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IN MY FIRST ARTICLE in Jewish Action (above, Ch. 2), I briefly proposed some tentative explanations for Orthodox Jewry's blithe betrayal of one of its fundamental beliefs. The question, however, cries out for fuller treatment. I regret to say that the reasons for this phenomenon now strike me as broader and deeper than they did in 1995, so that despite their utter lack of substantive merit, their sociological force will be very difficult to overcome.
The Ideal of Unity and the Avoidance of Communal Strife
The point is self-evident. Every practising Jew has heard countless sermons about the imperative to love one's neighbour, particularly one's Jewish neighbour. At the barest minimum, the annual Torah reading about Korah's rebellion against Moses (Num. 16–17) generates discourses about the severe prohibition against fomenting disputes within the community. (I heard one of these just two days before writing this sentence.) While rhetoric about this value cuts across all Orthodox—and Jewish—lines, in our context it is especially compelling for Modern Orthodox Jews who maintain cordial, even formal relations with other denominations and pride themselves on embracing an ideal of tolerance.
Nonetheless, the refutation of this argument is no less self-evident than its initial attractiveness. A few weeks after the Torah reading about Korah, very different sermons are preached about the zeal of Pinchas (Num. 25). I will not burden the reader with a detailed recapitulation of arguments that have appeared throughout this volume. No Orthodox Jew believes that everyone committed to the Jewish community has the right to serve as an Orthodox rabbi because of the value of unity. The appeal to this principle is relevant only after one has concluded that Lubavitch messianism is essentially within the boundaries of Orthodoxy. Since this is precisely what is at issue, the argument begs the question.
Orthopraxy and Appearance
Two distinguished academic observers of contemporary Orthodoxy have chided me for incurable naivety in imagining that matters of faith play any significant role in the community. Anyone who looks and acts the way Lubavitch hasidim do will be treated as an Orthodox Jew. Period.
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