[Avodah] Liberal vs Conservative Value System

[Rabbi Mordechai Harris via Avodah]

On Feb 2, 2017 5:23 AM, "Moshe Zeldman via Avodah" <avodah at lists.aishdas.org>
wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with works that discuss Torah representing a liberal vs
> conservative value system (re social welfare, individual rights,
> affirmative action, diversity, social justice)?

As Jonathan Haidt points out in his must read book "The Righteous Mind:
Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion", any Orthodoxy is
fundamentally not progressive nor conservative. Both progressive and
conservative ideologies have an anchor for behavior determined by the
internal status quo (one seeks to find 'better' through change, the other
seeks to maintain 'safety' or 'good' through sticking to what is proven).

Orthodoxy (of any kind) by contrast seeks to anchor itself to an external
'truth' which may be the same or different than the status quo on any
given issue. I'd add that even those who seek 'tradition' are also on that
international timeline vis a vis the status quo and merely placing primacy
on the legacy of the past attempting change from the status quo (just like
a progressive, but toward a nostalgic past rather than a hopeful future).

Thus 'Traditional' is also not a term which is compatible with
Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy must be willing to commit to or change along the
timeline from the status quo on any given issue in either direction at any
time based upon the best understanding of God's will, period. Sometimes
this means on an issue Orthodoxy will appear regressive, other times
progressive, and yet other times it will be lock step with the current
cultural milu. At all times it will not care which of these it happens
to be so long as it's fidelity remains to its external anchor, which in
the case of Orthodox Judaism is the will of HaKadosh Baruch Hu with the
best hope for understanding His will being the Torah and our Mesorah to
that moment of Revelation at Sinai guided in that understanding by each
generations best minds and leaders who must be ready to constantly apply
our best understandings to our current dilemmas.

- Please excuse typos as this was sent from my cell phone.