Orthodox Leaders Research Articles

Fear and loathing in North Ossetia: how ethnic activism can turn into religious nativism

ABSTRACT This contribution examines how ethnic activism in a republic of the Russian North Caucasus region, namely North Ossetia-Alania, is viewed by various social groups as a religious protest movement. This interpretation is influenced by anti-colonial discourse and an ideological agenda linking issues of religious identity and political loyalty. At the centre of these disputes are ideas about whether the ethnic religion of the Ossetian people is the local version of Orthodox Christianity or the original Ossetian religion of pre-Christian genesis that has survived to this day in the form of Ossetian ethnic traditions. Proponents of the latter concept argue that the spread of Orthodox Christianity among Ossetians should be seen as the result of spiritual colonisation by external political forces. Orthodox leaders and many ordinary believers in North Ossetia strongly protest against this interpretation of the role of Orthodoxy in the republic. Under these conditions Ossetia’s Orthodox Christians perceive any anti-colonial public gesture as aimed at contesting the completeness of their ethnic identity.

Heschel’s Theory of Halakhah

ABSTRACT This article surveys Abraham Joshua Heschel’s writings on Jewish law in order to determine his influences and interlocutors, as well as to evaluate whether his work can serve the needs of those engaged in constructive Jewish thought today. Heschel’s thinking on Jewish law is shaped both by the Kantian critique of Judaism as well as by debates with Reform and Orthodox leaders of his own day. This article concludes that the vagueness in Heschel’s theology of halakhah, as well as a tendency to force halakhic questions into a simple framework of leniency and stringency, limits its usefulness for contemporary Jewish theology.

Патриотическое служение русской православной церкви и религиозных организаций в годы Великой Отечественной войны: летопись подвига

The article is devoted to the theme of Patriotic and social service of Russian Orthodox Church in the tragic and, along with that glorious period of the great Patriotic war of 1941-1945 was marked by important achievements of the Patriotic service of the spiritual hierarchs and leaders of Orthodox culture in the context of the events of the liberation struggle of the Soviet people in the great Patriotic war. It describes some of the fate of ascetics, both in the Soviet Union and abroad, who, in the face of opposition to the Nazi regime, continued to serve, performed Christian feats and made a significant contribution to the approach of the great Victory in the great Patriotic war and World War II. The importance of a thorough study of the activities of religious figures throughout the war period is associated with the need for a more objective assessment of the contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Great Victory. The importance of a thorough study of the activities of religious figures throughout the war period is associated with the need for a more objective assessment of the contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Great Victory. In addition, the Ministry of Orthodox leaders and Christian ascetics should be reflected in the program of Patriotic education of students and schoolchildren as a necessary component of comprehensive humanitarian and spiritual and moral education of modern youth.

Antimodernism and Orthodox Judaism's Heretical Imperative: An American Religious Counterpoint

AbstractThis article argues that the case of religious authority within Orthodox Judaism is an important counterexample to the broader and understudied developments in American religion during the final decades of the twentieth century. Using an array of untapped primary sources and drawing on themes addressed by scholars of American religious history and modern Jewish history, this article demonstrates how Orthodox Jewish elites used “approximational heresies” to police their faith community. In so doing, Orthodox leaders furnished “indicators” of apostasy that were unknown in previous epochs and served to stand in for traditional types that proved otherwise insufficient to counteract new trends in modern life and culture. Orthodox Jewish “antimodernism” was animated by a need to demonstrate what was “in” and what was “out” of bounds as well as by the emergence of a triumphalism that was unique among American faiths. Likewise, the rank-and-file abided because they either agreed with these measures or feared becoming “outsiders.” This outlook contrasts with the attitudes of other religious groups—on the “left” and the “right”—that absorbed a spirit of “inclusiveness” and, therefore, eschewed heresy hunting and the boldness evinced by Orthodox elites during this period. The article concludes that the pervasiveness of this counterculture among the Orthodox Jewish community was so powerful that it, counterintuitively, introduced the strategies of the antimodernists to the American-acculturated, so-called Modern Orthodox community.

"I feel so crazy, like flying the coop": The Lesser-Known Sarah Schenirer. Side Reflections on Naomi Seidman's Book

"I feel so crazy, like flying the coop"1:The Lesser-Known Sarah Schenirer. Side Reflections on Naomi Seidman's Book Joanna Lisek (bio) Writing an academic monograph about a person who became a legend in her own lifetime is a difficult challenge involving two kinds of temptation. First, there is the urge to unmask or demythologize, which is certainly necessary when writing about venerated people but risks creating an antihero and downgrading the very real achievements upon which the subject's fame is founded. The second temptation is that of hagiography: we must be extremely cautious about accepting at face value the many sources on venerated individuals that reduce their flaws or ignore cracks in their coherent, fixed image. Certainly, these challenges present themselves when writing about the life and work of Sarah Schenirer, founder of Poland's first Orthodox school system for girls. Naomi Seidman successfully avoids those hazards in Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement, which describes the career of the famous leader of religious renewal among Jewish women and provides a background for the contexts and dynamics of the Bais Yaakov movement, a "revolution in the name of tradition" according to the book's subtitle. Seidman's seemingly oxymoronic formulation highlights the tensions between tradition and innovation and between continuity and change that shaped the very character of Bais Yaakov schools and the movement's social relations. An extremely valuable aspect of the book is its broad context, which allows the reader to see Schenirer's work against the background of the changes taking place at that time not only within Orthodox Judaism itself but also in the emergent feminist, socialist, Zionist, and Yiddishist movements. Seidman shows that Schenirer's work was not a single case, but part of a larger discussion initiated at the beginning of the twentieth [End Page 272] century about the system of religious education for Jewish girls; and that the pattern of femininity propagated by Bais Yaakov was an Eastern European version of the transformation of Western European Neo-Orthodoxy under the leadership of Moses David Flesh. The unquestionable asset of Seidman's argumentation is its analysis of the tension between marginalization, charisma, and institutionalization in the development of Schenirer's movement. Seidman argues that the marginalized position of women within the Jewish Orthodoxy served as a stimulus for the movement's radicalism and progressiveness, as well as its willingness to draw upon the experiences of secular movements. The feminine domain was less strictly controlled, since it was not a priority for Orthodox leaders—according to Seidman, this neglect contributed to the acceptance of Neo-Orthodoxy within the Bais Yaakov movement. Seidman considers Schenirer's gender a kind of alibi or "escape clause," since it allowed her to implement her ideas directly without getting embroiled in rabbinical discussions about the scope of women's Torah studies. That does not mean, however, that Schenirer was unfamiliar with male strategies of Halachic discourse; on the contrary, she readily applied them in texts directed toward her students. Simultaneously, as Seidman shows, Schenirer's role as a leader was marginalized as the movement became institutionalized and politically powerful. This suggests a common tendency in social movements, parties, and even literary or artistic groups: in the preliminary, formative period women play meaningful roles—they might even be the face of movement. But as a group or movement stabilizes and the internal hierarchy is fixed and becomes a source of prestige and power, women are often side-lined (Seidman demonstrates this through the celebratory opening of the new Teachers' Seminary building in Cracow, during which Schenirer did not even make a speech). Moreover, Seidman demonstrates that Schenirer herself expressed her concerns about the expansion of the movement at the expense of its female activists. Nevertheless, despite some attempts on the part of the Agudat Yisrael party leaders to diminish Schenirer's role, the movement's powerful sisterly relations seem to have prevented [End Page 273] this from happening. Also, Seidman very convincingly shows the discrepancy between the traditional pattern of femininity propagated in the discursive aspect of the movement and the profile of its female activists, who were often single, childless, and working as teachers away...

Modern Orthodoxy in the Forties

This article examines trends in Modern Orthodoxy in North America in the 1940s. Canadian and American Orthodox rabbis and laypeople belonged to the same organizations, such as the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the Rabbinic Council of America (RCA). The major Orthodox rabbinic seminaries were located in the United States, and many Canadian rabbis were trained there. One of the issues the article addresses is Modern Orthodoxy’s issues with Traditional Orthodoxy, which - while newer on the scene in the 1940s - was beginning to make its mark. Orthodox leaders also took an active role in the war effort; the role of Orthodoxy was enhanced on the American scene by the contributions that the RCA made in the area of military chaplaincy. Orthodox leaders also took on a major role in the attempt to rescue European Jewry. Finally, just as there was a new role for America in Modern Orthodoxy, there was a new role for Zionism and Eretz Yisrael.

Sazrevanje autokefalnosti Srpske crkve

According to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) ecclesial/political theory, in order for a nation to be granted church autonomy by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, they had to meet certain statesmanship, political, ecclesial and culturological standards required by competent authorities of the Byzantine Empire. From the settlement of the Serbian tribes in these regions during the 6th century, the process of cultural elevation of the Serbs involved their Christianisation, popular education and creation of first smaller and then bigger "political" communities, in accordance with the Christian patterns of the Eastern Roman Empire. After several ages of rising into the Christian life, granting of autocephality to the Serbian church in 1219 was a clear indicator of spiritual maturity of the Serbian people, as well as of the place and role of the Serbs on the geopolitical map of Southeast Europe at the start of the 13th century. Since then, the head of the Serbian church (archbishop) was officially granted a place in the hierarchy of Orthodox leaders (diptych) while the Serbian king obtained a high position in the Byzantine hierarchal system of political rulers. The paper points to the basic trends of transformation of the Serbian nation from paganism to Christianity and its gradual evolving in terms of ecclesial life until 1219, when the Serbs were officially recognized among civilized Christian nations.

Guidelines to Faith: Instructional Literature for Russian Orthodox Clergy and Laity in the Late Eighteenth Century

In an effort to improve the work of the clergy and the religious understanding of the laity, Orthodox leaders in late eighteenth‐century Russia began to publish practical manuals on the practices of the church and the path to living a Christian life and achieving salvation. Such works formed pathways from higher theological discourse to the practical modes of pastoral work and lay instruction–to promoting “enlightenment” in the day‐to‐day work of the church. Fitting within the new scholarly attention on religious Enlightenment, this article describes the most important of these instructional works, as well as some of the religious works produced by private publishers after 1783, in order to understand the tone, themes, and structure of these “guidelines to faith,” seeing within them the beginning of a more modern, normative foundation for the practices and teachings of the church. The works described are not well‐known among Russian scholars, but they collectively constitute an important stage in the development of Russian Orthodoxy and in the dissemination of clearly stated explanations of its teachings and the role of the church in society as a whole. They represent an increased promotion of religious professionalism for the lower clergy and of religious and moral sensitivity on the part of the laity. They are, essentially, highly representative of the era of Enlightenment, trying to shape and mold the religious community into a more sophisticated, knowledgeable, and reflective entity.

Countering Exorcistic Excess in Russia

This study compares statements by Russian Pentecostal and Orthodox leaders about demons, curses and exorcism, and their attempts at allaying people’s fears. In both denominations there are widely differing views about how great a threat demons are and on how one is to be set free from them. The study suggests that two competing metaphors have been used when speaking of freeing people from evil spirits, the medical and the military metaphors. The medical metaphor associates evil spirits and diseases, and connects deliverance from evil spirits with healing in general, while in the military metaphor evil spirits are seen as agents of Satan. Members of the top leadership in both the Russian Orthodox Church and in Russia’s leading Pentecostal denomination (the Russian Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith) tend toward the medical model of exorcism. They see their exorcistic ministries more as a healing ministry. While they warn their followers about engaging in the occult, they try to downplay the dualism inherent in spiritual warfare language, as it encourages division within the church and may lead to increased fear on the part of the parishioners.

A Borderland Mission: The Russian Orthodox Church in the Black Sea Region

Turning to the Russian Empire’s southern borders, Mara Kozelsky assesses Orthodox missions in the provinces of “New Russia” on the northern coast of the Black Sea with a focus on the work of Archbishop Innokentii (Borisov) in the mid-nineteenth century and his attempts to strengthen Orthodoxy in this ethnically and confessionally diverse region. Kozelsky argues that Orthodox leaders saw the Orthodox faith, rather than language or culture, as the key to assimilation into the empire, but that they respected the juridical stature of Muslims and various Protestant groups and worked around rights given to Catholics after the 1847 concordat with Rome. Some success came of Innokenty’s efforts among the Russian sectarians and Old Believers, but mission work among the Crimean Tatars and Protestant colonists were largely fruitless. In the end, “Christianizing” the region came not so much from individual conversions as from reconstructing the region’s Christian past and promoting large public celebrations that drew upon centuries of Byzantine history and the Christian past of the region to promote a Christian identity for the region.

“Outside the Shul”: The American Soviet Jewry Movement and the Rise of Solidarity Orthodoxy, 1964–1986

AbstractConcern for the plight of Soviet Jewry grew steadily from the early 1950s. The rise of this issue to the forefront of American Jewish consciousness, however, was driven by the broader protest movement that emerged in the mid-1960s. Its central goal was to ensure civic and religious rights for Jewish residents of the Soviet Union, with a particular emphasis on the ability to emigrate. The movement's peak impact was in the 1970s. This decade witnessed the proliferation of grassroots organizations throughout the United States, along with the adoption of a more activist orientation by large segments of the American Jewish establishment.To date, minimal attention has been paid to the place of the Soviet Jewry movement in the religious history of American Judaism. The article's investigation of American Orthodoxy's role is intended to confront this lacuna and describes the central role played by Orthodox Jews in the rise and development of the Soviet Jewry movement. Through their actions, the members of this segment of American Jewry experienced a role reversal in which they helped to redefine the nature of the Jewish relationship to the public sphere. Simultaneously, such activism sharpened the internal divide between Modern Orthodoxy and its traditionalist counterparts who opposed demonstrations, encouraged quiet diplomacy, and were loathe to work in unison with the broader Jewish community. Through their involvement in a core Jewish activity that entailed partnership with non-Orthodox Jews in efforts for their common brethren, a generation of Modern Orthodox leaders arose that made Jewish solidarity a central expression of their Orthodox religious identities.

Orthodox Jewry and the Russian government: an attempt at rapprochement, 1907–1914

This article examines one facet of Jewish Orthodox politics that emerged after the 1905 Russian revolution, namely its attempt to conclude a kind of political alliance with the Russian government. Orthodox circles were the main group within Russian Jewry that professed conservative and monarchist principles. Therefore, Orthodox leaders hoped that a rapprochement with the conservative, but society‐oriented government of Piotr Stolypin would be possible and desirable. With government support, they believed that they could successfully fight against revolutionary‐minded Jewish youth. Although Stolypin's government initially showed an inclination towards this Orthodox rhetoric, it was not willing to make any concessions. After Stolypin's assassination in 1911, the government became increasingly anti‐Semitic and even supported measures that harmed Jewish religious observance, thus weakening Orthodox influence. All in all, the Russian government was not ready to differentiate between its Jewish subjects; to support conservatives against revolutionaries and liberals. The government was not interested in looking for allies among Jews, but preferred to see them as a homogeneous entity, harmful, dangerous and wicked, that aimed at the revolutionary destruction of the Russian Empire. Thus, Orthodox ambitions were disillusioned and the politics of rapprochement with the authorities failed.

Spirituality, AIDS, and Sexuality

Some religions, such as many Buddhist schools and traditional Hinduism, believe all sexual desire, whether gay or straight, must be transcended in order to achieve salvation. Neo-Pagan religions are almost unanimous in their acceptance of same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual ones. But many orthodox leaders in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism maintain the sinfulness of gay and lesbian lifestyles, which may complicate treatment with AIDS victims. This paper explores ways to help gays and lesbians integrate their spiritual beliefs with their sexual orientation. A brief examination of religious texts is offered, but it is recommended that counselors and psychologists avoid theological debates. Instead, therapists can engage clients in psycho-theological discussions. Clients are asked to describe the nature of the Divine (e.g., is this an entity that focuses on punishment or forgiveness?), whether there is a design to the universe, and how the Divine shows love to those who seek him/her. Spirituality may strengthen the immune system, provide a mechanism for positive thoughts, and, in some cases, increase the life expectancy of clients. All of these potentialities make it a vital facet of effective therapy.

Exiled Russian Orthodox Leaders in Paris and the Struggle to Establish a Home Away from Home (1925-1944)

Exiled Russian Orthodox Leaders in Paris and the Struggle to Establish a Home Away from Home (1925-1944)

Raising Eco-Ethical Questions: A Call for a New Ethical Discussion

Attempting to face the mounting scientific evidence of imminent environmental catastrophe and associated social problems, this article raises the need for a new level of eco-ethical discussion. First, the author reviews recent developments in public statements by environmentally concerned leaders, such as, Lester Brown of the World Watch Institute and Gro Harlem Brundtland, chair of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, calling for a new “environmental ethic” to undergird public policy. He then notes incipient signs of a philosophical and religious response to the environmental crisis, especially among Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders within the past four years as well as interest now awakening within lay religious movements. Finally, he emphasizes the importance of raising the ethical dimensions in three undertakings: 1.) beyond the popular environmental religious concern, a deep search for foundations (theological, scientific and epistemological) should be undertak...

The Emergence of the Israeli Radical Right

Most Israelis were greatly shocked when they learned on the eve of April 27, 1984, that a plot to blow up five Arab buses full of passengers during a crowded rush hour was barely prevented. In the following week, twenty-seven men suspected of forming an anti-Arab terrorist network were arrested. It was soon disclosed that the suspects had been responsible for an attempt to assassinate the Arab mayors of three West Bank cities in 1980, for a murderous attack on the Islamic college in Hebron in 1983 that took the life of three students and wounded thirty-three, and for a score of lesser acts of violence against Arabs. A very elaborate plan to blow up the Muslim Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount, the third most sacred place for Islam, was also on their drawing board. What surprised observers and political analysts in April 1984 was not so much the existence of the terror group as the identity of its members. They belonged to Gush Emunim (the Block of the Faithful) a religious fundamentalist group committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria). Though an aggressive (sometimes even illegal) settlement movement, Gush Emunim had never openly embraced an ideology of violence. Its orthodox leaders asserted a biblically based Jewish claim to Judea and Samaria but had never advocated deportation of the Arab population.' Instead they professed the belief that peaceful and productive coexistence with the Arabs, under benevolent Israeli rule, was both possible and desirable. That any of these highly educated and responsible men, some of whom were ranking army officers and all but one heads of large families, would resort to terrorism was completely unexpected. The exposition of respectable Jewish terrorism was followed, three months later, by another unexpected event, the election to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, of Rabbi Meir Kahane, an extreme religious fundamentalist. Nearly 26,000 Israelis (1.3 percent) voted for Kach (Thus), the political party that called for the expulsion of the Arabs from historic Palestine; 2.5 percent of Israeli soldiers were among them. Almost everybody remembered that it was Kahane who, since 1974, had publicly advocated T.N.T. (Terror Neged Terror), which in his terminology stood for Jewish terrorism against Arab terrorism.2 The astonished Israelis did not have to wait long to discover what the new party was about. A day after the elections, Kahane and his supporters held a victory parade to the Western Wall in old Jerusalem. Passing intentionally through the Arab section of the old city, Kahane's excited followers smashed through the market, overturning vegetable stalls, hitting bystanders, punching the air with clenched fists, and telling the frightened local residents that the end of their stay in the Holy Land was near. The same kind of street brutality has repeated itself many times in the last four years, especially following anti-Jewish terror incidents. But instead of being shocked by what until that time could only have been seen in old-time fascist movies or in modern scenes from Teheran, some Israelis

Israel and Religious Liberty

Grave concern is often expressed in Israel and abroad over the indifference shown toward religion in Israel today. This in difference, which sometimes develops into open hostility, is re vealed in the scorn that the young Israeli exhibits toward ancient religious forms and practice, in the popular feeling that Orthodox Judaism is failing to speak in a relevant manner to the needs of a people living in the twentieth century, and in the complaints of Israelis that their religious leaders are more concerned with political activity than with the affairs of their congregations. Opposition to religion in Israel is not focused upon religion per se, but upon the attempt by Orthodox leaders to create a Torah state. The majority insists that Israel is committed to the principles of democracy, and resentment is strong when the Orth odox, who wield a political influence far out of proportion to their numerical strength, attempt to enact religious legislation that forces all citizens into a prescribed religious mold. Most Israelis reject the idea of a theocratic state; consequently they oppose religious leadership as it seeks to create one. While Orthodox activists are quick to accuse their opponents of being antireligious, such is not the case. Those holding a secular approach to state hood are often sincere seekers of truth and are the staunchest ad vocates of religious liberty. Today there are three chief barriers to the realization of re ligious liberty in Israel. Two will be discussed briefly at this point and the third examined more fully in its various manifesta tions in Israeli life. First, the theocratic approach to statehood, so dear to the Orthodox, is undergirded by the existence of the millet system. Israel inherited this medieval system of grouping the various religio-cultural elements into tightly restricted communities from the British, who in turn fell heir to it from the Ottoman Turks. The Turks adopted it with few changes from the Prophet Mu hammad and his successors who employed the millet system as a useful tool for dealing with their thorny minority problems dur ing their rapid conquest of the Middle East in the seventh and