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Modern Orthodoxy's Ideas

Last month on Cross-Currents, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman wrote a piece describing the purported pros and cons of the modern and charedi worlds.

The post stated - almost in passing - that the charedim "have really defeated the [modern orthodox] on the battlefield of ideas."

I don't consider myself either modern or charedi, but to the extent one is going to divide the observant world into these two simple categories, it seems to me that saying that the modern have lost on the battlefield of ideas is unfair and inaccurate.

First, within the bounds of normative traditional Jewish thought, I think there is room for more than one hashkafah (religious ideology). Someone who strongly identifies as charedi won't agree with someone who sees himself or herself as modern and vice versa, but each could agree that the other's views are legitimate. So to say that the modern have been defeated "on the battlefield of ideas" is unfair, especially since Rabbi Feldman never offers a reason for this conclusory statement.

Second, and probably more importantly, I don't believe modern Orthodoxy's shortcomings relate primarily to its ideas. Assuming that Rav Soloveitchik and other leading non-charedi rabbis of the last half century are labeled as modern, modern Orthodoxy's ideas are sound. And many of these ideas have won on the battlefield, such as support for the State of Israel, secular education, and increased Judaic study - in whatever form - for observant females. Large numbers of moderate charedim agree with, and have emulated, these ideas.

The problem that "modern Orthodoxy" has is not in its ideas, but in the implementation of these ideas by its adherents. People are flawed, and too many people - not all, of course - who identify as modern think being modern means being lenient, rather than following the path of Rav Soloveitchik, who they invariably cite - often hypocritically - as their religious guide.
posted on 2/23/2005