We see over and over again that every time some faction comes out of the woodwork claiming to offer a "fresh idea" or "unique approach" to Judaism, it ends up in the dust bin of history.
This doesn't worry me whatsoever because thousands of years of Jewish history is on the side of Mesorah; pure authentic Judaism, not whatever this is.
I agree with your overall point. I think the only thing I’d say in response is that Judaism Unbound represents far more than just one new faction of Judaism. It’s in many ways a collective voice ranging from particularly extreme assimilationist to what some (certainly not all) would consider a legitimate subset of Modern Orthodoxy and everywhere in between. What worries me, in other words, isn’t that this is a fresh idea, unique approach, or new trend, but that this represents a unified front of basically everything that isn’t mainstream Orthodox. And THAT is a very significant subset of American Jewry.
It is the fine line of textual rigidity vs authorial intent. Both must be honored and respected, especially if said author is of a divine source.
It is why Halachic practices change very slowly; why certain ‘permissive/lenient’ ruling should nearly always be private, as they are exceptions to a rule.
Such a mistake was published by JTS in the 1930’s allowing those who lived far from a synagogue to drive there and back- and no where else. The result? Less than 1% of Conservative Jewry hews that line.
The consequence? Assimilation.
Talking Tachlis has made this point with more eloquence than I did.
“Does all of the above worry you?” No, because the “total addressable market” for it is several hundred people at most. And I’m saying that as someone who agrees with your broader take that we need to pay much more attention to the non-Orthodox world.
I’m not sure that’s true. One only has to look at the numbers of clicks Judaism Unbound gets to see that it’s a much higher audience. I think that will increase as well as the non-Orthodox denominations continue to coalesce.
1) Sure, but what portion of that audience is about to proactively commit to “Unbound Judaism Halacha”, whatever that winds up consisting of? You can’t start “archiving” things you don’t like if there isn’t much you do like that you’re willing to actually commit to. I would be more worried about this crew creating some new movement that “archives” core components of the Torah if I thought they’d have a critical mass of people necessary to do it - which they don’t.
2) the podcast itself is popular as far as podcasts go, but by my glance at podcast numbers, it’s something like 1/10 the audience of Call Me Back. Now Call Me Back isn’t a religious podcast, but suffice it to say that his stance is, on a 1-10 scale from radical to traditional, is like a 9. The feeling I get these days is that the non-Orthodox world is in a more traditional state of mind than it’s been in decades.
3) even if everyone wasn’t in such a traditional state of mind, is there ever any large audience for “artists and activists” leading the way? As I recall, their Shavuot programming included a session on “Erotic Yiddish Women’s Poetry” - where’s the constituency for reading poetry in any context, much less in a dead language?* These people are just weird! Traditional Judaism, however defined, isn’t going to appeal to everyone - well, if this is the main alternative, I expect 90% of those who pass on tradition to pass on this too and simply disengage.
We see over and over again that every time some faction comes out of the woodwork claiming to offer a "fresh idea" or "unique approach" to Judaism, it ends up in the dust bin of history.
This doesn't worry me whatsoever because thousands of years of Jewish history is on the side of Mesorah; pure authentic Judaism, not whatever this is.
I agree with your overall point. I think the only thing I’d say in response is that Judaism Unbound represents far more than just one new faction of Judaism. It’s in many ways a collective voice ranging from particularly extreme assimilationist to what some (certainly not all) would consider a legitimate subset of Modern Orthodoxy and everywhere in between. What worries me, in other words, isn’t that this is a fresh idea, unique approach, or new trend, but that this represents a unified front of basically everything that isn’t mainstream Orthodox. And THAT is a very significant subset of American Jewry.
It is the fine line of textual rigidity vs authorial intent. Both must be honored and respected, especially if said author is of a divine source.
It is why Halachic practices change very slowly; why certain ‘permissive/lenient’ ruling should nearly always be private, as they are exceptions to a rule.
Such a mistake was published by JTS in the 1930’s allowing those who lived far from a synagogue to drive there and back- and no where else. The result? Less than 1% of Conservative Jewry hews that line.
The consequence? Assimilation.
Talking Tachlis has made this point with more eloquence than I did.
“Does all of the above worry you?” No, because the “total addressable market” for it is several hundred people at most. And I’m saying that as someone who agrees with your broader take that we need to pay much more attention to the non-Orthodox world.
I’m not sure that’s true. One only has to look at the numbers of clicks Judaism Unbound gets to see that it’s a much higher audience. I think that will increase as well as the non-Orthodox denominations continue to coalesce.
1) Sure, but what portion of that audience is about to proactively commit to “Unbound Judaism Halacha”, whatever that winds up consisting of? You can’t start “archiving” things you don’t like if there isn’t much you do like that you’re willing to actually commit to. I would be more worried about this crew creating some new movement that “archives” core components of the Torah if I thought they’d have a critical mass of people necessary to do it - which they don’t.
2) the podcast itself is popular as far as podcasts go, but by my glance at podcast numbers, it’s something like 1/10 the audience of Call Me Back. Now Call Me Back isn’t a religious podcast, but suffice it to say that his stance is, on a 1-10 scale from radical to traditional, is like a 9. The feeling I get these days is that the non-Orthodox world is in a more traditional state of mind than it’s been in decades.
3) even if everyone wasn’t in such a traditional state of mind, is there ever any large audience for “artists and activists” leading the way? As I recall, their Shavuot programming included a session on “Erotic Yiddish Women’s Poetry” - where’s the constituency for reading poetry in any context, much less in a dead language?* These people are just weird! Traditional Judaism, however defined, isn’t going to appeal to everyone - well, if this is the main alternative, I expect 90% of those who pass on tradition to pass on this too and simply disengage.