[Avodah] Can you build a community around Halakhic Man?

[Rich, Joel]

 Since the last subject header tips my hand anyway, I rethought what I
would post and am adding my final paragraphs:
> The fundamental flaw most people would encounter in trying to apply 
> Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik's philosophy to their own lives is that 
> there is no middle point. It's an ideal which most people are 
> incapable of reaching; there is no path from here to there.

> If they stood alone, the other issues could have been solved 
> incrementally. A person can study aggadita at their level and increase

> their feel for Torah values and seeing the world from the perspective 
> implied by halakhah. Similarly, they can work on their interests and 
> develop interests toward those parts of the general culture that help 
> us better understand and work with the world around us and the people
in it.

> RYBS unifies modernity and Orthodoxy by making them a tension that 
> drives a level of creativity that few are capable of. RYBS's path may 
> work for someone who shares the abilities of himself or the role 
> models he uses in the examples that pepper Halakhic Man. But a 
> community simply can't be built upon it. The compartmentalization and 
> compromise found in contemporary Modern Orthodoxy are beyond the usual

> limitations of people who aspire for a common ideal. It is an 
> inevitable product of the nature of the ideal itself.
==============================================

I enjoyed the post and was with you until the conclusion :-).  As
actuaries (or at least one ) like to say - life is inherently risky.
The tension you describe imho is "inherent in the briah" (hmm-where did
I hear that before). IMHO one can certainly simplify life by minimizing
or negating competing priorities but I'm not sure that is what HKB"H
wants from us (and kach mkublani mbeit avi abba - it's not what he wants
from me).  Each of us who accepts this approach must seek to navigate
(to use your description) at our own level of creativity - I have no
doubt that R'YBS dwarfs me but so what - R' Zushya, echad hamarbeh etc.
stand with me.  To say that it is beyond the usual limitations is to say
that HKB"H didn't give us the ability to succeed - I disagree (BTW
people say the same thing about orthodoxy in general). As R'YBS said (I
forget where) the purpose of religion is not to make life easy...

KT
Joel Rich
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