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I've been reading Tamar Ross for class on Wednesday (Studying Sacred Texts), and last week we read excerpts from Greenberg's Wrestling With God, both of which approach, or make me approach, that key question of "How much can we push halakha where we want it to go". It's funny, since I'm fairly sure, knowing human nature, that rabbis must almost always have social/moral/personal leanings as to which way they want to rule, and then it's a matter of whether or not, or how they can back it up. Aka, the standard Blue Greenberg (not the author of Wrestling With God". She's an Orthodox feminist, he's a gay Orthodox man) quote: "Where there's a rabbinic will, there's a halakhic way." And yet- Rabbi Roth certainly made it clear that he disagreed with that, and he's coming from just over the other side of the Orthodox/Conservative fence.
Interestingly, Ross, who presents herself Very clearly as Orthodox, also says that the fourth part of her book, which presents "my own resolution of the Orthodox feminist's dilemma" (Preface, xvii) "sets up what I regard as a more viable model, suggesting that continuity with tradition can be maintained by regarding the halakhic systemas a living and dynamic organism that can only grow by positive acceptance and addirmation of its historical and intellectual legacy" (Preface, xviii). Aka, almost a perfect paraphrase of one of the central Conservative ideals on halakha. I should go borrow a copy of Emet V'Emunah (the Conservative Movement's 40-page statement of principles), and see if I can dig up a parallel quote. Maybe next week, when I'm not so overwhelmed with work. But it was an odd statement to hear from someone who seems so vehement about her Orthodoxy. Or maybe she's vehement Because she knows her ideology doesn't Quite fit.
But back on topic, both Ross and Greenberg deal with the "how much can we push the law to match what we want it to say" fence. Greenberg reworks the verse that addresses the act of male homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22), to suggest that it refers only to anal penetration, that it refers to homosexual acts performed by heterosexual people, that it refers to humiliating sexual contact or sexual contact that is intended as a communication of power... Ross talks about the anxiety and rampant emotion in changing minor religious ritual matters because it is changing societal norms. In both cases, there is a regard for this issue of pushing- ok or not?
I feel oddly ambivalent about this pushing- it's nothing new in rabbinic tactics, it's been done before, it'll be done again, it's really pretty normal. Sometimes I think the whole point of Rabbinic logic is that it doesn't always make sense unless you tilt your head, stare at it sideways for a while, and then jump up and down three times, stretch backwards, and then spin around 2 1/2 times. On the other hand, when people are doing it quite that openly out of a sense of desire for some result for themselves, I worry, somehow. It seems like a dishonest use of the system, even if its a somewhat nonsensical system (from a purely logical perspective) to start with. Somehow I have one feeling that halakha ought to be like medicine- you don't make halakhic decisions on things that apply to you personally, or to those very near you. On the otherhand, I feel like one Should make one's own halakhic decisions if possible- who else knows the situation better, and to what degree you are willing to interpret the already-existing material? It's a shaky line, and I don't know which side of it to stand on. As it is, it keeps tickling my toes on both sides.
Interestingly, Ross, who presents herself Very clearly as Orthodox, also says that the fourth part of her book, which presents "my own resolution of the Orthodox feminist's dilemma" (Preface, xvii) "sets up what I regard as a more viable model, suggesting that continuity with tradition can be maintained by regarding the halakhic systemas a living and dynamic organism that can only grow by positive acceptance and addirmation of its historical and intellectual legacy" (Preface, xviii). Aka, almost a perfect paraphrase of one of the central Conservative ideals on halakha. I should go borrow a copy of Emet V'Emunah (the Conservative Movement's 40-page statement of principles), and see if I can dig up a parallel quote. Maybe next week, when I'm not so overwhelmed with work. But it was an odd statement to hear from someone who seems so vehement about her Orthodoxy. Or maybe she's vehement Because she knows her ideology doesn't Quite fit.
But back on topic, both Ross and Greenberg deal with the "how much can we push the law to match what we want it to say" fence. Greenberg reworks the verse that addresses the act of male homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22), to suggest that it refers only to anal penetration, that it refers to homosexual acts performed by heterosexual people, that it refers to humiliating sexual contact or sexual contact that is intended as a communication of power... Ross talks about the anxiety and rampant emotion in changing minor religious ritual matters because it is changing societal norms. In both cases, there is a regard for this issue of pushing- ok or not?
I feel oddly ambivalent about this pushing- it's nothing new in rabbinic tactics, it's been done before, it'll be done again, it's really pretty normal. Sometimes I think the whole point of Rabbinic logic is that it doesn't always make sense unless you tilt your head, stare at it sideways for a while, and then jump up and down three times, stretch backwards, and then spin around 2 1/2 times. On the other hand, when people are doing it quite that openly out of a sense of desire for some result for themselves, I worry, somehow. It seems like a dishonest use of the system, even if its a somewhat nonsensical system (from a purely logical perspective) to start with. Somehow I have one feeling that halakha ought to be like medicine- you don't make halakhic decisions on things that apply to you personally, or to those very near you. On the otherhand, I feel like one Should make one's own halakhic decisions if possible- who else knows the situation better, and to what degree you are willing to interpret the already-existing material? It's a shaky line, and I don't know which side of it to stand on. As it is, it keeps tickling my toes on both sides.