By Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller
The Greeks centered their opposition to the Jews on three religious laws that one the surface of things couldn’t be less threatening to them or their way of life. Why would a Greek concern himself about someone else circumcising his son? If a neighbor likes having three rather lavish meals on Saturday after attending the synagogue why let it occupy space in your mind? The most puzzling was their antagonism towards consecrating the new moon, a religious ceremony that had no observable impact other than being the basis of the Jewish calendar. Can you imagine losing any sleep over when Ramadan comes out next year?
The underlying antagonism was caused by what these commandments represent. Circumcision is a statement. It tell you that you are not born perfect, that perfection has to be earned, and that the path towards perfection requires a certain degree of sacrifice, and a certain measure of authentic submission to a force higher than your own ego. Nothing could possibly be less Greek.
Shabbos takes us even further from the Greek vision of a human centered world. What we say by keeping Shabbos is that even our creativity and our ability to dominate nature and make it our own, is not the end of the story. The highest level from our point of view is taking all of our creative energy and saying, “let go. It’s time to step back and see what God, not I, createdâ€. When you see things from that angle, it isn’t hard to see what was so offensive about defining time through ritual instead of through human observation.
What all of this tells you is that this is the time of year that you can decide once and for all that you can finally stop being a closet Hellenist. You body, your endeavors and your sense of reality can all go beyond the limitations of the little castle called “me†and explore a new planet, one called “transcendenceâ€. You can be bigger than your ego and your assumptions.
Let the light of the candles that reflect eternal truth give you enough light to step into the next phase of your life, into a more holy and God aware future.
Visit Rebbetzin Heller’s Website for more articles.
Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller will be speaking to women in Kew Gardens Hills,
Tonight, Thursday, November 18th at Congregation Ahavas Yisroel – 8:15 PM
147-02 73rd Ave, Flushing, NY 11367.
The topic is: “Becoming a Builder: Creating and Enriching Successful Marriages”.
Admission is free.
To Tzivia Esther: Actually, I’m from Bayswater, which is a remote section of Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. When I first moved out here nearly 24 years ago, it felt like out-of-town. There were actually unpaved sidewalks and a sense of Achdut, unity, meaning the “modern” crowd and the “frummie” crowd tried hard to all get along for the sake of having a cohesive community.
We’ve been “discovered” by the frum community as a place where houses are half the price of Brooklyn, but Brooklyn is only forty minutes away by automobile. On the one hand, it’s nice to see blocks like my own become almost all-frum. On the other hand, I miss a little bit when we all knew each other and there really was a sense of Achdut across the religious spectrum.
Hi Judy,
Both of us remember when anything unscrupulous a Jew did was considered a shandeh. I’m sorry that today’s youth are being taught by rabbonim who don’t deserve the derech eretz they are being accorded. (ie: child molesters, crooked nursing home owners who get honored at dinners)
Derech agav, we must be stuck in the 20th Century. We have 1 stove and lots of tinfoil for Pesach! It’s been great blogging with you. You made my day! All the best.
P.S.: I suspect that you live in New York, where there are more options than there are where I live. Here, Daas Torah is the belief that most people adhere to.
Txivia Esther #21, 22: Happy to have this conversation albeit by blog.
Back in the era of the 50’s – 60’s, few if any Orthodox Jewish homes boasted the kind of designer kitchen so many have now, with two dishwashers, four sinks, three ovens and two microwaves. The typical Orthodox Jewish family lived in a two-bedroom apartment with a small kitchen that had one porcelain sink and one standing oven range. Period. Plenty of Easy Off and aluminum foil got used up before Pesach each year. During the rest of the year, Jewish women were told by respectable poskim to use separate racks in their ovens for milchig and fleishig, and separate dish basins in the sink. There were no self-cleaning ovens, no microwaves and nobody had metal sinks. Nowadays it’s gotten to the point where one child actually told my children, “I can’t play with you because you don’t have two ovens.” My inner reaction was that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zatzal didn’t have two ovens either.
There was an organization called “Edah” which lasted about nine years until its main funder stopped contributing. Edah’s motto was, “The courage to be Modern and Orthodox.”
The problem is that Modern Orthodoxy winds up defining itself by what it isn’t instead of what it is. By taking positions condemned by right-wing Orthodoxy it finds itself out on a limb. The defining motto turns out to be, “I’m not that religious,” which isn’t enough of a rallying cry for a cohesive group.
I think what many of us are looking for is an alternative somewhere in between watered-down modern Orthodoxy and extreme right-wing Orthodoxy, where we can follow halacha 100 percent with our own individualism rather than following what “everyone does” 100 percent. If we could go back to having poskim and rabbonim who 100 percent understand what families nowadays are going through, instead of rabbonim who are headlined in the newspapers with stealing and extorting money.
Judy, I am amazed! We are on the same page!
I must add that I am fearful of one other thing.
The so called “M.O.” movement might loose its cohesiveness soon, if it has not done so already.
While much of the “M.O.” world is moving toward the right, the left wing is evaluating what women’s roles should be. I fear that Morethodoxy will become the Conservadox of 2010. I also wonder if Rabbi Weiss’ graduates will ever get jobs. If I had a son in his yeshivah, I’d tell him to run out of that school a.s.a.p. so that he could have a future!
Dear Judy,
Your article enabled me to realize that the a number of members of the Orthodox Community of the 60’s and 70’s, most of whom are my age, needed to do some soul searching. For reasons unbeknown to me, they felt that the Judaism they’d grown up with didn’t meet their spiritual needs. The question that remains in my mind is,when it comes to Hareidization, how far will we go? I, for one, would like to see the pendulum swing back. I was taught that the ideal Judaism is one in which Halacha comes first, and the Shvil Ha Zahav is followed. The minhagim of one’s parents (if they don’t follow Minhag America)are followed, and the refrain, “Chaveirim Kol Yisrael” is the order of the day.
To tzivia esther #19: You’re 100 percent correct that we are contemporaries, as I just turned 54.
One of the things which I miss most about the Orthodoxy of the 1970’s, when I was a young adult, was the idea that responsible young adults are actually mature enough to meet each other in an Orthodox Jewish setting, such as a young adult Shabbaton or Saturday night shiur. I really dislike the whole shadchan setup, not the unofficial type of shadchan that was always a part of the Jewish scene but the whole culture of weird do’s and don’ts that suddenly sprung up all around the official shadchan routine. I agree totally with the efforts of the End the Madness group that is trying to restore some sanity to the whole process.
Interestingly enough, Rabbi Chaim Bensalem in Israel, a member of the Knesset, is taking on his own party Shas and the charedi establishment, saying he wants to get away from the religious extremism of the “Lithuanian rabbis” to the kind of Orthodoxy of the religious Sephardim of the previous generation. Rabbi Bensalem says that men should work and support their families and that they should serve in the IDF as he did and his sons are now doing. Many Askenaz national religious dati-leumi and “chardal” who don’t agree with either the charedim or the chilonim have been supportive of his ideas. It seems as though Rabbi Bensalem is going to break away from Shas to form a new party more in line with the ideals of the old defunct United Torah Judaism party.
It would be nice to see a more moderate centrist Orthodoxy, not a modern Orthodoxy compromising the halacha but a pragmatic realistic Orthodoxy, sort of like what was once derided as “Feinsteinism,” rabbonim fully in accord with the Shulchan Aruch allowing men to work and support their families, realistically understanding the financial pressures on Orthodox families nowadays.
Dear Judy,
Thanks for your response to my last note. I wasn’t sure that anyone understood my posts until now. I am 56 yrs old., so I assume that we are contemporaries.
My Hebrew name is my pen name. My city began to gravitate to the right after a major Kollel was established. Interestingly enough, the local Bnei Akiva building was demolished to make way for it.
Also, the electric razors in the 1950’s weren’t the type that could present a halachic problem.
Judy Resnick wrote, “…Jewish education, being low-paid, ended up attracting only the extreme right-wing, rebbes and morahs…”
This may seem plausible, but where is the substantiation?
There are many possibilities for the origin of the term “Maccabee.” Three that I have seen are:
The battle cry of the Hasmoneans was: Mi
Ka’Mocha Ba’Elim Y=Hashem (MaKaBY)- Who is like You among the mighty, Hashem?
The leader of the Maccabees was Judah Maccabee which meant Judah the Hammer, from Aramaic (Maqqaba?). This is the explanation that I heard most often growing up.
The patriarch of the Hasmonean family was Matityahu haKohen Ben Yochanan. (MaKaBY)
All are realistic possibilities; why shouldn’t all be applied? The Maccabees recognized the omnipotence of Hashem – ; they were formidable warriors; they were descended from Matityahu.
The second one that I mention is probably the motivation for the name given to the games. The first Maccabi games were held in 1932 to commemorate the 1800th anniversary of the Bar Kochba revolt — an important Jewish military endeavor that unfortunately did not reach its desired outcome. I didn’t see a specific mention of Chanukah’s role in the name of the games.
We don’t dwell primarily on the military victory of Chanukah, but military prowess is important, since Hashem wants us to put in effort, rather than to rely on miracles.
Jewish sporting events, although similar in appearance to those of other nations are different in their philosophy. Besides the original role of sport in preparing for war, we have developed opportunity to show respect for our competitors and teammates and demonstrate honesty and fair play. These are in contrast to the ancient Greek “values” of self-aggrandizement and materialism.
The Maccabi games, while not a program of outreach to Torah Judaism, have helped their participants to grow Jewishly besides helping their athletic careers. Many participants might have never made it to Israel, or even socialized with other Jews at home, were it not for their participation in Maccabi related events.
The Maccabi program is an example of HITZTAYANUT — the development of one’s Zionistic passions, and the achievement of excellence.
To Tzivia Esther #14: I have been a B.T. since 74, not as long as you have, but I do remember the Conservative and Orthodox Jewish worlds of the 60s and 70s.
Orthodoxy was a lot less extreme right-wing at that time, and Conservative Judaism was a lot less extreme left-wing.
People were actually able to describe themselves as “Conservadox,” which would be nearly impossible to do nowadays.
Many Conservative Jews at that time kept some form of Kashrus and Shabbos, while there were married Jewish women, even Rebbetzins, who considered themselves Modern Orthodox but wore pants and did not cover their hair.
Most Jews had families of only two or three children (birth control was never discussed but unofficially practiced in some form by even strictly Orthodox Jews) and all Jewish children were pushed to attend and graduate college.
All Jewish boys, whether religious or not, were expected to support their families, and so were steered to become doctors, lawyers and dentists; girls were encouraged to pursue female friendly jobs like teaching as a sideline to their most important job, raising Jewish children and running a Jewish home.
Holocaust survivors never talked about their experiences, preferring instead to look ahead to the future generation of Jewish children rather than look back at the awful past.
The only hint was in the names of the Jewish children: e.g. Michael would be for the grandfather Mordechai who had died at Auschwitz, Linda for Leah the grandmother who had perished at Bergen-Belsen.
All Jews, Orthodox or Conservative or Reform, fervently supported Israel and bought Israeli products and State of Israel bonds.
Orthodox Jewish men wearing felt hats and dark suits were indistinguishable from the Conservative and Reform Jewish men of the 1950’s, as all men at that time wore felt hats and dark suits.
Few Orthodox Jewish men had beards, as all needed to go out and earn a living in a society that was hostile to bearded men; however, nobody asked a sheilah of a Rav as to which brands of electric shaver were kosher to use or not.
What ultimately changed the Orthodox Jewish world was that Jewish education, being low-paid, ended up attracting only the extreme right-wing, rebbes and morahs who pushed an extreme right-wing Orthodox Judaism on their students, for better or for worse.
Conservative and Reform Jewish education dwindled from the hated every afternoon Hebrew school down to once-a-week Sunday school down to a couple of Bar- and Bat- Mitzvah lessons at age 12.
Meanwhile, soaring crime and declining academic standards at public high schools sent concerned Orthodox Jewish parents to yeshiva high schools with demanding double curricula in secular studies and limudei kodesh.
Wow! I finally got it! The “Frum Veldt” of 2010 is foreign to me! I’m more like the F.F.B.’s of the 60’s and 70’s whose parents were survivors. Oh well, wrong blog!
I find it amusing that the Jewish version of the Olympic Games is called the “Maccabiah.”
If you’re really in tune with what the Maccabees were all about, that term would be used for a worldwide Torah study contest and not a celebration of Jewish athletic prowess. It would be more apt to call these games the “Mityavniah.”
Wow! the entry that I made prior to the previous one got left out! My original point was that all of us so called “Baalei Teshuvah” are Tinokot She Nishbu B’Olam. Prior to being Chozrei L’Tshuvah, we did nothing B’Meizid. We merely lacked the kind of information that would enable us to be shomerei mitzvot.
I have been a “B.T.” for 44 years. From reading this column, I can see that most people who are newer “B.T.s” subscribe to “Daas Torah.”
Sociologically speaking, the “Frum” world is changing. There was no “Daas Torah” when I came on board, and nobody called me a “B.T.”
Dear Readers,
Please allow me to clarify my last comment. Before I was given accurate information about the mitzvah of tevilah, I assumed that historically speaking, women went to the mikvah because they didn’t have bathtubs and showers in their homes. Thus, I deduced that going to mikvah defied logic. In addition, I assumed that I could eat peanut butter and matzoh sandwiches on Pesach. We went to an Orthodox “Heder” and kept Kashrut. In addition, Bubbe and Zayda were
“frum”. Thus, even our education was inadequate.
Dear Rebbitzen Heller,
We are tinokot she nishbu b’olam. Ha Shem himself placed us in homes in which we were not given the kind of Jewish education we needed in order to become Shomrei Mitzvot. (Not all people who claim to be religious know how to conduct themselves. Thus, I take issue with the term.)
All of us have struggled to reclaim our heritage in our own way. If anything, when Matityahu Ha Cohen asked, “Mi Ha Shem Eilay?”, we were the ones who responded to the call.
Few people if any who are not Shomrei Mitzvot do anything B’Meizid. Many may not realize that going to mikvah has nothing to do with whether or not you shower with dial soap.
Chaveirim Kol Yisrael. (I hope)
Herodotus’ narrative of the arrogance of King Croesus of Lydia could have been used in any mussar text.
Aesop’s fable about the bird in the mouth of the lion made it into Bereshit Rabbah.
Alexander the Great doesn’t get that bad a rap from Chazal — despite his hedonistic lifestyle (today we would call him Openly Gay) and the fact that his teacher was Aristotle.
Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus discussed philosophy. The latter’s famous *Meditations* reads like kohelet.
When trying to set a standard by which one could determine the efficacy of an amulet, Chazal in BT Shabat 61 reject a superior methodology from the first perek of Sefer Daniel in favor of inferior Greek scientific methodology: The Greeks were observationalists, not experimentalists.
And of course Saadia Gaon and Rambam tried to reconcile Jewish thought with Aristotle.
Mark,
My apologies. I reread your question and realized that I misunderstood it. I’ll leave as is my earlier response, because I think it will answer somebody’s question, if not yours.
As for your question, it would probably be best to have a look at each of the Chazals one at a time, but relying on memory, my impression is that the Chazal statements often focus on the points where Greek culture impacted Jews and Judaism, rather than Greek culture as a whole. So while a student of Greek culture focuses largely on the Classical era between 500 BCE and Alexander’s time, Chazal (perfectly understandably) focus on Greek oppression of the Jews during the Hellenistic era and on things the Greeks did that the Jews found shocking. So I don’t think there’s really much contradiction. No doubt Greek paganism was like a smack in the face to Jews in Greek and Roman times, but what hits us today is the shocking originality of Greek thought and outlook. Both perspectives are valid.
“I assume you are familiar with some of the Gemoras and Midrashim that discuss Greek thought and philosophy,”
Yes, and not all are negative about the Greeks. When Chazal elevate Greek above all languages except Hebrew, they’re trying to tell you something. Let’s also note that the Jews of Judea lived under Greek government (and culture) from the time of Alexander, about 330 BCE. The Chanuka revolt happened around 165 BCE. I would conclude that it wasn’t Greek culture per se that the Jews revolted against; rather it was Greek culture trying to strangle Judaism.
“What is your personal path to reconcile those types of contradictions?”
This would really need a book to do it justice, but al regel achas, I would say that Greek culture was, overall, a tremendous gift to the human race, and a vital tool in the areas we have progressed in so far, as well as in any future advances. However, I believe that it does not adequately give primacy to morality (certain philosophers excepted) and does not inspire morality to the extent that, say, reading Sefer Yeshaya does. Therefore, to the extent that Greek culture is used as a tool in advancing the goodness and well-being of the world, it should be praised (as per Chazal). When its negative aspects start to overpower the Jewish vision of morality, it’s time to take up arms and later celebrate the victory with eight days of greasy but tasty latkes.
“What is your personal path to reconcile those types of contradictions?”
R. Gil Student has an an artcle in the 12/5/07 Jewish Press, interestingly titled, “Are You A Hellenist?”, where he asks the following(see link below):
“It is Chanukah time again and Jews who have imbibed even a bit of modern culture need to ask themselves the hard question: Am I a contemporary Hellenist? After all, the Hellenists spoke Greek, dressed like Greeks, enjoyed Greek sports and partook of Greek culture. Are Jews today who do any of that with American culture “Hellenists” in whole or in part? Is someone who speaks English and/or dresses like an American and/or goes to baseball games and/or enjoys literature ignoring the main theme of the Chanukah holiday?”
The truth is that both R. Student’s article and Rebbetzin Heller’s, are agreeing on more things than not, as far as basic Torah hashkafah. While those who advocate Torah Umaddah may be a little sensitive to the use of the Chanukah/”Hellinism” metaphor in mussar schmuzen, the basic historical and hashkafic lessons are agreed by all of Orthodoxy–perhaps it’s just a difference how you package the message to different audiences.
http://www.thejewishpress.com/pageroute.do/26554/
J,
I assume you are familiar with some of the Gemoras and Midrashim that discuss Greek thought and philosophy, and you’ve probably found that at some (or many levels) they conflict with secular sources.
What is your personal path to reconcile those types of contradictions?
Mark-
I asked for the source because I think that view of the Greeks is wrong, and that the person espousing the view got that view from years of Chanuks vorts and not from a study of Greek history, literature or thought. Greek thought is very complex, as we would expect from an accomplished culture over 800 years. Re sacrificing for excellence, note the Greek concept of “arete”. Re submission to a higher force, what does “hubris” mean? These cartoon summaries of difficult and complex (and very important) issues might make the kids feel good during Chanuka, but they are not the emes.
One of the human processes is sevara or logic. We draw new conclusions from existing information. Therefore not everything will have a direct source. Of course we challenge a sevara and it’s underlying assumptions but our minds are always using sevara or logic to expand our body of information.
When writing an article a person will not layout every step of their discussion. Doing so would make both the writing and reading for difficult.
“It tell you that you are not born perfect, that perfection has to be earned, and that the path towards perfection requires a certain degree of sacrifice, and a certain measure of authentic submission to a force higher than your own ego. Nothing could possibly be less Greek.”
Source, please?
“What all of this tells you is that this is the time of year that you can decide once and for all that you can finally stop being a closet Hellenist.”
Does this article assume that’s what we all are now?