[Avodah] Hypocrisy in halakhah

[Arie Folger]

RMM wrote:
> However, I'm not sure what particularly happened around 1906 or 1926
> which would have affected JTS's Orthodox status. As for Rabbi Revel's
> statement that in JTS they learn only about Talmud and not Talmud
> itself, this does not seem to impugn JTS's Orthodoxy, as JTS itself
> admitted its students were pulpit leaders and not halakhists; plenty
> of Orthodox baalei batim do not learn Talmud, but this makes them
> ignorant, not non-Orthodox!

Yes, but the ba'alei bayit do not claim the mantle of rabbinic leadership. In 
fact, the text you quote shows how, with time, the intermediate leadership, 
such as the pulpit rabbis, counts a lot, and since these where ra' banim, 
they led everything astray. It behooves us to learn this lesson and 
understand why pulpit rabbis ought perhaps not to be on the bleeding edge of 
halakhic experimentalism. Hint hint at certain circles and institutions...

Good Shabbos,
-- 
Arie Folger
http://ariefolger.wordpress.com
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com