[Avodah] Open Orthodoxy, again

[Lisa Liel]

 From what I understand, YCT has given Yadin Yadin smicha to only one 
person: Zev Farber.  He is also the coordinator of the Vaad HaGiyur of 
the IRF (the Open Orthodox rabbinic group) and a board member of the IRF 
and Yeshivat Maharat.

R' Avraham Gordimer wrote the following article on Cross-Currents:  
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2013/07/21/torah-min-hashamayim-a-reply-to-rabbi-nati-helfgot/

It contains lengthy citations from material Farber has published online 
(and I apologize for not according him his title, but given that what he 
has written, I don't see how it's possible to do so truthfully), in 
which he denies the historicity of Avraham and Sarah, denies that 
shivtei Yisrael were in fact common descendents of anyone, denies Torah 
miSinai...

According to one of the comments on this page:

    It should be noted that Dr. Farber's Academic Bible studies at
    Hebrew U, at which point he had already rejected the traditional
    understanding of Torah min HaShamayim (by his own admission), took
    place BEFORE he entered YCT.

    In other words, his holding of these views, which was readily known,
    was not an impediment to his being accepted in the YCT program, nor
    was it an impediment to his receiving two semichot from them.

    Although Dr. Farber's "real" beliefs about Torah min HaShamayim were
    not known to the Orthodox public until now, they were certainly
    well-known at YCT both before he was accepted and prior to their
    bestowing him with semicha.

    I believe that both YCT and Dr. Farber need to be more transparent
    about this.


Whether this is true or not, as their sole dayan, the fact that YCT and 
IRF and Yeshivat Maharat have not distanced themselves (let alone 
condemned as apikorsut) these positions makes me wonder how anyone can 
justify continuing to include these institutions, and in fact the entire 
Open Orthodox movement, under the label of Orthodoxy.

I know we have some people on this list who are sympathetic to OO, and 
I'd honestly like to hear how what appears to be kefira b'ikkar can be 
justified by them.  Shtika k'hoda'a, and the shtika in this case is 
striking.

Lisa



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20130723/63aac035/attachment.htm>