<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>Are you saying that unless we know forcertain that a C Jews is not a Kofer - we cannot count him into a Minyan?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't see how you can say the HaMon Am of C has a Chezkas Pasul. They are mostly TNKs who don't delve into matters of Kefira. They join C for social reasons. JTS graduates are another story.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>HM<BR><BR>Want Emes and Emunah in your life? <BR><BR>Try this: http://haemtza.blogspot.com/<BR><BR>--- On <B>Mon, 1/4/10, Micha Berger <I><micha@aishdas.org></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">
<DIV>I also know C rabbis who are essentially Deist (believe that G-d created<BR>the world and let it run). Having a skeptical attitude toward nissim<BR>will push more people in that direction.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>RMF, however, excludes C and R rabbis and cantors from the category of<BR>TSN, his statement was only about the masses. As I usually add in this<BR>recurring discussion, I'm not sure he would have still said so today,<BR>a generation removed. I have some idea of what's taught at JTSA today,<BR>and am not sure they fit RMF's description. They are taught many things,<BR>but not that much of what we call Torah. In fact, in the mid-90s, when<BR>I last checked, they had more required hours of bible criticism than of<BR>shas or halakhah.<BR><BR>OTOH, RMF must have meant this as a rule of thumb when you don't know the<BR>individual. Because in cases where RMF knew the C rabbi was personally<BR>observant, he did accept him as an eid. I can't picture a rationale that<BR>would accept him as kasher le'eidus, but a kofeir WRT minyan.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></td></tr></table><br>