Submitted by Michoel Ambush, Jul 23, 2007 10:44

I am writing to because I take exception to Mr. Halkin's comments about Ultra Orthodoxy and in particular with these statements.

"Ultra-Orthodoxy is by definition a creed that holds that, since the secular Jewish world has abandoned religion, religious Jews may abandon it in turn and look out for their own interests without worrying about the interests of other Jews.

This point of view was never accepted at Vilozhin. The Hebrew concept of k'lal yisra'el, the collectivity of the Jewish people, for which every Jew, secular or religious, is responsible, was always taught there."

With respect, I think the author is misunderstanding the concept of Klal Yisrael. I am not familaiar with the historical view of Rabbi Berlin but do not see how his acceptance of the Zionist movement as a whole would indicate an acceptance of the secularism and anti-religious views the Zionists held.

Furthermore, I don't see how Mr. Halkin can take such a broad swipe at Ultra Orthodoxy with his own definiton. There are too many different views within Utra Orthodoxy to define them so simply. And, if anything Ultra-Orthodoxy is by definition those who practice Ultra Orthodoxy.

Beyond this, the idea that concern for K'lal Yisra'el includes Secular Jews who put themselves Yotzei Min Haklal (meaning that they remove themselves from the collectivity of the religion (and not just to abandon it but to even take steps to harm it) does not mean that religious Jews look to abandon the interests of other Jews. Not accepting and embracing secular views does not mean ultra orthodox have abadoned the secular jews, it means (as you wrote) the secular jews have ababoned the Ultra Orthodox.

Even if we were to accept the notion that the Ultra Orthodox look out for their own interests it simply can't be said that they do so without worrying about the interests of other Jews.

There are far to many examples of Ultra Orthodox efforts to work with and for secular jews to say that the Ultra Orthodox simply do not worry about other Jews.

One last point. This is only my personal opinion. I do not even consider myself Ultra Orthodox and I do not claim to be a spokesman for the Ultra Orthodox. This is only my personal opinion. As I said before, there are too many views within Orthodoxy and UltraOrthodoxy for any one person to claim to speak for all of them.

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