[Avodah] R. Hirsch as a Modern Orthodox Leader

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 10:35:40AM -0400, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: he was Orthodox, a Torah Jew -- his enemy was Reform, not chareidim  
...

I'm surprised I let this implication about who MO's enemies are through
to the list. My apologies.

In any case...

: He is the father and exemplar of all modern Torah-observant Jews,  MO and 
: chareidi, if by "modern" you mean currently alive.

Well, Neo-Orthodoxy is "Chadash", so depending upon how much a given
community follows the Chasam Sofer's motto, that is more or less true.

The whole discussion revolves more around how each of us defines the
idiom MO than what RSRH stood for or anything else of real meaning.

RSRH was like today's MO in his embracing high culture. But unlike it
in how he fused secular and sacred knowledge. His promotion of Austritt
is entirely like Mod-O, which even in its more RW forms limits Austritt
to kelapei-fnim. RYBS actually prohibited tearing the Jewish community
asunder on inyanim kelapei chutz.

Yes, the realia were different. Perhaps RYBS would have considered
Austritt mandatory at a time when R was gaining strength and numbers
so rapidly. Pesaqim differ when applied to different situations.
The difference between RSRH and RYBS on this point appears more in their
justifying rhetoric than in their conclusions.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             None of us will leave this place alive.
micha at aishdas.org        All that is left to us is
http://www.aishdas.org   to be as human as possible while we are here.
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Anonymous MD, while a Nazi prisoner