Experiencing Tradition
A Message for Parashat Kedoshim 2017
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Over two decades ago, historian Haym Soloveitchik described the
transformation of contemporary Orthodox Judaism in an essay that has since
become a classic in its field. In “Rupture and Reconstruction: The
Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy” Soloveitchik highlighted the
dominance of texts upon present-day religious Jewry. He explained that while
our sacred texts have always played a dominant role in our core beliefs and
daily behaviors, halakhah has traditionally constituted a fundamental
“way of life.” He explained that a way of life “is not learned but rather
absorbed.” Its traditional transmission was therefore “imbibed from parents and
friends, and patterned on conduct regularly observed in home and street,
synagogue and school.” Soloveitchik explained that contemporary Judaism has
undergone a rapid shift from this “mimetic” tradition to an unprecedented
reliance upon texts and legal codes.[1]
I was reminded of Soloveitchik’s observation several years ago,
when a halakhic conflict arose in the synagogue on one Shabbat morning.
It involved a situation regarding the laws and customs of aliyot la-Torah.
I ruled according to my understanding of the halakhah, but then observed
a noticeable discomfort among several congregants during its implementation.
Several weeks later, I clarified my ruling during a class dedicated to the
issue. I explained the relevant sources and cited several prominent halakhic
decisors who had preceded me in ruling on this matter. Following the class, one
man approached me and in a respectful tone and manner said, “Rabbi, though your
sources and books are impressive, I cannot be convinced on this matter. Our
community has never ruled this way. Even if I can’t explain it, I know that it
just isn’t our way.” Though I was unmoved from my initial ruling, I was nonetheless
struck by the contrast in our perspectives. I was saddened by what I perceived
as my generation’s significant loss of this “living tradition.”
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אִישׁ אִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו תִּירָאוּ
וְאֶת שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ אֲנִי ה' אֱלֹקיכֶם.
Every man shall revere his mother and his father, and My Shabbat
you shall keep. (Vayikra 19:3)
The Torah’s peculiar mention of honoring one’s parents together
with observance of Shabbat was long-ago noted by the Hakhamim. The
Rabbis (Bava Messia 32a) inferred from here the boundaries of
appropriate reverence to parents. They explained that observance of Shabbat and
all other missvot supersedes the demand of a parent to act otherwise.
Perhaps, however, this pasuk further hints at the integral role of
parental transmission of tradition to observance of Shabbat and other missvot.
R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik z”l often spoke about the
experiential tradition of Judaism. On one occasion, he remarked:
Judaism is not
only an intellectual tradition but an experiential one as well. The Jew not
only observed but experienced the Shabbat, the Jew experienced Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur. He did not only recite prayers on those days. The seder
was not just a ceremonial, but a great experiential event. There is a beauty,
grandeur, warmth, and tenderness to Judaism. All these qualities cannot be
described in cognitive terms. One may behold them, feel, them, sense them.[2]
On another occasion, he distinguished between the different
traditions he had received from his parents regarding Shabbat:
I learned from
[my mother] very much. Most of all, I learned that Judaism expresses itself not
only in formal compliance with the law, but also in a living experience. She
taught me that there is a flavor, a scent and warmth to mitzvot…The laws
of Shabbat, for instance were passed on to me by my father. The Shabbat as a
living entity, as a queen was revealed to me by my mother…
R. Soloveitchik concluded, “The fathers knew much about the
Shabbat; the mothers lived the Shabbat, experienced her presence, and
perceived her beauty and splendor.”[3]
Preeminent thinker R. Shimon Gershon Rosenberg z”l assessed
the state of Judaism in the modern era in a manner akin to that of Haym
Soloveitchik. He explained:
The various
shades of modernity and Orthodoxy have removed Jews from the more rooted
Judaism…Rootedness is never “by the book”; rather it is embedded in the current
of life. The halakhic Jewish lifestyle is the flow of Jewish life – not the
study of halakhic tomes.
In his concluding sentence, Rav Shagar chose a most appropriate
metaphor for his analysis: “It was an era that gave rise to Orthodoxy that
lives by the book, but is bereft of its Shabbat-like soul.”[4]
The transition from a Judaism that existed as a “total culture” to
one that is defined solely by rules and texts has degenerated our experience of
Shabbat. The soul and spirit of Shabbat, which once existed in tandem with the
observance of its rules and regulations, are now foreign to our one-dimensional
generation of rules and structure. The Torah subtly warned of this potential
loss by preceding observance of the “living” parental traditions – “Every man
shall revere his mother and his father,” to shemirat Shabbat – “And
My Shabbat you shall keep.”
[1] Haym Soloveitchik,
“Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy,” Tradition
28:4 (1994), pg. 64-130.
[2] R. Joseph B.
Soloveitchik, Family Redeemed (Jersey City, NJ, 2000), pg. 115.
[3] R. Joseph B.
Soloveitchik, “A Tribute to the Rebbitzen of Talne,” Tradition 17:2
(1978), pg. 77.
[4] R. Shimon Gershon
Rosenberg, Faith Shattered and Restored (New Milford, CT, 2017), pg.
62-3.