From: allen@golem.ssc.gov (Michael Allen)
Subject: Re: On Orthodox Monopoly
Reply-To: allen@ssc.gov
Organization: SSC Laboratory, Dallas, TX
	<1992Sep8.223245.24953@cbnews.cb.att.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 18:32:30 GMT

>>>>> On Tue, 8 Sep 1992 22:32:45 GMT, ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet) said:
[...]
Arthur> What conservative Judaism does is continue to interpret the written
Arthur> law, and not freeze it in the distant past.

As has been pointed out before, no one argues that the Written Law can
be interpreted in innumerable ways.  Every Western religion claims to
be based on the Written Law, and they all have all sorts of proofs.
These proofs are more often than not very clever and well reasoned,
and of course they strike a chord of "modern relevance" and claim
improvement.  You are right that traditional Judaism freezes the
interpretation in the distant past -- at the point that Moshe Rabbenu
learned straight from the source.  The Mesorah ("tradition", or
"passing of understanding from one generation to the next") is not a
liability, rather it is our greatest strength.  Before one rejects the
Mesorah out of hand, it is worth spending the time to understand it.

Arthur> As examples, some of the more well-known responsa are:
Arthur>    - is electricity per se allowed on shabbat (yes - with restrictions)
Arthur>    - are women permitted to be counted in a minyan (yes)
Arthur>    - is a woman permitted to be a rabbi (yes)
Arthur>    - Is commercial wine prepared in the United States treife (no)

Arthur> In each case, there is not a contradiction with the written law, and
Arthur> the author of the teshuva goes out of his way to meet orthodox
Arthur> counterarguments (which, not surprisingly, are still denied by most
Arthur> orthodox authorities).

A more accurate way to say this is that there is no disagreement with
a particular interpretation of the Written Law.  They all ignore the
Mitzvah (as given in several forms in Parashat Shoftim and elsewhere)
not to turn away from the path set by the Sages of each generation.
Torah observant Jews do not deny the various arguments, they just find
the various arguments to be lacking.  Note I said Jews and not
"authorities".  There should be a lot less reliance on human
authorities and a lot more thinking going on.

I feel compelled to comment on the women in the minyan question,
because I am distressed by the shabby way that women are treated in
both the Reform and Conservative movements.  Basically, both the
Reform and Conservative movements seem to say "women have no value
unless they are doing things that men do".  The minyan is and
excellent case in point.  The first questions to be addressed should
be "What are the ultimate goals?" and "What is the best way to
accomplish those goals?", not "How can we lower everyone to the lowest
common denominator?"

If we look through our Scripture, we see many examples of Tzadikim
praying, and it is usually (always?) solitary prayer.  In fact we
learn the proper way to pray the Shemoneh Esrei from a woman.  It
would seem, therefore, that the best way to pray is alone.  So what's
the minyan all about anyway?  When the 12 spies were sent into Eretz
Yisrael, ten of them (all men) came back with an evil report.  Two of
the spies and all of the women said "ignore them, if G-d wants says we
should go, then we know we will be successful".  The men,
unfortunately, sided with the ten spies and the consequences are all
too well known.  At some (early) time, therefore, the Sages decreed
that men should pray in groups of at least 10 in order to effect a
repair of the damage done by the 10 evil spies.
--
===================================================
But those who toiled knew nothing of the dreams of 
        Those Who Planned;                         
And the minds who planned the Tower of Babel       
        Cared nothing for the workers who built it.

	-Metropolis