Agudah

Oh gosh, how could I have forgotten, of all the things to totally slip my mind...

 

We were recently given the following psak halacha: "the Torah prohibits having an organization with the name "Agudah.""

 

Hmmm. Well. That's quite a bold statement, to say the least. What was the rationale?

 

The chumash in Devarim says, "lo titgodedu," which contextually means that we are forbidden from injuring ourselves as a sign of mourning. This was, apparently, an ancient pagan practice, and the Torah forbids it. However, our sages derived another sensible law from this verbiage: we must not have divisions in halachic practice among groups of Jews. Now, the parameters of this rule are too complex, and the various rabbinic opinions too numerous, to discuss on this blog (for an exhaustive treatment, see here). Suffice it to say, the halacha is that we may not have one group of Jews practicing one way and another practicing another way in one city where all Jews are expected to be of the same group. Naturally, in this day and age where there are mixtures of Jews from various traditions in almost every city, the applicability of this law is diminished. For example, Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews can certainly continue to abide by their respective customs without violating the law.

 

Oddly enough, nowhere does the halacha say that one may not have an organization named "Agudah." Of course, we all know that, and the "psak" was clearly a dig at Agudath Israel, or Agudas Horabbonim, because of the unwritten rule in the Roslyn Synagogue that all rabbis and organizations to the right of Rabbi Block are bad. Nonetheless, it was clearly a lie.

 

Not only that, but with this statement, countless Jewish organizations from across the religious spectrum were instantly indicted. Not only Agudath Israel, which Rav Soloveitchik was a member of for a time (until he joined the Mizrachi, but that was because of Aguda's position on the State of Israel, not because he objected to the name of the organization). But also the following organizations:

• Agudah for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender in Israel
• אגודת הסטודנטים באוניברסיטה העברית aguda.org.il
• Agudath Achim Synagogue
• Congregation Agudath Sholom The Voice of Peace
• Congregation Agudas Sholom of Chelsea, Massachusetts
• Aguda Lema'an Hachayal (The Association of the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers)

 

etc
etc

 

And last but not least, the line from the machzor for yamim noraim:
"veyei'asu chulam agudah echat la'asot retzonecha belevav shalem" (all the nations will form one union to do Your will with a complete heart), taken from the pasuk in Shmuel Bet 2:25: "vayitkabetzu benei vinyamin vayihyu la’Agudah echat.”

 

A heavy list of "agudot" to be dissing, indeed.

Rabbi Tokayer

Our synagogue recently had a Sunday morning breakfast with Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, recognized expert on Jews and the Far East. He gave a talk that was both informative and enjoyable, appealing to a broad cross-section of the membership.

At the end of the talk he entertained a variety of questions. One question concerned his relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Tokayer naturally declined to answer the question, correctly pointing out that it was not the topic of the day. For this, he was naturally praised by Rabbi Block.

Of course, Rabbi Tokayer had a long relationship with Rabbi Schneerson. For one thing, the Rebbe was the one who told Rabbi Tokayer to go to Japan in the first place:

"When the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, arranged for a young Rabbi Marvin Tokayer to serve Jews across Asia from a post in Tokyo, the former U.S. Air Force chaplain didn’t understand why he had been singled out for such a task. Sure, he had been stationed in Tokyo during his stint in the military, but he didn’t speak Japanese. He was engaged to be married to an Israeli woman who wasn’t too keen about travelling to such a foreign land. And he wasn’t even a Chabad-Lubavitch Chasid."

For the rest, click here.

And Rabbi Tokayer's relationship with Rabbi Schneerson predates his Far East mission, going back to his college days:

"I wrote a letter to the Rebbe, in Hebrew, outlining what I was studying, and explained that I had some philosophical questions that I would like to discuss with him, if possible.

"Within a couple of days, I was contacted by the Rebbe’s secretariat and given an appointment for three weeks later at 3:00 AM."

For the rest, click here.

Of course, we wouldn't necessarily assume that Rabbi Tokayer would approve of Chabad philosophy, or of the activities of certain Chabad groups after the Rebbe's passing. In fact, we can't even necessarily assume that Rabbi Tokayer approved of everything the Rebbe himself said or did. What we do learn, though, is the most normal Jewish people don't consider Rabbi Schneerson or Chabad to be the big bogey man that some people would have us believe.