[Avodah] R' Angel & Geirus Redux

[Michael Makovi]

>  Having read through Not in Heaven - in particular Chapter 4 -Halacha in
>  our Time - I am having difficulty understanding how R' Berkovitz differs
>  from Reform and Conservative Judaism. What does he do with Jews for
>  Jesus? The following is his lead in to his discussion of conversion.
>
>  For example he states on page 107

>  Daniel Eidensohn

I don't see the problem with what Rav Berkovits says. If I had to
summarize him on one foot, I'd say, "R and C are not apikorsim/minim
b'meizid; rather, they are sincere and honestly intend to improve
Judaism, however mistaken they are. They are simply mistaken (wrong)
and/or tinokim she'nishbu."

Does anyone here disagree? Would anyone characterize them as b'meizid
and NOT tinokim she'nishbu?

Similarly, in his article on gerut, Rav Berkovits says that while he
personally believes Orthodoxy, halacha, the Shulchan Aruch, etc. are
true/authoritative, he cannot prove it, and he has no more conviction
in this than the R and C do in their views, and so one cannot try to
trump them by claiming personal feeling of being correct. Therefore,
he says that we must approach them with candor and try to create some
sort of compromise; he suggests saying that the Orthodox standards are
the lowest-common denominator of everyone, and it is the others that
deviated from them, not Orthodoxy.

B'vadai, one can argue with Rav Berkovits on whether we can do away
with the law of kabbalat mitzvot in favor of the law of preservation
of the unity of Am Yisrael, as an eit la'asot lashem; b'vadai one can
argue with this. But the questions he raises (viz. that to be machmir
on kabbalat mitzvot is to be meikil on lo titgodedu, etc.), and the
approach that leads us to his conclusion (approach R/C with candor,
etc., and firmly state our approach but still give them the respect of
having their opinion listened to, don't declare them apikorsim
b'meizid, recognize their lishma intentions even if they are dead
wrong), is much less open to criticism IMHO, except from R' Toby Katz
;)

Mikha'el Makovi