Thursday, October 22, 2009

Interview with Prof. Lawrence Kaplan

Baruch Pelta interviews Lawrence Kaplan at the Seforim blog. Fascinating!
at

8 comments:

  1. YirmiahuOctober 23, 2009 at 6:23 PM

    "It was generally used in more of a non-political sense, that is, you study the Torah and you get a great insight into nature and reality and history."

    Interesting indeed,

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garnel IronheartOctober 25, 2009 at 7:49 AM

    A good interview but so what?

    Those who believe in the modern incarnation of "Daas Torah" don't care about historical or religious truth. They ask to be told what to think and believe by their "gedolim" and refuse to participate in the process themselves because they're not "qualified."

    Those that insist on thinking for themselves don't need to be told that this is the right way to be.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ephraimOctober 25, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Although I agree that the concept of "Daas Torah" seems to have been overdone in recent generations, it is worth pointing out to the opponents of the idea that even if we ignore "Daas Torah" altogether, "just" observing Halacha is extremely intrusive into a person's life. After all, it's "only" Halacha which restricts when a married couple may and may not touch each other, for example, without even a dispensation for pikuach nefesh according to many Poskim. Any Halachic Jew has to be ready to give up all his money rather than violate a negative commandment, and this is very likely to have repercussions for career choice, etc. There are endless examples of how "mere" Halachic Judaism presumes to regulate a Jew's entire life, so to a great extent the concept of "Daas Torah" is a straw man.

    ReplyDelete
  4. alexOctober 26, 2009 at 1:01 AM

    Garnel asks "so what?"
    No need to have a defeatist attitude. If it influences even 1% of the readers you think "don't think for themselves," then it was a worthwhile interview.

    ReplyDelete
  5. yitznewtonOctober 27, 2009 at 4:12 AM

    I didn't understand Ephraim's remarks at October 25, 2009 10:43 AM... can he/anyone else restate? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. ephraimOctober 27, 2009 at 9:36 AM

    I think I was too wordy in my previous comment.

    All I meant to say was that if the problem people have with "Daas Torah" is that it intrudes into areas where religion "doesn't belong", we already find the Halacha doing this in practically every area of life. (Of course, there may be other issues, and I imagine that these are probably the ones that concern Professor Kaplan more.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousOctober 28, 2009 at 12:55 AM

    Thank you Rabbi Slifkin for linking to my interview.

    To answer Garnel Ironheart: As is the case in hotly contested elections, the people who count the the most and whom one tries to influence are the "undecideds."

    lawrence kaplan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Y. Ben-DavidOctober 29, 2009 at 12:06 PM

    Can anyone direct me to Rav Hutner's article about the Holocaust, or Prof Kaplan's response, or, alternatively, give a summary of what it was that upset Prof Kaplan?

    ReplyDelete

Comments for this blog are moderated. Please see this post about the comments policy for details. ANONYMOUS COMMENTS WILL NOT BE POSTED - please use either your real name or a pseudonym.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Which Threat Is Scarier?

My two youngest children, ages 10 and 6, had a scary day at school in which everyone was talking about the missiles falling in various par...

  • The Most Powerful Man in the Charedi Litvishe World
    Warning: This is an extremely disturbing post. Who is the most powerful man in the charedi litvishe world? Most people would say that Ra...
  • HaRav HaRasha, Shlita
    Back in 2005, Rav Aharon Feldman wrote that the ban on my books was "probably the public issue most damaging to the honor of Torah and ...
  • The Wonder of Wyoming
    Last week I was with my wife's family on an absolutely spectacular vacation in Wyoming, with the Rustic Elegance kosher program. Her...