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.