[Avodah] Who is Orthodox?

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 02:59:50PM -0700, Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org wrote:
: what about the consideration  as to who is a manhig /rabbi/teacher . there 
: are eg rabbinic organizations [RCA , YI ]   or  synagogue groups {OU, YI} 
: that have to have some criterion as to who is allowed to lead a member 
: congregation, or to be a member congregation. are not the criteria 
: stricter for that? 

Yes, the question of who is "one of us" is different than who is fit
to lead. Since leadership is a relative statement, I'm not sure one can
phrase in any concrete way rules for who that is.

(Beyond issues like ordaining women, geirim as dayanim, etc... We started
by talking about beliefs and behaviors.)

Personally, I am currently more interested in clarifying the question
I originally raised. I believe there are clear halachic guidelines for
deciding who is a "Jew in good standing", and the creation of rules that
have nothing to do with those guidelines is problematic.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha