Is The Torah Relevant?

I received this forwarded email from a beloved friend which made me think. Here it is [with much of it deleted]:


 This Shabbat, June 8, we are honored to welcome our Scholar-in-Residence  Rabbi -----, who will deliver the sermon sometime during the 9:00 a.m. Shabbat morning service speaking on the hot topic Halakha and Homosexuality:  Keeping Proper Perspective.  Early attendance is urged.


This Shabbat evening, Rabbi ---- will teach a shiur at 7:00 p.m. on the topic Orthodox Women Rabbis?:  Traditional Breach or Breach of Tradition? [Catchy title!!:)]  No one should miss this opportunity to hear what a thoroughly centrist and modern rabbinic voice has to say about a subject that is front and center in our community's consciousness.

After 8:00 p.m. Shabbat evening services , Rabbi ---- will speak at Seudah Shlishit on the subject Eichmann in the Mediterranean:  Should We Bury Terrorists and Mass Murderers?

I look at the email and the email looks back at me and I wonder - WHY IS TORAH NOT GOOD ENOUGH?? What is wrong with Parshas Korach?? What about Hilchos Shabbos??

Why is homosexuality a "hot topic" and not the ageless teachings of the Torah and Chazal?? Is anybody going to become a better person after hearing such a lecture?

I have nothing against the speaker whom I have never met [although he teaches in a yeshiva that once had the zchus of firing me:). Should I have written that??]. I am sure that he is a wonderful person, talmid chochom and yarei shomayim. He might even be funnier than me. He is just providing the goods he is being asked for. I am sure that he would happily give a shiur in hilchos kiddush. He needs to support his family and if talking about homosexual women rabbis [am I getting confused?] is the way to do it then he has every right.

I AM lamenting the fact that people need talks about women rabbis and Eichmann to pique their curiosity while the Torah wears sackcloth.

I will NOT be attending these talks. I will be six thousand miles away in a community where the drashos on Shabbos revolve around Torah. May we all be fortunate enough to appreciate the relevance of Torah to our lives no less than any [li-havdil] Jewish Week editorial.