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From: mvm@whuxk.UUCP (MASON)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Where Are the Non-Orthodox (& Why)?
Message-ID: <65@whuxk.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Aug-84 12:00:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxk.65
Posted: Fri Aug  3 12:00:48 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Aug-84 03:16:30 EDT
Organization: Bell Labs, Whippany, N.J.
Lines: 75

What follows is a serious problem inviting, I hope, serious
discussion.  It is meant neither to antagonize nor to offend;
and if it does either, I apologize in advance.

I have noticed that net.religion.jewish attracts correspondents
who identify themselves with what is normally called Orthodoxy,
and that few--if any--individuals on the net identify themselves
as having Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist affiliations,
whether though congregational membership, interpretation of
law, or any other criteria that might be imposed.  Frankly, this
troubles me.

People who consider themselves aligned to the three non-Orthodox
"branches" of Judaism spend immense amounts of time complaining
that Orthodoxy "controls" Jewish education, the Jewish press
(not the Boro Park newspaper), and the serious discussions that
take place formally and informally over issues of religious
law and observance.  This complaint might extend to net.religion.
jewish as well.  However . . .

As a self-identified Conservative (and I'll be happy to explain
why--calmly and dispassionately, via my login--if anyone wishes
to know) who started out in and has some familiarity with
Reconstructionism, I have a considerable problem with the fact
(not a word I use lightly) that non-Orthodoxy has virtually
abrogated its responsibility to itself and to its own fears for
the future by walking away from such items as Day Schools, the
Jewish media, and the halakhic arena (though this is changing:
witness the issue of ordaining women in Conservativism, and the
rather brazen conversion/Jew-defining of Reform).  I have known
people who started their childrens' educations in "Day Schools"
(i.e., yeshivot--why the reluctance to use that term?), but who
pulled the kids out and put them in public school when the education
began to become "too Orthodox" somewhere, I assume, around the
second or third grade.  

I cannot question the right of Orthodoxy to teach according to
its normative beliefs in Torah from Heaven, observance of the
mitzvot, etc.  What I find somewhat irritating is 1) the reluc-
tance of Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist parents to
even CONSIDER Day Schools for their kids; 2) their dependence
on Orthodoxy if they opt for the Day School route; and 3) their
toothless complaining about the yeshivot when they, in their
turn, haven't attempted to broaden the base of Schechter schools
and others of a more liberal bent.

Now extend the problem to include the Jewish media, which I would
interpret to include this net.  Where is the Conservative equiva-
lent of The Jewish Press?  Where is the ability to fight back when
attacked?  Certainly The Jewish Press is not reticent about throw-
ing punches--some of them well-aimed--at non-Orthodoxy.  Is
non-Orthodoxy willing to absorb these punches and not fight back
through media which will represent its point of view?  Or are
Orthodox Jews the only ones who give enough of a damn to read
Jewishly-oriented publications?

The latter point is the one that scares the hell out of me.  

I would like people's opinions of the problem.  I fear it goes
beyond singular issues of yeshivot, newspapers, and the net.
Indeed, it may extend into the very guts of practical non-
Orthodoxy as it exists in the community, not in the halls of
Hebrew Union College, Jewish Theological Seminary, or the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Scholarship is terrific,
but if it isn't applied and if no one bothers to read it, then
are non-Orthodox Jews "handing it over" to Orthodoxy, and leaving
ourselves nothing but the Complaint Department?

Unless I'm in some form of cherem, please respond to:

	Kenneth Wolman
	Bell Communications Research
	MO 2D-209
	(201) 898-1177
	whuxe!ktw