Torah MiTzion- On the educational vision of Gush

Although Rav Kook died more than 30 years before the founding of Yeshivat Har Etzion, commonly known as Gush, I’d like to think he would have greatly impressed by the yeshiva. Even before Rav Kook made aliyah from Eastern Europe, he wrote of the importance of teaching all Torah with an emphasis on ethics and morality. In Gush, he would have seen this vision implemented.

Rav Kook suggested that in teaching Torah without showing the ethical and moral underpinnings behind it, yeshivos were driving away the most ethically sensitive students of his generation. By being exposed to Gemara without being taught the ideas behind it, Rav Kook believed that the students left for other destinations, real or conceptual, where they hoped to discover the great ethical and moral ideas needed to help reform mankind.

Looking around today, it  seems like we need to implement Rav Kook’s ideas even more. The vast majority of yeshivos have become gemara factories, where no other Torah is taught. Seldomly is mussar studied and when it is, it is without the vitality that is needed to make it effective. In the rare cases where aggadeta is studied, it is approached with a level of superficiality that misses the mark. Students leave yeshiva having learned many blatt gemara, but without a sense of the ideas that serve as the underpinnings for the gemara they have learned.

I was not fortunate enough to study at Gush, although its Torah has had a profound effect on me. The first time I read Rav Amital’s writings, I was almost brought to tears, as his deep ethical sensitivity came through in each of his essays. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s writings are not only deep and profound, but also emphasize the morality and sensitivity that made him a true gadol. Through their talmidim, I have come to appreciate a yeshivah that teaches the nuance through which Torah must be learned. Although the talmidei hayeshivah have various approaches to many issues, and that is not by chance but by design, what I see in them, indeed what seems to me, as an outsider to be at heart of the yeshiva, is a sense that Torah is not Torah if it remains in the beis medrash. Indeed, in different, but complementary ways, both Roshei Yeshivah, taught through their actions, both great and small, that the Torah, and those who study it, must bring peace to the world.

With Rav Aharon’s recent passing bringing his Torah and gadlus to a broader audience, it is my hope that we will not only learn from his greatness in Torah, but also from his, as well as Rav Amital’s vision for how Torah should be taught and lived.

The Uncomfortable Split

I am not sure whether the Volvo commercial with Jean-ClaudeVan Damme performing a truly “epic” split led to more sales of trucks. What I do know is that in addition to going viral, the commercial got me thinking, and for me, the split has become a metaphor.

It is either a sign of my nuanced views and/or an indication of my poor writing skills that as I have worked to try to create a middle ground between the worlds of Right-wing Modern Orthodoxy and Open Orthodoxy, it has been assumed by some that I am a musmach of YCT, a believer in the need for the ordination of women, a supporter of partnership minyanim, a puppet to the “right-wing” roshei yeshiva of YU, a charedi and beholden to Rabbis Gil Student or Ysoscher Katz. In fact, I am none of the above. I am however, a believer in serious learning opportunities for women, making women as comfortable as possible in shul within the limits of halacha, that moderation is not a dirty word, that halacha has rules, and that Rabbis Katz and Student, are acting l'sheim shamayim and have contributed to the world of Torah. Although I am more comfortable within the world of YU, and lean towards halachic conservativism, I am sympathetic to some of the motivations behind psak that has come from musmachim of and teachers at YCT. I have been spiritually and intellectually nurtured by many of the Roshei Yeshiva at YU, even as I do not fully identify with most of them hashkafically.

I suppose that it is fitting that I write these words on Yom Yerushalayim, living in a community where most shuls said tachanun this morning. More and more, I find myself most sympathetic to Israeli institutions where serious Torah scholarship, combines with moderation and a willingness to make slow but steady progress in advancing thoughtful progressive change. Yeshivat Har Etzion's Roshei Yeshiva and rabbeim serve as models of what I aspire to in Torah. At Gush, as the yeshiva is known, there is a commitment to openness to the challenging questions on Torah and halacha, within a clear spirit of yirat shamayim. Beit Hillel acts to promote women's learning and leadership positions, tolerance and a values based approach to psak and the klal.

I find myself wondering what it is about Israel that allows for these institutions to achieve a balance that American institutions struggle to achieve. Looking for the chance to, once again teach Torah, I wonder if there is an institution which would be comfortable with my views. Being that aliyah is most likely at least a few years off, I remain stuck in this uncomfortable split, hoping that the supports on which I am precariously balanced, don't move further apart.

Some Thoughts on My Interaction with Rav Amnon Bazak

I have great respect for Yeshivat Har Etzion, commonly known as “Gush”. It's founding Rosh Yeshiva Rav Yehuda Amital zt”l as well as his long time co-Rosh Yeshiva Rav Ahron Lichtenstein, represent to me the ideal talmid chacham; one whose greatness in Torah is matched by his character and actions. Their commitment to honest self-reflection about themselves, their community, their yeshiva and their country show them to be true mevakshei emes.

Rav Amnon Bazak is one of the Ramim at the yeshiva. I know very little of him, and have not yet had the opportunity to learn much of his Torah. Interestingly, Rav Bazak has a Facebook account where he shares divrei Torah and some of his thoughts on Israel. To his credit, he not only shares information but responds to questions. I discovered this today through experience.

In the past few days, I shared a few of Rav Bazak's posts. I found them to be thoughtful, thought provoking and challenging. They also focused on some of the differences between how his world and the charedi world view Torah and their and its role in Israeli society. Some of my friends who are either charedi or sympathetic to the charedi worldview felt that his positions were antagonistic to charedim. Although I felt that they were not (or I would not have posted them), I decided to reach out to him through his page for his thoughts. I must admit that I did not expect to him to respond, or if he did, to only do so briefly. I respectfully suggested that perhaps he could made his points without mentioning specific names. I asked about how productive it is to discuss other communities on Facebook. I asked whether he thought what he was doing was in line with his rabbeim's approach. Each time, he answered with thoughtfulness, nuance and humility. At one point he asked me to change venues so the discussion would be private. He gave me his email address and we had one more virtual conversation.

I'm not going to reveal his responses, as some of them were part of a private conversation. I will however, make several points:

• At no point in the conversation did he “pull rank” and tell me that I had no right to question him.
• He admitted to struggling with these kind of questions himself.
• Both on his FB page and in his email he “signed” his name without a title.
• He very much is guided by the things he learned from his venerable rabbeim.

Personally, in my sharing of at least one of the posts, I made a few mistakes. One was that my own words were not weighed enough and came off as inflammatory. Second, due to a fact that some friends had not understood the first post due to its having been written in Hebrew, I posted an article by Natan Slifkin, which discussed Rav Bazak's thoughts rather than simply translating them. In doing so, I mistakenly gave the impression that I wished to share Rabbi Slifkin's analysis, when in truth, my goal was to share Rav Bazak's message. As always, I will continue to try and weigh my words as carefully as I can.

Ashreinu sh'zachinu laRebbe kazeh