Regarding this post:
1] From the memoirs of a Talmid:
Rav Hutner made it his business to know all of the science, Jewish history, and critical editions of the Talmud and midrashic literature that Conservative Judaism in theory was built on. He made sure so that he could discuss it intelligently with anyone who was intelligent enough to discuss it with him. He was charismatic, loving, caring, sincere.
In those days we spoke to him in Yiddish. Most of the yeshivah students, the bachurim, spoke Yiddish, although Rav Hutner spoke an impeccable English and prided himself on it. In fact, he had studied a bit at the University of Berlin with Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchick and the Lubavitcher Rebbe [whatta price!!! I bought it soon after publication for about 20-25 bucks!!].
Once, Moshe Greenes, my future brother-in law, was talking to someone in Rav Hutner’s presence. Moshe said, “Do you realize that Rebbe is familiar with the writings of Shelley, Byron and Wordsworth?” At that point, Rav Hutner chimed in, “Nu, and Keats not?” (Or, as he phrased it in Yiddish, “Nu, und Keats nit?”)
So the maamar shouldn't be seen as a disparagement of secular studies per se but just that they shouldn't be equated with and on the same plane as Torah studies.
2] "As we have already stated, we find that the position of Greece in relationship to Israel is that of its opposition to our distinction from among the nations, and the central goal of this ideology is the blurring and erasing of this very distinction. Understood through this lens, we can make sense of the law of "the local Hegemon": it is not ultimately an act of licentiousness from the perspective of the Greeks, but rather it is a decree rooted in the ultimate goal of forcibly inserting their own power/lineage into the procreative process of the Jews. By so doing they cause a further blurring of the distinction between Israel and the nations, even in this realm where no amount of great flood-waters of foreign ideology could ever touch."
In the original:
ואשר על כן מכיון שמצאנו כי מעמד פרצופה של יון בזה לעומת זה של כנסת ישראל הוא ביסוד ההבדלה בין ישראל לעמים וכי עיקר ענינו של פרצוף זה הוא טשטושה ומחיקתה של הבדלה זו' שוב גם גזירת תיבעל להגמון תחילה נסקרת היא מתוך אספקלריא זו. לאחר שנתבאר לנו ענינה של יון מפיהם של רבותינו, אין אנו תופסים בשרשה של גזירה זו תכנית של עריות אלא גזירה זו נעוץ הוא במגמת עירוב כחה של יון לתוך מהלך של ישראל ומתוך כך במקום כזה אשר כל לגרום טשטוש ההבדלה בין ישראל לעמים אפילו במקום כזה, אשר כל השטף מים רבים של כל הנכריות הכלולה במומריות אליו לא יגיעו.
This is brilliant. Anyone who learns the Gemara about תיבעל להגמון תחילה thinks that these הגמון's were just powerful men using their positions to get עריות. It happens today ALL THE TIME and only a fraction of the stories make it into the newspapers. It is the reality in the world today. A woman wants to get ahead? Sleep her way to success. A man has women working under him? Make sure that they understand the "rules" here. So it is a mutually satisfying arrangement. The men get what they want [עריות] and the women get what they want [success. And they probably enjoy the עריות as well in some cases]. Of course the fact that it is a sin is not a mitigating factor because in contemporary society "sinful" is usually associated with eating tasty but unhealthy foods and not with immorality. If both parties agree then it is not even considered immoral. Today, only rape or taking advantage of minors is really considered immoral. So we read that same narrative into the story in the Gemara that every Kallah first had to sleep with the local mayor.
But Moreinu Rosh Ha-Yeshiva ztz"l teaches there was something MUCH MORE INSIDIOUS going on here. Not just עריות לשם עריות but a blurring of the distinction between the Jews and the nations. If we are sleeping together then nothing really separates between us anymore.
I think that the hidden motivation for many of the Jews who intermarried back in the early 1900's when Jews were not yet considered equals in society and discrimination was prevalent was to prove that we Jews MADE IT!! Look at our beautiful non-Jewish wives. [I suspect that such might be the motivation in some interracial marriages as well. Nothing that proves that blacks are equal like marrying a white person]. Back then they FORCED us to mix. Today we [about 70 percent in the US] mix with great satisfaction and even make sure that it is reported in the Sunday edition of the NY Times. "Chris Anderson and Mindy Weinstein were wed at the Westminster Country Club ..... The ceremony was performed by Father John O'Reily and Rabbi Susan Feldschrieber". Like, you have to read the paper with five changes of clothing for all the times you have to rip kriyah...
