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Not So Operatic

Harvey Rachlin’s article comparing the Shabbat morning service to a great grand opera was nothing less than awe-inspiring (“The Shabbat Morning Service: Like an Opera – Only More,” op-ed, Feb. 14).

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Unfortunately, his experience in shul is not one that is shared by the majority of worshipers in Orthodox congregations. Instead of a sonorous voice and soaring melodies flowing through the room, we are more likely to be treated to a whiney, nasal and/or off-key belching of what purports to be our service to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

If davening is supposed to be in lieu of korbanot, what is being offered would not have been deemed an acceptable sacrifice under any shitah. Perhaps if our congregants were instructed in the halacha regarding who is permitted to lead the service (having yahrzeit is not a qualification) and how the service is to be performed (some of the required melodies are called miSinai for a reason) our Shabbat davening might indeed become the fascinating, memorable, religious, and spiritual experience it should be.

Mark Stone
(Via E-Mail)

Modern Orthodox Schism (I)

Re the recent articles, editorials and letters to the editor concerning the growing schism in Modern Orthodoxy:

The controversy over who makes authoritative decisions in Orthodoxy sparked by troublesome developments in the “Open Orthodoxy” movement (including the designation by Rabbi Avi Weiss of so-called rabbahs and the more recent announcements by the heads of SAR Academy and the Ramaz School that female students may put on tefillin if they wish to do so ) is not without precedent.

Some 25 years ago, several Orthodox Rabbis, most of them graduates of RIETS, formed the Orthodox Roundtable, sometimes referred to as the RCA Roundtable. Their plan was to tackle, within halachic parameters, key problems facing the Orthodox community.

These were mostly individuals who knew their way around the halachic literature and were certainly people of serious accomplishment. Yet even they would admit they were not on the level of the Talmudic giants whom Jews have relied on for centuries for definitive halachic decisions. Ultimately, the group disbanded in the face of criticism from elements within the RCA as well as from some of the roshei yeshiva at RIETS.

If the Orthodox Roundtable met with such resistance, we should expect even more of a backlash to the ideas being spouted by the champions of Open Orthodoxy. That is why I can only hope that Rabbi Hershel Schachter’s eloquent challenge to the SAR and Ramaz initiatives (“More on the Tefillin Controversy,” editorial, Feb. 14) will be followed by similar reactions from the RCA and RIETS ranks.

Modern Orthodoxy is facing an epic identity crisis and the time to address it is now.

Marc Levinson
(Via E-Mail)

Modern Orthodox Schism (II)

I was very impressed with Rabbi Hershel Schachter’s erudite responsum concerning women wearing tefillin. He is certainly someone to admire. Yet even he seems not to grasp the nature of the problems facing Orthodoxy.

Today women are out in the world as never before. They are proving themselves every bit as creative and capable as men, and even more devout. To keep them restrained by narrow interpretations of halacha when there are valid interpretations supporting a more progressive approach is simply wrong. It is not natural and cannot lead to anything good in the long run.

Reuven Rothman
Jerusalem

Netanyahu’s Modest Proposal (I)

Re Shlomo Greenwald’s Feb. 7 op-ed “Netanyahu’s Modest Proposal”:

Benjamin Netanyahu has to be my favorite Israeli politician, with Dore Gold a close second. Ideas such as Netanyahu’s change perceptions and when perceptions change it opens up whole new opportunities.

Steve Moyer

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