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(from Sh'ma 13/245, January 7, 1983)

The Limits of Spero's Argument

By Harold M. Schulweis

Rabbi Shubert Spero has presented a reasoned argument from an Orthodox viewpoint explaining the logical limits of Jewish ecumenism. He presents the theological premises of Orthodoxy and concludes that it has no option for flexibility in matters of marriage, conversion or divorce "even if Orthodox Rabbis wanted to change certain rituals or modify certain beliefs." Rabbi Spero makes it too easy for Orthodoxy to remain impassive and to pass the theological ball into the court of Reform and Conservative leaders who alone "can, if they so desire," bring about Jewish unity.

Rabbi Spero is willing to adopt a socio-psychological perspective on the condition of Jewish affairs. But it is not enough to acknowledge that non-Orthodox rabbis lead the largest religious constituency of the Jewish world. It is not enough to acknowledge that thousands upon thousands of our people, independent of non-Orthodox rabbinic approval, have remarried with only a civil divorce and without the benefit of a religious get, and that their children are therefore regarded by the halacha as illegitimate and prohibited from marrying other Jews. It is not enough to immediately acknowledge the thousands of men, women and children who have been converted to Judaism under Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist auspices and that according to the logic of halacha their status as Jews is not accepted.

A Call For Halachic Creativity

More than sociological and psychological perspective is required of responsible Orthodoxy. The life of a people is at stake. Orthodoxy cannot wash its hands and declare that the only solution to this problem is for all other rabbinic branches to accept Orthodox procedures for marriage, divorce and conversion. Such resignation denies the halachic creativity and ingenuity of Orthodoxy which has ample antecedents in our tradition. A tradition whose sages introduced legislation, employed hermeneutic skills and amendments in order to "repair the world" and to act "for the sake of peace" cannot be content with a hopeless shrug of the shoulders and a murmured, "What can we do? That's the law." Rabbi Spero, better than I, knows that the halacha is not so narrowly constrained. The spectrum of halacha is broader than the logic he presents and its responsiveness to crises has freed it from the charge that halachists don a legalist straitjacket.

While Rabbi Spero calls for non-Orthodox rabbis to fall into line with Orthodox procedures, he says nothing of the position of Orthodoxy towards Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis who, for the sake of the unity of klal Israel, have employed halachic procedures. I have seen nowhere any statement by Orthodox leaders openly accepting the orthopractic conduct of non-Orthodox rabbis. All of which leads me to suspect that something other than the logic of halacha allows Orthodoxy to exclude the tradition of Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism.