Issue #73

Last Update May 20, 2013

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Thoughts on Jewish Orthodoxy and Ultra-Orthodoxy by Gerry Krownstein May 10, 2015

Intermarriage: a no-no to the orthodox, but done all the time in the bible. Moses did it. King David did it. The problem is matrilineal Jewishness (see below).

Matrilinial Jewishness: Being a Jew is determined by the religion of the mother. This made some sense when there were no paternity tests. Science has made that obsolete. There is no reason not to count the father as the source of Jewishness.

Ultra-orthodox: Not Jewish. In Orthodox practice, whenever there is a gray area in the law, whatever is in the gray area is forbidden. This is to prevent inadvertent transgression, and is called “building a fence around the law”. The ultra-orthodox have built a fence around the law so far out that the law can no longer be seen. By any sane criterion, the ultra-orthodox have strayed so far from the meaning of the law that they can no longer be considered Jewish. Nevertheless, they control the chief rasbbinate positions in Israel, and consider themselves holier-than-thou

Tradition: Much of what we now call tradition (especially the restrictions on women) are the result of Hellenization. Prior to the Hellenistic era, and despite the anti-Hellenism of the Maccabees, women had more power and religious rights. Tradition (and the bible) actually allows for women prophets, women judges (and women spies).

Women's restrictions (modesty of dress, covering the hair, not touching non-relative members of the opposite sex, separation in buses, synagogues, etc.) are to prevent the temptation of men: If men are so easily tempted, they should not be allowed out without a blindfold, and accompanied by an older female relative. Why burden women with men's failings?

Dress: The ultra-orthodox often wear funny clothes, preserving the styles of 17^th century Poland or Russia. (The women dress dowdily, too, but that is a matter of modesty (see above).) The styles are unbecoming, and impractical in a warmer climate. Still, there is no accounting for taste. Maybe it's better than preserving the styles of 1960's America, which were equally silly.

Homosexuality: While the Torah is hard on gay men, it says nothing about lesbians. With the legalization of marijuana in several US states, maybe the biblical passage “a man who lieth with a man as with a women must get stoned” can be reinterpreted.

Glattness: While all Conservative, Orthodox and Ultra-orthodox Jews attempt to follow the Kosher food laws (no pork, shellfish, eels, and no mixing of meat and milk products at the same meal), ultra-orthodox Jews insist on glatt kosher meats. This means that the meat has few or no blemishes, as certified by rabbinical authority. No two ultra sects will accept the authority of the other's rabbis in this regard. This is a racket, pure and simple.