Mikolot Mayim Rabbim

One of the best brief critiques of the liberal Orthodox approach to halacha.

For a couple of years now, I have campaigned among colleagues for people to take up the pen and in a reasoned,respectful way grapple with the underlying issues that are increasingly causing a schism between Liberal Orthodoxy on the one hand, and traditional Ultra- and Modern Orthodoxy, on the other. My feeble contribution to this conversation has been a review of why Modern Orthodoxy is increasingly worried about the trends coming out of Open Orthodoxy.

Now, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan and president of the moderate Religious Zionist organization Tzohar, has penned one of the best brief critiques of the underpinnings of Liberal (incl. Open) Orthodoxy. His essay is chanelled through a review Haviva Ner David’s recent book, and seems at first sight a critique of Orthodox Feminism, but it is more profound, more far ranging and more thorough, putting a finger on the issues with the Liberal Orthodox drive to change halachic rulings.

Reading it, I could not help thinking of of blurb written in the hazy past, in a 1985 Tradition article, by Rabbi Shalom Carmy, which unfortunately applies well to the present issue:
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