In support of Rabbi Dweck

I don't usually do this. I pride myself on detachment from subject matter. This will be written in a haphazard way, lacking clear editing, but I feel the need to say it in any instance. Witch hunts against good people are amongst the most vile moral crimes that can be committed. 

And it escalates until you have a mob at the gates with their torches and pitchforks, having forgotten to think about the issues in a critical and perceptive way. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Is this really the issue you should go to town about?

I hate to watch this - the best thing that has happened to the boring horizons of anglo Jewry was rabbi dweck's inaugration as chief rabbi of the SnP a couple of years ago.

 I only met Rabbi Dweck briefly but I was struck by something in particular - here was a man who was both sincerely and deeply religious but was well aware of the problems people faced growing up in a community whose religious leaders remain predominantly chareidi. In short, Judaism was either sweet chilly sauce on a Friday night or a boring sermon to a community waiting for their cholent. 

He was not a postmodernist, which I loved. He didn't try and pretend we could re-read texts and pick the happy parts, compatable with modern thinking. He wasn't an apologist. He didn't quote from French continental philosophers and try and make them into Jewish thinkers. He was unashamedly committed to a proud tradition exemplified by Maimonides of rational thinking and deep piety, unafraid to take those roads less travelled. 

Back then I knew that I had found someone who had that spark that could attract the disaffected youth and young adults and truly help many embark upon the rocky road of the religious journey.

 So perhaps it was inevitable that he would provoke the ire of the rabbinate one day, particularly with hundreds of people packing out his lectures, as he was prepared to rethink many of the areas that had been entrenched for generations as 'Orthodoxy' without losing sight of deep commitment to God and halakhah. 

And when it did break it was over an issue that many people are obviously uncomfortable with, sexuality, and the great fault line between 'Modern' and 'Orthodoxy' reared its ugly head. 

Academia is not flawless. Races for funding, personal smugness and bickering can proliferate. But one of its great strengths is its honest ability to criticise. Personal attacks are not acceptable (at least in theory). They can be criticised and called to order. So I listened to the main attack on Rabbi Dweck and was dismayed at the following issue: Sources were brought left right and centre but almost none of them were relevant to the issue at hand. 

I can also quote a source and make it say what I want it to say, and I knew what was being done - death by musar. 

It was the classic musar schmooze build up - quote here, there and everywhere, bring an anecdote or two about Volozhin and the glory days ( the irony of the musar movement facing far greater opposition than maskilic writings was not lost on me) and then go in for the kill - he is not one of us. 

The main issue that was raised was one of holiness - the Jewish people are holy, how dare you? Our rabbis were all on the same page on this and all cared so much about the greatness of sin, how could you minimise it? 

In short, it was a theoretical projection of an ideal that I had heard thousands of times before about the unanimity of tradition along kabbalistic lines. And it was used to assassinate the character of a good man who adopted a different view, whose points were not engaged with or addressed honestly. Not a perfect, ideal, super rabbi man, a good man.

Of course, the talk chose to ignore the subtleties and issues behind the issue - and this is the second point about the modern world that textual criticism demands - context! You can under no circumstances cherry pick bits and bobs from talks that you hear and bring it before the grand jury until you have considered how, where and why those comments were made.
But this set the wheels in motion. Suddenly everyone could pass judgement about whether he was us or them. And yes, when put under the microscope and have our every word scrutinised, how many of us pass every test? 

He appeared to slag off another rabbi? Grow up - we have all done it, and most of these comments serve a pedagogical purpose of encouraging independent thought. Look at the sefardi rishonim of the middle ages e.g. Ramban and Ibn Ezra - fire and brimstone my friend. Enjoy the debates - this is how great people are made.

The other fault line is freedom of speech. We should be able to express our views and thoughts and have them challenged in a way that is not a threat to our wellbeing. If you have a problem with someone, you talk to them in private. You deal with it in private. Issues with rulings and decisions? Ok, everyone has had problems with rulings - there are many left field halakhic thinkers - speak to the man and ask what is going on! Wait several months before then developing a quiet, nuanced understanding of the issue and have the decency to deliberate before sending a good man to the lions. 

Because as we become adults we realise that the mob mentality is very, very dangerous. And our community cannot afford to become a street gang battle, particularly in the current climate.  

And worst of all, how does this look like to Jews who want to explore the great avenues of our tradition, who want to embark upon the difficult but extremely fulfilling journey that Rabbi Dweck helps to facilitate with his talks and ideas? It looks like they should simply give up on Othodoxy as if this man of great integrity, wisdom and piety is persona non grata then what the heck does that make them? 

Who is wise, our sages say, one who can see into the future. Know the consequences of your silence.

 When a layman of no communal importance such as myself (this is not self deprecating, I have no communal position) has to say that rabbis you should know better to stand up for this human being who has been villified without a shred of evidence, or without public discussion of issues, and without kindness and transparency, it makes me sad. 

If Orthodoxy is truly only paying lip service to its belief in critical thinking and investigation, or its ability to struggle honestly with topics without recourse to denunciations and witch hunts (which is what this is, how must his family be feeling right now?) they should stand up and say so.

Stay strong, Rabbi Dweck. I feel self righteous saying this but I hope you see the respect that so many of us have for you and it gives you some strength. 

I hate to comment about public and controversial issues but if the speakers who insisted on denouncing him thought they were doing so for the sake of heaven, I also cannot 'go gentle into the good night'.