“Unless we compromise, we will lose the next generation.”
That’s what many Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries believed. That’s what some Jews still believe. Pristine Judaism cannot withstand the allurements of the modern era, they think. Either you cut corners or the entire religion will die.
Not true, writes Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary to this week’s parsha. The Torah tells us that the Torah will never be forgotten (“ki lo si’shachach mipi zaro” ). Thus, a Jewish leader should not “be deterred or frightened away at any time by the general lack of faith towards G-d and the deviations from His holy Torah.” Nor should he reform Judaism to conform with prevailing ideological trends. Rather, he should “remain quiet, staunch, and firm.”
He should keep in mind that it is not “his task to adjust G-d’s Torah to accommodate the weakness of the aberration of judgment of any time; that beyond the time of aberration the Torah awaits the arrival of a future generation which will return with more devoted faithfulness to G-d and His Torah, for which in all times the leaders have to keep the Torah intact.”
A Jewish leader’s task is not to “help” G-d. G-d doesn’t need or want political consultants who will distort His voice to get more “votes.” G-d wants faithful servants who will preserve and transmit authentic Judaism. In certain eras, an unwillingness to water down Judaism will cause people to drop it. That’s okay. At least authentic Judaism will have been preserved for a future generation to embrace.
And a future generation will embrace it. The Torah promises us that - “ki lo si’shachach mipi zaro” - and we clearly see the fulfillment of this promise today. For what kind of Judaism is thriving in our era: genuine Judaism or the various forms of diluted Judaism that were created in the 19th and 20th centuries? Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and left-wing Modern Orthodoxy are declining while right-wing Modern Orthodoxy and the yeshiva and chassidic worlds are growing by leaps and bounds.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) - head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years - was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught ofmodernity.
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the author/editor of 10 books, including “The Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch Dictionary.”