by Rabbi Ronald Price and Rabbi Alan J Yuter
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.
This article originally published in 1995 and recently re-published on the Merrimack Valley Havurah website is as relevant today as ever, perhaps even presciently so. In it, Debra Nussbaum Cohen discussed the widening divide between Jewish denominations.
The ways in which these tensions play out will, in profound ways, influence how the American Jewish community looks and functions in the decades to come. If the current trend does not shift, it may not be long before no Jewish groups can say that they truly represent the whole of American Jewry. And it may not be long before the United Jewish Appeal campaign slogan “We Are One” simply won’t be true. …
While the liberal denominations have moved to the left with the acceptance of patrilineal descent and advocacy for gay and lesbian rights in the Reform movement, and the ordination of women in the Conservative movement observers note that Orthodoxy has moved away from the middle ground as well. In fact, some say that the Orthodox center has all but been silenced by those to its right.
Of particular note related to the UTJ are:
While modern Orthodox Jews have emphasized integration into the larger culture, the ultra-Orthodox have focused on separation. “The right wing offers the promise that they can keep you pure by separating you from the values of the dominant culture. People gravitate towards that,” says Rabbi Ron Price of the Union for Traditional Judaism, a group whose members include graduates from both the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary and the centrist Orthodox Yeshiva University (YU).
After The Jewish Observer ran the letter criticizing Lamm on the gay-rights issue, Alan Yuter, an Orthodox rabbi from Springfield, New Jersey, wrote an article defending him, and submitted it for publication in Jewish Action, the magazine of the Orthodox Union, one of the three major institutions of centrist Orthodoxy. The article was rejected. “They don’t want to criticize certain rabbis. They won’t publish anything that could be offensive to the non-modernist yeshiva world,” said Yuter. “We criticize the Conservative movement but Jewish Action is not going to respond to The Jewish Observer. “Why are these people privileged?” he asked.
In another recent illustration of Orthodoxy’s shift away from tolerance of the other denominations, the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America last February ousted Rabbi Mark Kunis for his involvement with the Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ). Kunis’ leadership within the group, which defines itself as representing “traditional” Jews some of whom also call themselves modern Orthodox and others who called themselves Conservative before that movement began ordaining women as rabbis was deemed problematic because UTJ includes non-Orthodox rabbis in its ranks. Kunis and UTJ plan to file suit against the RCA, said Rabbi Ronald Price, the group’s executive vice president.
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Rabbi Ronald D. Price is the executive vice president emeritus of the UTJ. He served as executive vice president for 26 years, beginning with the founding of the UTJ in 1985 and as the founding dean of the Institute of Traditional Judaism, the Metivta, from 1990 until his retirement in 2011.
A native of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Price graduated from the University of Maryland in 1971 with a BA in Political Science. He received an MA in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1975 and was ordained there in 1977. From 1977 until moving to Israel in 1980, Rabbi Price was Assistant Dean of the Rabbinical School of JTS. Following the break with the Conservative movement, Rabbi Price took his advanced ordination in 1992 under Rav David Weiss Halivni, reish metivta of the Institute of Traditional Judaism.
A highpoint in Rabbi Price’s career came early in his tenure with the UTJ. In 1988, when the “Who is a Jew?” crisis arose and threatened the relationship of Israel to the North American Jewish community, Rabbi Price, on behalf of the UTJ, authored a proposal for a halakhic as well as political solution to the “Who is a Jew?” issue which gained much support in all segments of the community and was praised publicly by the government of Israel as “a bright light at a dark time”.
Rabbi Price also authored the first halakhic living will which continues to be used by individuals and hospitals around North America and is part of the Elder Care Law Library, housed in Washington, D.C. He has lectured extensively and published many articles on subjects such as pluralism in the Jewish community; the right to die and Jewish tradition; creating traditional communities; the realignment of religious Judaism; and the risks and benefits of outreach to the intermarried.
Rabbi Price has dedicated his life to developing ways of making traditional Judaism accessible to the lay community and is the creator of the video education curriculum, “Taking the MTV Challenge: Media and Torah Values,” a Jewish response to media which has been taught in more than 300 institutions across the denominational spectrum around the world.
Rabbi Price lives in Ashqelon, Israel with his wife Tziporah.