Notes & News
NOTES & NEWS Yeshiva President Admits Probable Error in Calling Reform and Conservative Judaism "Valid" When the New York Times reported that Rabbi Norman Lamm, rosh yeshiva and president of...
...Her father would not speak to her from that time on, refused to go to her wedding and never met his grandchildren...
...That is why it is necessary for me to say so...
...In the end, however, Lamm told Twerski, "No Orthodox Jew can legitimate groups which are clearly anti-halachic [i.e...
...Will the Next Woman at 10 Downing Street Be a Jew...
...Cautioning men to avoid AIDS while traveling, she urged them to "Take your wives abroad...
...Let them live or let them leave.' That has always been our motto," Shinbaum explained...
...Because of her rapport with the public and Thatcher's apparent approval of her methods, Currie may well be a strong candidate for leader of the Conservative party when Thatcher retires...
...In his response to Twerski, Lamm explained that by recognizing Conservative and Reform Jews as "valid groupings," all he meant to say was that he relates to their leaders ' 'as leaders of religious groups within the Jewish community who must and should be worked with respectfully...
...We give top priority to enlightening Soviet Jews on the history of the people, but scarcity of information, almost absolute lack of necessary books and publications hinders the work considerably," Sokol wrote in his letter...
...The 41-year-old Parliamentary Undersecretary in the Department of Health and Human Services has political flair that is said to equal that of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher...
...Now perhaps the first female Jewish prime minister of Great Britain might be Anglican...
...The names of refuseniks were selected from lists provided to MOMENT by UCSJ and NCSJ...
...It has also attempted to open a museum...
...Bloch is on the executive board of the American Jewish Congress and the board of directors of Arena Stage in Washington, and is a patron of the Phillips Collection...
...Edwina Currie is a household name in England...
...It wasn't that the culture failed, and I don't think that I failed...
...The conclusion does not follow from the premises...
...Conservative Jews] as to make most of their writing on Halachah [religious law] meaningless and befuddling...
...Rabbi Lamm then responded to Rabbi Twerski, who then published a rejoinder to Rabbi Lamm...
...One of them, Rabbi Aaron Twerski, professor of law at Brooklyn Law School and tnusmach (rabbinical graduate) of Yeshiva Ner Israel in Baltimore, addressed an open letter attacking Rabbi Lamm in the Jewish Observer, a publication of Orthodox Agudath Israel of America...
...One of the main tasks of our Jewish cultural and educational society is developing national [Jewish] consciousness," Sokol wrote, "which is indispensable to the process of perestroika and democratization in our country...
...But of course...
...Those titles referred to 'positions,' but did not bestow honors by any means...
...Lamm rejects this position, while, nevertheless, recognizing that Conservative and Reform Jews are undermining Torah: "That they are undermining Torah I of course agree, but that they are all insincere or all have as their overriding ambition to destroy Torah—with that I disagree...
...With regard to 'spiritual dignity,' you ask whether the 'spiritual dignity' that I confer upon ConservaNew MOMENT Board Members Named Three new members have been appointed to moment's editorial advisory board: Stuart Marshall Bloch, Charles EL Smith and Frank Moore Cross...
...tives and Reform is such that I would not give it to a devout Jesuit priest or to a Tibetan monk...
...To this we must add the airmail costs of 10 issues to the USSR, S31.80, and an additional $63.00 for registration...
...We just did not mesh," said Currie...
...Currie has been excoriated as an example of assimilationism by Orthodox rabbis in Britain...
...And I might add that insincere people in our own camp do not possess spiritual dignity...
...Acknowledging integrity is not the same as giving semkhah [rabbinical ordination...
...Now, we see an era of glasnost, where Jews feel a little freer [to live Jewishly inside the Soviet Union...
...He has published and edited several books, journals and articles in his field, real estate law...
...Moscow Jewish Library Requests MOMENT Subscriptions MOMENT Magazine has found its way to the new "public" Jewish library in Moscow...
...With respect to Lamm's reference to the Torah's calling pagan priests "koh-anim," Twerski replied: "Those titles were not intended to, and did not, confer halachic status upon them...
...MOMENT is now sending five more subscriptions in care of Sokol to be placed in the Jewish library...
...The Moscow Jewish Association is one of several grass-roots organizations in the Soviet Union trying to legitimize a Jewish cultural rejuvenation and struggling to receive government recognition...
...Lamm agreed with Twerski that "Neither of us is happy with our contemporary non-Orthodox groups...
...He was a traditional Jewish dad," said Currie, "and this was 'Go and never darken my doorstep again,' so I said 'O.K.' and off I went...
...Each gift subscription buyer will receive the name and address of the recipient of his or her gift and is encouraged to write directly to that individual...
...Charles E Smith is a leading Washington, D.C, real estate developer and philanthropist Smith has been active in a variety of Jewish organizations...
...The only undersecretary with her own full-time press secretary, Currie is seen as a controversial figure because of her provocative manner of speaking and her bawdy sense of humor...
...It was said of Barry Goldwater, when he was running for president: "I always knew that the first Jewish president would be Episcopalian...
...Currie was brought up in a strict Orthodox household, and won honors for Jewish studies as a child...
...The formation of the association is a "wonderful and remarkable" event, said Myrna Shinbaum, acting director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ...
...Shinbaum noted that the government has not recently harassed or arrested any individuals involved in the Moscow Jewish Association...
...Not everyone in this age of opportunism is devious even if in error...
...Shinbaum's support of the grass-roots organization was echoed by Pamela Cohen, national president of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ...
...For a long time aliyah has been what Jews have fought for...
...Thus, the new cost of a Soviet subscription is now $112.80...
...Stuart Marshall Bloch is a prominent Washington, D.C, attorney and legal publisher...
...The culture didn't do for me personally...
...In his rejoinder, Twerski wrote: "You quite agree with my characterization that the 'spiritual dignity' you would confer upon them [Reform and Conservative leaders] is comparable to that conferred on a Tibetan monk...
...Nobody ever confused pagan priesthood with halachic legitimacy...
...Your assistance in this matter would be very much appreciated...
...There are, I gather, no differences between us on this point—the most important of all...
...It is only, Rabbi Lamm said in defending himself, ^de facto recognition . . . not qualitatively different from the way we deal with secular groups...
...They were of different religions...
...Currie and Margaret Thatcher share the same birthday and economic background...
...But according to a New York Times article, Currie knew from the age of 16 that she did not want to live within the Orthodox Jewish community...
...I therefore categorically reject your conclusion that my ascription of spiritual dignity to deserving devia-tionist Jews 'implies granting rabbinic legitimacy' to them...
...The Soviet Jewry movement is changing," she said, "and the need for a new Jewish cultural awareness is felt not only by Jews who want to leave, but by those who have not yet applied to leave...
...The author of nearly 200 books and articles, Cross brings his scholarly background and genuine love of the Hebrew language to moment...
...Under the MOMENT subscription program, donors purchase a year's subscription to MOMENT to be sent monthly to a Jewish citizen in the Soviet Union...
...Many on the Orthodox right, Lamm said, take it for granted that Reform and Conservative Jews do not have spiritual dignity and "that their sole purpose is to undermine Torah...
...Cross is Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Semitic Museum...
...That is the fact although we do not go to them for a brachah [blessing...
...No one to my knowledge ever accorded them 'spiritual dignity.' Nor should anyone today confer 'spiritual dignity' on those who by definition are leading vast numbers of Jews away from Torah and mitzvot [commandments...
...That is where the debate within the Orthodox community now stands...
...Yuri Sokol, a former colonel in the Soviet army and a resident of Moscow, has added his MOMENT gift subscription to the small library run by the Moscow Jewish Association, of which he is one of270 founding members...
...Of Currie, Thatcher has said approvingly, "Controversy and politics go together," a motto Currie has hung on her wall...
...They are usurpers and falsifiers of the title 'Rav' as used for generations...
...Lamm then conceded that he may have erred in characterizing Conservative and Reform Judaism as "valid": "I suppose if I had it to do all over again, I would have chosen a less equivocal and ambiguous word than 'valid.' " Nevertheless, in defense of his position, Lamm noted that the Torah refers even to pagan priests as kohanim...
...But not chas v'shalom [heaven forbid], that of a rabbinic leader...
...When she met her husband, Ray Currie, at age 22, she joined the Church of England...
...That was not, however, what Lamm's Orthodox colleagues wanted to hear...
...The cost of a MOMENT gift subscription is $18.00...
...In the September 1987 Notes and News, MOMENT suggested that the first Jew in the White House might be a woman, Kitty Dukakis...
...Come now...
...Reform Jews] including those which are so elastic in their semantics [i.e...
...A highly respected biblical scholar and an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Cross has been a fellow at Hebrew University's Institute for Advanced Studies, and archaeological director at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem...
...If you would like to give such a subscription, please send your check to MOMENT, 3000 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20008...
...NOTES & NEWS Yeshiva President Admits Probable Error in Calling Reform and Conservative Judaism "Valid" When the New York Times reported that Rabbi Norman Lamm, rosh yeshiva and president of Yeshiva University, recognized the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism as "valid groupings," and also concluded that "they possess spiritual dignity," Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) wrote to Lamm, "This is the kind of voice [in Orthodoxy] that I and many others have been longing to hear...
...This is not de jure recognition...
...Sokol wrote on behalf of the association requesting more MOMENT subscriptions...
...He currently sits on the board of supervisors of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and in the past he has been president of the Jewish Community Center Foundation of Greater Washington as well as the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, Smith is also a past vice president of the United Jewish Appeal and a governor of Hebrew University...
...The association includes Jews like Sokol who are not refuseniks, as well as Jews seeking to emigrate...
...We are delighted to welcome Frank Moore Cross as the first non-Jewish member of our editorial advisory board...
Vol. 13 • October 1988 • No. 7
