[Avodah] A Modern Orthodox Hedgehog

[Sholom Simon]

R Gil Perl, Philadelphia, wrote a fascinating article in The Lehrhaus.

He starts off with:

Modern Orthodoxy is in need of a Hedgehog Concept.

Jim Collins, the best-selling business writer, coined this term almost two
decades ago when he looked at companies that made the leap from “good” to
“great.” More often than not, these organizations had something at their
core that they passionately believed they did better than anyone else in
the world. And their success resulted in large measure from orienting the
organization’s “resource engines” toward this singular goal.

While Collins didn’t extend his analysis to the realm of religion, a brief
glance at the sub-denominations that constitute contemporary Orthodoxy
suggest the same might well be true. That is, each of them seems to have an
authentic Torah value at their core, which they believe they do better than
anyone else in the world. The Yeshiva world has *talmud Torah*. The Hasidic
world has *dveykus*. The Dati Le-umi world had *yishuv Eretz Yisra’el*.
Chabad has *kiruv*. Though each community advocates full-fledged adherence
to all 613 *mitzvot*, a single value is elevated above the rest. And, more
often than not, the community’s schools and shuls, their curricula and
customs, their choices of where to live, who to marry and what professions
to seek are all oriented towards this particular goal. Like in the business
world, this focus becomes a point of pride for members of each community
and fuels a passion for their chosen way of life that often translates to
the next generation.

American Modern Orthodoxy has no Hedgehog.
He suggests that Torah U'Maddah is really only suitable for the MO
intellectual elite, and then goes on to suggest a variation of Ohr L'Goyim.

See
https://thelehrhaus.com/commentary/a-modern-orthodox-hedgehog-for-a-postmodern-world/
(part 1 of two parts).

I'm very curious as to what other folks here think of this article.

Kol tuv!

-- Sholom
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