Forsaking Shalom and Emet

To the Editor:

While I have very great respect for Rabbi Tendler, I am very troubled by some of the points he makes in his opinion piece entitled, "When Everything Else Fails, Tell the Truth." Rabbi Tendler's statement that "there is no difference between the ideology/theology of the conservative and reform movements" is clearly an oversimplification of the historical origins of these two very distinct movements. However, what troubles me most about the article is Rabbi Tendler's insensitive dismissal of Reform and Conservative Jews as "irrevocably removed from the congregation of Israel." It can only be because Rabbi Tendler has written them off that he is willing to completely disregard the damage and pain such statements cause to Reform and Conservative Jews. As one non-Orthodox member of Yeshiva College faculty reported to another after reading the article, "So I guess I am not Jewish".

What then, has been accomplished by writing this article? Rabbi Tendler has (further) alienated the non-Orthodox reader, he has only heightened the intolerance of some segments of the student body, and he has generally deepened the chasm within American Jewry. One need only look for proof at the infamous proclamation of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. Whether justified or not, this proclamation caused great ill will and created an uproar purely because its authors did not measure their words.

In the end, their proclamation was a catalyst, not for deeper religious commitment, but for increased resentment of our Orthodox community, which may be exactly what they wanted. I can only surmise that the point of Rabbi Tendler's article was to provoke controversy and further divide the Jewish people.

The Commentator is not a mere inter-office memo. Rather, it is sent to all Yeshiva College Alumni, and now reaches anyone with a modem. As any student of the interplay between language and self-confidence knows, the more starkly dogmatic the language, the more it displays an underlying insecurity. If Rabbi Tendler is trying to increase our understanding of our communal vulnerability, why must he launch a public offensive, rather than shore up our internal defensive structure?

Rabbi Tendler's article does not seem to value the importance of Jewish unity. His title asks that we "… tell the truth." The truth is that there is a value to Jewish unity. The truth is that we can not totally dismiss "shalom" (peace) for the sake of "emet" (truth). As Rabbi Tendler quotes from the book of Zacharia, real justice is only that which is attained through a balance of emet and shalom. Though he invokes the need for such a balance, the substance of his piece undermines the very tenuous balance he claims to be seeking.

Yonatan Bendheim

YC '99