[Avodah] Experimental Judaism: Playing with Fire

[Prof. Levine]

  From http://tinyurl.com/98qh7gm

Written by Rabbi Hershel Schachter

Years ago Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik warned, both in his public
addresses as well in his written essay ("Confrontation") against
having any such contact with the church. How shameful it is that
people who claim to be "disciples" of his have "reinterpreted" his
words to mean the exact opposite of what they really say, and have
then added that even if at one time he did prohibit such interaction
with the church, this clearly no longer applies today. To the best of
my understanding, moshiach has not yet arrived and the world is still
full of avodah zarah!

Achronim had a debate whether believing in the trinity constitutes
avodah zarah for a Noachide or not; but for Jews there is no question
that it is avodah zarah! And even for bnai Noach, Rav Soloveichik
quoted in the name of his grandfather Rav Chaim that this
understanding of the Remah and Shach was a shegagah she'yatz'ah
milifnei hashalit and it makes no sense to distinguish between the
definition of avodah zarah for a Jew and for a ben Noach.

The human desire to be mechadesh (to act as an original thinker) has
misled these rabbis in Eretz Yisroel to play into the hands of avodah
zarah and shemad. The words of this week's parsha stand out clearly
to teach us that in Eretz Yisroel we are required to be even more
careful when dealing with the church. Time and time again the Torah
warns us that in Eretz Yisroel we must not get involved with avodah
zarah. Officially Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the King over Eretz Yisroel
(see Mordechai to Gittin #401), and the midrashim refer to all of
Eretz Yisroel as the "palace of the King". The Ramban (end of Acharei
Mos) explains that the main location for observance of all of the
mitzvos is Eretz Yisroel, and one who sins there is compared to one
who rebels against a king's authority in his palace, which is a more
brazen sin than sinning elsewhere(see Avnei Nezer, Yoreh Deah #454).

Apparently the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel arouses strong feelings of
spirituality that one must take care to channel properly. These
strong feelings can mislead even the wise to get carried away by
their imagination and their desire to be original thinkers, and in
turn to strengthen avodah zarah and shemad. Some rabbis have gained
credibility by claiming to be disciples of Rav Soloveitchik, and then
have proceeded to totally misrepresent his views on these issues of
avodah zarah and shemad.


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