The Real Issue

When I was young and too open minded, I used to read Conservative and Reform literature. I wanted to know what they were thinking. One of their methods [I refer to the leadership, the average Reform and Conservative Jew knows next to nothing] was to find a source somewhere and use it to justify unaccepted practices. In other words, you start with a goal of permitting a certain practice and then you get to work trying to find one. Since we have such a vast amount of literature in our tradition, it is usually not hard to find something in your favor, whether explicit or implied.

Off the top of my head I just came up with one:-). Mechitza!! Ahhhh - I so want to pray with my wife and daughters. Why do they have to be behind a wall? WAIT!! The Shulchan Aruch doesn't mention the need for a mechitza for tefilla in shul [to the best of my knowledge], so let's do away with it! What about the accepted Jewish practice of the centuries to have one? No more. The gemara itself only mentions it in the context of the Beis Hamikdash and not a shul. 

But that is not how halacha works. We have tradition, accepted practice and a vast literature. How do we apply them to any given case? That is for the poskim to decide. Not for bloggers. See what my good friend wrote here quoting one of the many bloggers who feels that he is on the level to decide halacha for klal yisrael against all of the gdolei ha-poskim. I don't know this person [I refer not to my friend whom I linked but to the person he linked] but I wonder if he knows shas and shulchan aruch by heart like the Rov with whom he is arguing. Humility is the name of the game:-).

I suggest that we move the focus of the argument from this "women's role in Judaism" issue to something more basic - what can we do to make an entire generation of youth knowledgable about Judaism. After over 20 years of teaching graduates of Modern Orthodox institutions I can honestly say that the vast majority a] can't properly read and translate a hebrew text [including the siddur] and b] are not completely halachically commited [most of them are ignorant of the vast majority of halacha so even if they wanted to they couldn't keep the halacha]. THAT is the issue.

Ramaz and SAR have much much bigger problems than girls who want to dress up for davening like the guys. Many of the students don't BELIEVE IN G-D [as told to me by a graduate of one of these schools] and are so immersed in the technological-secular-permissive world that they don't begin to touch the foundations of our faith and tradition. I used to teach in a post high school yeshiva where they would have an "emunah seminar" in January. The boys would return with their mouths agape. "There is a G-d!! I never realized that before". I PROMISE!! That was their reaction. 12 years of day school education and four months of intensive gemara study and they just realized that there is a G-d.

A good place for these high schools to start would be to stop encouraging them to go to secular colleges. Another step would be to educate the ignorant parents about the damage the Internet is doing to their kids.

These are pure neshmos and we are losing them by the thousands. Who are we losing them to?

Facebook.

Are you listening Rabbis H [I can't spell it:-)] and Lookstein??