Judaism in Culture: Much Ado About Nothing

There has already been quite a bit of buzz about Dr. Alan Brill's article in the recently released issue of The Edah Journal, titled "Judaism in Culture: Beyond the Bifurcation of Torah and Madda." Frankly, I don't see the big deal. He writes as if this were his manifesto but it seems to me to be one of the most confused and confusing articles I have read in a long time. It is certainly true to its sociological basis: Like most sociology, it is 1/3 obvious observations, 1/3 terminology games and 1/3 nonsense.

The main take-away of value that I got from this article is that Modern Orthodoxy has to come to grips with the Post-Modern academic world. From where I am sitting, Post-Modernism can be not only consistent but helpful to traditional Judaism. But that brings us to the topic of our next post, discussing a coherent contribution to Torah and scholarship.