CU8.4

=Grade 8 Lesson 4 (Template)=
 * Title: Modern Orthodox: Secularization of Ultra-Orthodoxy**
 * Goals:**
 * Explore how and why the New Orthodox (neo-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox movements) formed.
 * Explore differences between the New Orthodox and the Ultra-Orthodox and Conservative Jews.


 * MATERIALS:** simplified chart of the Network of Jewish Currents, Varieties, Branches and Offshoots

Wanting to be successful in the newly free secular society, they adapted Rabbinic Judaism to a more modern lifestyle. "The difference between them and the Old Orthodox, [now called the Ultra-Orthodox,] was sometimes as great as the difference between them and the other Reformers. Western clothing was adopted. Beards vanished. [...] Women entered public life. Men and women entered secular universities to study secular subjects in a secular way. Tradition was only visible at home and in the synagogue" (Wine, Kindle Locations 6390-6394) and they continued to follow Jewish Law (Halachah).
 * 1. Gain the attention of the learner:** <???>
 * 2. Relevant past learning:** The reaction of Jews to modernity had 3 major Jewish options (see chart): ignore modernity as much as possible (Orthodox - lesson on Hasidism, Mitnagdim in 18th century); remove religion from Jewishness and make it an ethnic group and/or nationality (Naturalists - future lessons on secular Jews) or try to combine the two by modernizing the religion and public behaviors (Reformers - lessons on Reform and Conservative Judaisms; current lesson). In the United States by the 1880's, most of the 250,000 Jews were Reform and and of recent German extraction. In the next 40 years, over 2 million Jews from Eastern Europe would migrate to the United States. The majority of the migrants were secular or Hasidic.
 * 3. Introduce new material:** While the Reform Jews replaced the unchanging nature of Jewish law with ideas for a constantly evolving religion, the New Orthodox (neo-Orthodox in Europe beginning in the 1850's and the Modern Orthodox in the United States beginning in the 1880's) kept the belief that God gave the law to Moses at Sinai all at once and forever. They are the true heirs of the attempts by Moses Mendelssohn to blend Orthodoxy and the Secular Revolution.

The training and role of rabbis was also secularized. Abandoning the old yeshiva system, the New Orthodox organized modern seminaries for training rabbis just like the Reform and later Conservatives.The first in the United States was Yeshiva University, founded in 1886 with a philosophy of Torah Umadda("Torah and secular knowledge") Their rabbis were now trained to be preachers and congregational leaders rather than Talmudic scholars and judges. They studied academic subjects of history, sociology and science with the potential to undermine religious belief: "If miracles were illusions, much of the Bible was illusion; If God is only a non-intrusive creator of the universe and an inventor of natural law, [...] then he is both boring and irrelevant [and prayer is useless] (Wine, Kindle Locations 6259-6260).

For the neo-Orthodox (European), traditional religious texts (Torah, Talmud, Shulhan Aruch) are the "sole barometer of truth" by which to judge secular disciplines; interacting with the secular world should only occur when it helps to apply Torah to the secular world. For the Modern Orthodox (American), traditional Judaism and secular knowledge, when different, provide different perspectives. Together, they present the possibility of a higher truth with secular culture and knowledge seen as a complement to Torah, and, to some extent, encouraged for their own sake.

The Modern Orthodox did maintain laws that made it difficult to integrate fully into non-Jewish society
 * Prohibition against intermarriage - could not marry non-Jews
 * Prohibition against non-kosher food - could not eat at the homes of non-Orthodox Jews
 * Prohibition against driving to synagogue on Shabbat - had to live within walking distance of an Orthodox synagogue and near other neo-Orthodox families

Form groups of students Many of the immigrant Jews were Hasids because Hasidism was the only kind of practice in their town or village. When they came to the US, why might they join a Conservative or Modern Orthodox synagogue even if it was very different from the religious experience they had in Europe? Why wouldn't they? Our community has families who are not secular. Why are they members? Why are they permitted to be members? (this question may be postponed to the lesson on secular Jewish groups)
 * 4. Guided Practice:** <???>
 * 5. Independent Practice:**
 * Hold meeting to reform Orthodoxy:**
 * Welcome members of Orthodox Community (To students: Hello Moshe, Shalom Freda, etc. Sit down, we have a very important topic to talk about today. And that topic is the Reform Movement. Our brethren are leaving behind their culture and their religion to assimilate. We're losing numbers fast and soon our brothers (remember they are sexists so that references to women will be unlikely) will becomes strangers. Our cousins will becomes our enemies. If it's reform that our people want, we must offer adaptation to our Orthodoxy, that still maintains our essence. I am going to break you up into committees. The changes we need to make are: change in dress, change in gender roles, change in education. Who would like to head start these committees?)**
 * Rules:**
 * Dress-- modest, elbows covered, no flashy colors, knees covered, "normal" looking**
 * Gender Roles-- maintain hierarchy, integrate women into public society**
 * Education-- integrate secular subjects, but keep focus on halacha, the religious law concerning practices and observances**
 * 6. Close the Lesson:**
 * 7. References:**
 * Wine, Sherwin T. (2012-10-10). A Provocative People: A Secular History of the Jews. IISHJ/Milan Press. Kindle Edition.
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Orthodox_Judaism

=
===========\ The basic dilemma for modernizing Orthodoxy is that religious orthodoxy requires submission to religious authority, while modernity emphasizes the ideology of personal freedom and choice. As a result, Modern Orthodox rabbis who would like more restrictive rules may lose the support of precisely the "Modern" group which they seek to lead. (Wikipedia)

The fundamental question that the modern orthodox and secular Jews and other Jewish reformers have to answer is How to do you live in the modern world and maintain Jewish uniqueness.Once you have abandonned the Jewish Use timeline to find Modern Orthodox Judaism (Mod Orx in the chart). NEW ORTHODOXY New Orthodoxy was one of the Jewish religious responses to the Secular Revolution. Today it is called Modern Orthodoxy. Old Orthodoxy is often called Ultra-Orthodoxy.

Most neo-Orthodox Jews in Europe and the Americas did not see their religious life as a transformation of Orthodoxy. They were always comparing themselves to Reform and Secular Jews. In that comparison they were overwhelmingly traditional. Therefore, they required no formal ideology that deviated from Rabbinic Judaism.

Neo-Orthodox Jews were often as assimilated as Reform Jews. Most of the major synagogues in Western Europe followed the neo-Orthodox pattern. Many of them in North America found it easy to cross over and affiliate with the Conservatives (Conservative Reform).

The New Orthodox in North America cooperated with the far more numerous Conservative and Radical Reformers to deal with non-religious issues affecting the Jewish community. where as in Europe, they preferred the privilege of the Jewish establishment.

Wine, Sherwin T. (2012-10-10). A Provocative People: A Secular History of the Jews (Kindle Locations 6256-6260). IISHJ/Milan Press. Kindle Edition.

Only in Germany did a new ideology of neo-Orthodoxy emerge. Samson Raphael Hirsch of Frankfurt sought to provide a rational basis for the attempt to reconcile Orthodoxy and the Enlightenment. His ideology ran into the same problems as Mendelssohn's. But he did inspire fervent disciples. While many neo-Orthodox congregations were filled with non-observant people, Hirsch's disciples burned with an intense passion.

With the rise of Ultra-Orthodoxy, many neo-Orthodox Jews found themselves in the Center and no longer on the Right. They had to be re-focused to meet the challenge of a resurgent Old Orthodoxy that found them not kosher.

Wine, Sherwin T. (2012-10-10). A Provocative People: A Secular History of the Jews (Kindle Locations 6395-6404). IISHJ/Milan Press. Kindle Edition.

UltraOrthodox - schools have very limited learning of secular subjects Modern Orthodox - want to learn secular subjects

Old Style Rabbi Primarily judge of Jewish religious law, in particular kosher laws

vs New Style Rabbi