Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Outreach or Honesty?
There are many statements in traditional Jewish sources that conflict with modern sensibilities. When teaching modern Jewish Americans who are contemplating religious commitment, should we conceal these sources from them, lest they be impeded in their religious progress? If we are questioned about them, should we distort their meaning to conform to modern sensibilities, for the purpose of encouraging religious observance?
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Yes, no.
ReplyDeleteI'm missing what's hard about this question. I don't volunteer information that will make it, in my estimation, harder for them to accept the Torah. But there seems to be no source that condones saying untruth about it, especially since there's almost always a way to frame or express the truth in a way that will be possible for the person to hear.
On those difficult questions, I often begin responses with "you have to keep in mind that" and explain some historical fact or Halachic principle that casts the question in a completely different light from the liberal/feminist/PC viewpoint that seems the default these days. Often, I end by asking "do you see it's not so simple as you originally thought?"
My point is that if you accurately explain the principles underlying your explanations, your interlocutor would be morally offended by much of it, and may thereby be discouraged from Jewish observance. For example, if you were to accurately portray the hierarchy of priority in terms of which life to save first, as delineated in the Mishnah in Horayos, you could basically give up on inspiring your American-raised student to the beauty of Jewish values.
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