Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The End of Modern Orthodoxy
I believe that Mordern Orthodoxy is the ideal.
However, I'm not sure it is viable anymore.
The world we live in is no longer the modern world of the 19th -mid 20th century: it's a post modern world, and it is hard for an orthodox Jew to interact with it.
When I was growing up my secular friends wanted to debate and I was eager to take part in that debate. Students were active and took Jewish and social issues seriously. I was able to go to parties and not worry about drugs, drunkenness and lewdness. Even television was innocent.
In general people seemed to care much more and were prepared to do something about causes that they considered to be worthy.
However, today it feels that people don't care anymore and that they are not interested in debate. All they want to do is party, and that party is not a place I actually have any desire to be. I have found that I have become somewhat a hermit from the post modrn world.
Can modern orthodox Jews interact with the world when the world just doesn't seem to be interested in any intellectual interaction and when it is actually quite a foul place to be?
However, I'm not sure it is viable anymore.
The world we live in is no longer the modern world of the 19th -mid 20th century: it's a post modern world, and it is hard for an orthodox Jew to interact with it.
When I was growing up my secular friends wanted to debate and I was eager to take part in that debate. Students were active and took Jewish and social issues seriously. I was able to go to parties and not worry about drugs, drunkenness and lewdness. Even television was innocent.
In general people seemed to care much more and were prepared to do something about causes that they considered to be worthy.
However, today it feels that people don't care anymore and that they are not interested in debate. All they want to do is party, and that party is not a place I actually have any desire to be. I have found that I have become somewhat a hermit from the post modrn world.
Can modern orthodox Jews interact with the world when the world just doesn't seem to be interested in any intellectual interaction and when it is actually quite a foul place to be?
Labels: mordern orthodox, post modern
