A collection of essays about the theories and writings of Rabbi Yitz Greenberg was published last year titled, Yitz Greenberg and Modern Orthodoxy: The Road Not Taken. In this volume, Greenberg provides a compelling personal statement that precedes 12 thoughtful essays spanning topics such as halacha (Jewish law), theology, and modern norms of observance. Appearing on the last page of his personal statement, in a subsection titled “The Road to be Taken,” Greenberg writes:
When it lost its way, Centrist Orthodoxy located itself in the faux center – halfway between the Orthodox left and Satmar. But that actually placed them on the extreme right margin of Clal Yisrael, with 95 percent of the Jews living to their left, operating by different cultural assumptions and struggling with alternative moral paradigms and existential challenges. Modern Orthodoxy must relocate itself solidly inside postmodernity, sharing the fate, the challenges, and the experiences of all Israel. Then it will be able to deepen the tradition, incorporate new methods, insights, and values, while connecting all people to the deepest levels of the entire heritage. This is the road that I believe will still be taken.
COMING FROM the perspective of both a traditional Jew and a legal scholar who embraces the cultural analysis method of analyzing law, I believe Greenberg’s approach is completely in tune with the core tenets of a culturally nuanced approach to halacha. Although Greenberg’s philosophies may never gain complete traction within all sectors of Orthodoxy, his vision has the potential to play a critical role in reinvigorating a more centrist Jewish community both in Israel and the US.
By his own admission, Greenberg is an ardent pluralist. In his personal statement in The Road Not Taken, he argues that “pluralism holds the continuing authority (and even absolute demands) of one’s own tradition, while acknowledging that there are other, sometimes even contradictory, teachings that are also valid.” Interestingly, his pluralist thinking did not begin with non-Orthodox Jewish denominations but rather with the “positive and redemptive elements” he found in Christianity through his early studies of the Holocaust. His dialogue with Christians proved so “instructive and moving” that he decided the same process should be tried among Jews. As a result, he co-founded the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), a center for intra-Jewish dialogue and pluralism.
A significant aspect of Greenberg’s vision for Modern Orthodoxy is that it must become “postmodern.” But his perspective of postmodernity does not equate to the relegation of all identities as social constructs that can be “easily adopted and lightly shed.” Rather, he believes that “all truths are inescapably articulated and understood in a social and historical context.” Subjectivity must be acknowledged and filtered with some skepticism in order to make room for “as many voices form the past and present as possible, so as to allow for a 360-degree view of the truth and/or the issue.” Greenberg sees postmodernity’s message for the Jews as one that encourages the embrace of Jewish tradition with open arms, even with an acknowledgment that other religions “may contribute to the world or even enrich our religious lives.” Greenberg’s views can be situated squarely within the themes that characterize the perspectives of those who maintain a culturally nuanced approach to law. Clearly, one of the hallmarks of his thinking is the need to incorporate as many voices as possible into the discourse. He sees absolutism, including in the form of boundaries that are often taken for granted in Orthodox circles, as unacceptable.
As will be discussed more below, the conventional boundaries he questions pertain to both theology as well as matters with a more sociological focus. Greenberg is also keenly sensitive to how power dynamics, environmental influences and even conflict have shaped normative halacha. His thinking reveals an appreciation for the interrelationship between the legal and the cultural and how they mutually influence and reinforce one another.
From a theological standpoint, Greenberg appears to embrace a view of partnership in which Jews, and all of humanity, must “take power and assume full responsibility for the realization of the covenant.” He writes that this “human response is meant to be out of love, free will, and full, autonomous identification with the goal of tikkun olam.”
Greenberg recently provided an illustration of this philosophy in a short article published by The Wall Street Journal during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he urged religious authorities to “lead in proclaiming that coronavirus isn’t willed or inflicted by God” but instead “is a natural phenomenon.” He pleaded with his audience to work “in partnership with God” by religiously performing tasks that will prevent disease transmission such as hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks, responsibilities he calls “the ritual actions that now link us” to the Divine and respond to God’s instruction in Deuteronomy to “choose life.” Greenberg’s theology clearly raises important questions concerning the ongoing authority of halacha, the relevant interpretative process, and the appropriate identity of those who make these determinations. As some of the contributions to The Road Not Taken discuss, even within Modern Orthodoxy, there are positions that reflect more nuance on these topics than the traditional “Torah min hashamayim” perspective might suggest.
For example, as Bar-Ilan University professor Adam S. Ferziger noted in a section of his essay addressing biblical scholarship, there has been a burgeoning degree of attention among Orthodox scholars in Israel to “synthesizing a ‘critical’ orientation with unequivocal allegiance to the Divine origins of the Torah.”
For more religiously liberal Jews, Greenberg’s theological framing can be attractive and inviting. But it is his openness on the more publicly focused social issues, especially those involving women and gays, as well as his attitude toward the non-Orthodox, that have the most significant potential for providing the glue that can support a coalition of religious moderates. By calling for an approach that relaxes the very types of boundaries the majority of religiously liberal Jews perceive as alienating, Greenberg’s version of Orthodoxy has the capacity to forge connections between communities with differing levels of observance.
Greenberg proclaims that “postmodernity enables us to take the best insights and moral improvements of our culture into our traditions,” and he affirms as examples “the equality of women” and “the legitimacy of various forms of sexuality.” Samuel Heilman concludes his essay on the rabbinate in The Road Not Taken by crediting Greenberg with understanding that Modern Orthodoxy “must anchor itself to the aspirations of women who study Torah and the men who support or are willing to share the rabbinate with them” when he chose Blu Greenberg as his life partner. With respect to the issue of more inclusive treatment for gay Jews, Greenberg’s 2011 letter in Moment to an imaginary homosexual son reflect love, compassion and acceptance. Significantly, the letter cautioned against casual or promiscuous sex and included the following aspirational instructions: “You should try for the Jewish ideal, which remain family and creating/nurturing life via children [by conception or adoption].” Greenberg’s openness and pluralism clearly have the potential to appeal to religiously liberal Jews, but evidence suggests that sectors of Jews who self-denominate as Modern Orthodox as well as Religious Zionists also are likely to find his views appealing. As noted by Miri Freud-Kandel in her contribution to The Road Not Taken, among some Modern Orthodox, “the willingness to be told what to do, how to believe, whom to include or exclude, and how to be religious are being reconsidered.”
In their book Israeli Judaism: Portrait of a Cultural Revolution, Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs acknowledge greater visibility of religious Jews “on the spectrum” who “openly admit that they do not observe all the laws, only what suits them.” In the US, a 2017 comprehensive study of the Modern Orthodox community conducted by Nishma Research demonstrates that with respect to beliefs and practices, the Modern Orthodox are much more fragmented and heterogeneous than many people would expect. Not surprisingly, the role of women’s religious leadership in Orthodoxy has become increasingly contested particularly in the more liberal sectors of Modern Orthodoxy.
According to the Nishma Study, 19% of Modern Orthodox respondents strongly support Orthodox women being part of the clergy and having a title, and another 19% are somewhat supportive of this possibility. With respect to accepting gays as synagogue members, the study also revealed that 58% of Modern Orthodox Jews support this choice. Significantly, the 2013 Pew Report analyzing the American Jewish community also demonstrates a far greater acceptance of homosexuality on the part of Modern Orthodox Jews compared to the ultra-Orthodox.
These sources demonstrate that elements of postmodernity characteristic of the larger culture have impacted the thinking and behavior of Modern Orthodox Jews. But since the publication of The Road Not Taken, the Jewish world has had to grapple with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and face the reality that the Jewish future is likely to look very different for the majority of individuals and institutions. The post-pandemic Jewish world will of necessity need to pivot as financial resources shrink, prior institutional models may require substantial retooling, and younger Jews with their unique sensibilities and priorities will come to maturity and exert a distinct influence on all of Jewish life.
One already visible example of this new reality is that on the religiously liberal side, the interdenominational collaborative efforts that began prior to the pandemic have been gaining traction and seem to be a sure wave of the future. Although the possibility of a formal merger between Reform and Conservative Judaism still is not being discussed by the respective leaders of these movements, there are signs that denominational boundaries will continue to recede. In a recent survey of 30 rabbis conducted by The Forward about whether denominations will survive the pandemic, Rabbi Getzel Davis, who works at the Harvard Hillel, observed: “I see thousands of Jews who care deeply about exploring their identities and spirituality. They search for opportunities for deep connection but care little about denominational affiliation.” This survey generally affirmed that more collaboration and creativity is needed in the future, especially for the religiously liberal movements, and more than a few of the rabbis surveyed questioned whether formal denominations have a long-term future.
Greenberg’s vision can play an important role for both Modern Orthodox Jews who want to maintain their traditional norms with a more open perspective as well as for religiously liberal Jews who wish to deepen their connection to Jewish tradition without as strict a level of observance. Liberally religious Jews can be drawn to Greenberg’s vision, and perhaps even enticed by his personal level of observance, because he does not question their legitimacy.
In the years ahead, Greenberg’s postmodern perspective, steeped in a culturally nuanced approach to halacha, can play a major role in galvanizing a stronger, and more cohesive, Jewish middle ground. This middle could coalesce around the importance of Jewish observance, education, and ethics, even while maintaining differences in approach and content. This middle could be shaped by a set of cultural norms that are shared by a wide group of Jews whose observance has commonality when painted with a broad brush but differs more so in the details. The strengthening of this middle group may well embody the essence of Yitz Greenberg’s “Road To be Taken.”The writer is the Raymond P. Niro professor at DePaul University College of Law. She is the author of Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World (Rowman & Littlefield)