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Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Who We Are (2/12) Previous Document: Question 2.12: What other forms of Chasidism? Next Document: Question 2.14: But Reform Judaism isn't Judaism? Why don't they see that? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Answer:
These are disputes among Orthodox-Conservative-Reform Jews, perhaps
the most regular and least productive discussion topic.
Why is this? Perhaps it's a carryover from Talmudic study, in which
decisions are reached by proposing a series of ideas, vigorously
attacking them, and seeing which remain standing when the dust clears.
Everyone is expected to be able to state his first principles and
demonstrate how his practices are consistent with said principles.
If the correctness of one of your practices is attacked, the best
defense is to show that it is consistent with your principles, but not
the attacker's. Once a debate boils down to different principles,
there's nothing more to add, except to try to change each others'
principles somehow.
Another form of attack is to assert that another group's practices
harm the Jewish people or Jewish survival. That group may well
disagree with your assessment. If the different assessments are due to
different principles, there's nothing more to add.
Before jumping into the RCO pot, consider the following story, which
was shared by David Kaufmann:
Rabbi Manis Friedman, at a lecture to the women's organizations of
a Reform synagogue and Chabad (co-sponsored by both), gave the
following parable/analogy:
The Jewish people are like children of a father gone on a long
journey. They argue over what type of soup their father wants when
he comes back - and are busy preparing the soup. "Father will want
chicken soup, just like he did before." "No, Father wanted chickens
soup then, now he'll want vegetable soup." When the father returns,
what will matter is that the children cared most about what their
father wanted and tried to have it ready for him.
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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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