1:14 PM
Gil Student
The Jewish Week published a letter from R. Reuven Spolter in defense of R. Hershel Schachter. I was forwarded his unedited letter with permission to post it. I have other letters but am still awaiting permission to publicize them.
To the editor,
When Editor in Chief Gary Rosenblatt published his expose on Rabbi Baruch Lanner, he made it clear that he did so under the careful guidance of halachic authority. I'd like to know which posek he asked permission from to print the hatchet job lambasting Rav Hershel Schachter in print. Sure, you can write anything under the guise of "Some in the community are wondering..." but that doesn't make it any more appropriate to criticize a rav you disagree with in print. In the context of any halachic discussion, when one is trying to make a point about a halachic idea, it's very common to take that example to the extreme to demonstrate its halachic validity. If Mr. Rosenblatt didn't get that point, he should have asked someone before writing about it. And if he did, he made absolutely no effort to explain where Rav Schachter was coming from and why he would speak that way. If Mr. Rosenblatt wants to write an op-ed piece about his disagreements with Rav Schachter, that would be insulting and inappropriate, but within his rights as an editor. But using an "article" to report "insensitivity" to further his own agenda is not only improper; it tramples the principles of journalism he so staunchly defends.
People wonder why the Orthodox world keeps moving to the right. To me the answer seems painfully obvious. Rav Schachter's hasn't moved at all. From a hashkafic point of view, he's right where he's been his entire life. Yet, in their frustration, people like Mr. Rosenblatt and Mrs. Greenberg have resorted to trying to push leaders like Rav Schachter - people who they dislike - aside in their efforts to claim the vaunted role of spokesmen for Modern Orthodoxy.
If Modern Orthodoxy can only promote its ideology by denigrating those with whom it disagrees, then it becomes easy to understand why people choose not to be Modern Orthodox.
Rabbi Reuven Spolter
Young Israel of Oak Park
