by Rabbi Seth D. Gordon
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
In his article in the Saint Louis Jewish Light discusses the balance between religion and secularism in Israel in response to Michael Steinhardt’s suggestion that “The modern state of Israel is the Jewish miracle of the 20th century, but it’s the secular part of Israel that’s the miracle. It’s the extraordinary achievement, it’s the technology, the military … Israel has become for me, the substitute for religion.”
Moreover, Steinhardt’s response is precisely at issue. It is the worship — a substitute for religion — of the state that is dangerous. It is blind faith in technology and the military that is dangerous. While we celebrate Israel’s miraculous technological, economic and military success, each is not free from the vulnerabilities of excess. . . .
Admittedly, all religions are vulnerable to their own excesses, and the Jewish religion is no exception. Issues such as tolerance in general, spiritual living without material responsibility, marginalization of women and non-Jews, and rabbinic authoritarianism, for example, are modern religious excesses that often conflict with the Torah and rabbinic law.
Internal corrections are needed. Solutions lie within those religious sources, not in secularism. And they are there. . . .
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Rabbi Seth D Gordon received his rabbinic s'michah from Rav David Weiss Halivini from the UTJ and has served congregations in Annapolis, Maryland, Bethpage, New York, and St Louis, Missouri. His emphasis is Jewish education. Rabbi Gordon has worked across the board, co-founding a day school in Annapolis, and founded the now defunct African American-Jewish coalition of Anne Arundel County. He also taught in a Jewish Day School on Long Island, NY. He serves on the executive board of the UTJ and is the past Chairman of MORASHAH, its rabbinical organization. He and his wife are blessed with five children and eleven grandchildren; two of their sons, their wives, and five of their grandchildren live in Israel.