New Article: Rabbi Eli Mansour and the Modern Orthodox: The Centrists Might Not Be So Centrist After All
David Shasha
Rabbi Eli Mansour and the Modern Orthodox: The Centrists Might Not Be So Centrist After All
I have written many articles and commentaries on the work of the very popular Haredi Rabbi Eli Mansour and the myriad ways that he has brought a very militant Lakewood-style Jewish extremism to the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community:
The Orthodox Union is hosting a major event at New York’s CitiField called “Torah New York” on Sunday, April 29th:
And Mansour is one of the speakers at the event:
https://www.ou.org/torahny/speakers/rabbi-eli-mansour/
Here is his lecture topic:
East Meets West: The Convergence of Sefardi and Ashkenazi Traditions in Contemporary Israel
The topic comes as little surprise given Mansour’s residual antipathy for the classical Sephardic Jewish tradition with its close ties to Arab civilization and the expansive culture of Religious Humanism.
He is an excellent choice to present the New Convivencia that has so skillfully blurred the lines between Ashkenazim and Sephardim.
I have written about this phenomenon many times:
Indeed, Mansour faithfully represents the “Convergence of Sefardi and Ashkenazi Traditions” as he has embraced the Lithuanian Yeshivah world with all its literalist fundamentalism and religious radicalism.
It is thus highly significant that the OU has chosen him to represent our community.
The program prominently features a number of Yeshiva University’s Roshei Yeshivah from their Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary: Herschel Schachter, Menachem Genack, Yaakov Neuberger, Jeremy Wieder, and Mordechai Willig:
https://www.yu.edu/riets/faculty/roshei-yeshiva
We should also note the presence of former Senator Joe Lieberman:
https://www.ou.org/torahny/speakers/joseph-lieberman/
The listing of speakers shows the burgeoning relationship between Right Wing Orthodox Jewish elements and what was once considered to be Centrist Modern Orthodoxy.
From the perspective of the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community it is interesting to note that the OU chose Mansour, who is one of the primary enemies of the Modern Orthodox YU faction.
In the following article on the YU-trained Rabbi Ezra Labaton I review some of the issues involved with the Modern Orthodox Ashkenazim of the SY community:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/Davidshasha/labaton/davidshasha/ASZ9YE5oJSE/fCqSmRp4PN8J
The late Rabbi Labaton was a devoted disciple of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and oversaw a larger Ashkenazification process in the community that I detail in the following SHU post:
Labaton was allied to other YU-affiliated Sephardim like Raymond Harari, Moshe Shamah, Ricky Hidary, and Marc Angel, representing the Modern Orthodox Ashkenazi alliance in our community.
We should note here that YU’s putative Sephardic Studies program, unsurprisingly, continues to be controlled by an Ashkenazi, Rabbi Herbert Dobrinsky:
https://www.yu.edu/JLL/Sephardic/faculty
Mansour is not at all involved in the YU program, but is intimately connected to the Safra Foundation that has funded the program and his Synagogue:
https://www.ejss.org/about-rabbi-eli-mansour
It is thus fascinating to see how Mansour has been catapulted by the OU over the loyal YU faction in the SY community, putting into question the standing of the Modern Orthodox rabbis in the Sephardic community, as they continue to divest from our classical heritage and happily embrace the ways of Ashkenazi Orthodox Judaism.
David Shasha