduction to the History of Science is the fundamental text of the field. The second volume of this history is entitled From Rabbi Ben Ezra to Roger Bacon. Ibn Ezra was also a Paytan (a poet) – the word piyutim (poems) derives from the Greek poites (Greek influencing Hebrew). His poems, like his friend Yehuda Halevy, depended on an Arabic poetic form called muwaššaḥ. Ibn Ezra did not feel it was un-Jewish to absorb and apply the thinking and methods of the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Hindus. The Abnezra Crater on the moon is named in his honor as a mathematician. Robert Browning wrote a poem entitled Rabbi Ben Ezra. John Lennon’s song Grow Old with Me is based on the first line of Browning’s poem. The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote a novel also entitled Grow Old with Me.
Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (Gersonides) (1288–1344), or RaLBaG was a philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician and astronomer. He was a strict Aristotelian which led him to rationalize many of the miracles in the Bible – i.e. explain them by naturalist, not supernatural means. Some of his commentaries on Aristotle and Muslim philosopher Averroes’ commentaries about Aristotle are included in the early Latin (Christian) editions of Aristotle’s works. His most important treatise is entitled Sefer Milhamot Ha-Shem, (“The Wars of the Lord”). A portion of it, containing an elaborate survey of astronomy as known to the Arabs, was translated into Latin in 1342 at the request of Pope Clement VI. He wrote Maaseh Hoshev in 1321 dealing with arithmetical operations including extraction of square and cube roots, various algebraic identities, and other very complex mathematical issues. The work is notable for its early use of proof by mathematical induction. In 1342, Levi wrote On Sines, Chords and Arcs, which examined trigonometry, in particular proving the sine law for plane triangles and giving five-figure sine tables. One year later, at the request of the Bishop of Meaux, he wrote The Harmony of Numbers. He proved that there are only four such pairs: (1,2), (2,3), (3,4) and (8,9). He is also credited to have invented the Jacob’s Staff, an instrument that measured the angular distance between celestial objects. He is the only astronomer before modern times to have estimated correctly stellar distances. Whereas all other astronomers put the stars on a rotating sphere just beyond the outer planets, Rabbi Levi estimated the distance to the stars to be ten billion times greater, of the order of 100 light-years. Using data he collected from his own observations, he refuted Ptolemy’s model in what the prominent physicist Yuval Ne’eman considered as “one of the most important insights in the history of science”. Ne’eman argued that after Levi reviewed Ptolemy’s model with its epicycles he realized that it could be checked, by measuring the changes in the brightness of Mars and looking for cyclical changes along the conjectured epicycles. As a consequence these ceased being dogma; they were theories verifiable by experiment. Rabbi Levi developed tools for these measurements, including pinholes and the ‘camera obscura‘. Since the results of his observations did not fit Ptolemy’s model he concluded that the model was inadequate. Rabbi Levi tried (unsuccessfully) to improve on it. It took another three centuries for Copernicus to succeed. But Rabbi Levi was the first to falsify the Alexandrian dogma – the first known instance of modern falsification philosophy. Levi also showed that Ptolemy’s model for the lunar orbit, though reproducing correctly the evolution of the Moon’s position, failed to predict the size of the Moon in its motion. The lunar crater Rabbi Levi is named after him. Rabbi Levi is an important character in the novel The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears, where he is depicted as the mentor of the protagonist Olivier de Noyen, a non-Jewish poet and intellectual. A (fictional) encounter between Rabbi Levi and Pope Clement VI at Avignon during the Black Death is a major element in the book’s plot.
Today’s Haredim would condemn all of the rabbinical giants cited above as being apostates, enemies of the faith, to be treated as outcasts by the community.
Gentiles and Judaism
The influence of Platonism, Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neoplatonism, on the development of the Cabala has long been long recognized and documented by scholars. Moreover, the development of the Cabala in Renaissance Italy was a product of the interaction between Jewish and non-Jewish Cabalists who had been taught by Jews. Later these Christian Cabalists saved the Talmud from being burned by appealing directly to the Pope. Without this interaction and cross-fertilization of ideas Jewish books of all types would have been burned by the Church rather than printed and disseminated with the approval of the Church.
The printing press, as we know, was invented by a non-Jew. The ‘people of the book’ finally had real books available to everyone (not just some rabbinical elite) instead of scrolls. The famous Jewish Book Shelf is entirely a consequence of Gentile innovation and initiative. Renaissance Italy was the first place the complete Talmud was printed. How this affected Jewish habits of cognition and associative thinking can only be speculated upon. Would there even have been a modern Jewry or Judaism (not the same thing) without this Gentile Renaissance? Consider that it was a Christian printer in Venice named Daniel Bomberg who initiated the first printing of the complete Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds (under the supervision of Rabbi Chiya Meir b. David, a Rosh Yeshiva and Dayan on the Venice rabbinical court). He accomplished this by first gaining approval from the Pope, something no Jew could have done. (One speculates how much he “contributed” to the Vatican in return for this lucrative approval). The Bomberg Talmud is still standard today, including the layout of the commentators of Rashi and Tosfot. Rabbi Moshe Dror attributed the birth of modern Jewish genius to the Jewish predilection for the associative thinking demanded by the very structure of the page in the Bomberg Talmud.
Subsequent to printing the Talmud, Bomberg printed the first Mikraot Gdolot (Rabbinic Bible). Again he petitioned Pope for approval (again something no Jew could have done). Bomberg was the first to number chapters and verses in a Hebrew bible. The Catholics had already adopted this practice in the 13th century, and Jews (actually Bomberg) followed in the 15th century. Bomberg’s publishing house printed about 200 Hebrew books, including prayer books affordable to the common man. He made a lot of money from printing Jewish books and in doing so made an incalculable contribution to Jewish civilization. We might compare him to Cyrus. High schools and highways in Israel should be named after him.
The Haredim choose to be ignorant of all of the above, and above all to make sure their children continued to remain ignorant; the first time in Jewish history that ignorance has become an ideal. They have insured this ignorance by cocooning themselves in ghettos; the first time in Jewish history that self-imposed ghettos have become an ideal. They are the outliers of Jewish history, not its authentic expression. The Jews have always interacted with other cultures and peoples – absorbing from them and contributing to them. There is no such thing as pure unadulterated Judaism and never has been. To dismiss Reform because it has absorbed elements of other cultures as not being pure Jewish is unhistorical. From the time of King Solomon we have interacted with general human history. These interactions have been intellectual, commercial, social, and cultural – as well as religious. Without this interaction the Jews would not have survived. Even the Haredim survive today only because non-Haredi Jewry (the products of the Haskalah) supports them directly and indirectly. Reform Jews, on the other hand, are not only independent but contribute to the support of other Jewish and non-Jewish communities, including Israel (and thus, indirectly, to the Haredim).
The Haredi Con and Will to Power
The Haredim have manipulated their authenticity-con to conquer seats of Jewish power such as Israel’s Chief Rabbinate which has been granted monopoly power, by the state, over the most intimate aspects of Jewish life – namely marriage and divorce. The fact is that Jewish law provides no scriptural or Talmudic support for the post of a “chief rabbi.” The position arose in Europe in the Middle Ages from the Gentile governing authorities largely for secular administrative reasons such as collecting taxes and registering vital statistics, and for providing an intermediary between the government and the Jewish community. Crown rabbis existed in Iberia until the expulsion in 1492 and in Russia until the 20th century. They were either appointed by or approved by the secular authorities and often had dictatorial powers over the community. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate was formalized under the British Mandate, as part of British policy throughout the empire. In its present form we can say that the very existence of Israel’s Chief Rabbis is a British invention. Since the Haredim have obtained all but complete control over this institution, initiating evermore primitive restrictions it has become perhaps the most disliked institution in Israel. This is the Rabbinate that Rambam and others hated.
The Haredim misleadingly market themselves as the most authentic Jews to non-orthodox Jews, who are often ignorant of Jewish history and suffering from “Fiddler on the Roof” syndrome (“oh honey, look at the dancing Hassid; just like ‘Fiddler on the Roof'”). This is a marketing con based on Jewish ignorance of Jewish history. The historical truth is that when Haredi Rabbis ban the study of secular subjects and celebrate ignorance of ‘worldly wisdom’, it is they that are antagonistic to truly authentic Jewish history. The Haredim shrewdly exploit this ignorance in order to raise money to sustain their unproductive, dependent way of life. Reform and Conservative Jews donate huge sums to Haredi Yeshivas in order to assuage their ‘guilt’ at not really being ‘authentic’ Jews. They even contribute to Yeshivas that teach that the Holocaust was God’s punishment for the Reform Movement. I have been told by Reform Rabbis that when Reform Jews visit Israel they contribute twice as much to Haredi Yeshivas than to Reform institutions. This is a phenomenon analogous to the equally stupid ‘Gays for Palestine’. I might even compare it to a fictional ‘Negroes for Apartheid’. How otherwise intelligent people can support their enemies – people who are doing everything in their power to deny them their inalienable right of freedom of religion in the Jewish State – is beyond comprehension. Please Reform (and Conservative) Jews, straighten your backs and walk proudly – you are the authentic representatives of Jewish tradition.
Tsvi Bisk’s latest book is The Suicide of the Jews
