At his retirement dinner at the beginning of the summer, Chief Rabbi Jonathon Sacks presented each attendee with a pamphlet titled “A Judaism Engaged with the World.” In it, he claims that contemporary Judaism is in a dangerous position. It is becoming increasingly polarized, as more and more Jews are either assimilating or moving towards Ultra-Orthodoxy while the number of Jews “engaged with the world” dwindles.
Putting his particular goal aside, Rabbi Sack’s vision prompts us to reconsider how we understand differences of opinions among Jews. Do we distill what some think is the impurity of dissent by compelling all Jews to adopt and uphold one uniform doctrine? Do we agree to disagree? Or do we realize and revere the heterogeneity that sustains our nation at a dynamic equilibrium, one that involves natural and critical oscillation between diverse opinions, beliefs, and causes?
Consider Congress for a moment. Congress is made up of people that champion a wide range of causes. Some members hold views that are far too extreme to implement. In isolation, many of the beliefs and propositions of the members of Congress are absurd. Yet, as a unit, Congress is an institution that accomplishes almost exactly what it was set out to do: protecting the constitution of the United States.
The Torah is a document that allows for extensive variation in interpretation. Paradoxes and multiple meanings that result in contradictory implementation not only exist in the Torah, they characterize it. On a technical level, the words and sentences of the Torah are often ambiguous with the intent of communicating dual messages that are not necessarily in accord with one another. Similarly, it is not rare for the halakhik guidance that the Torah provides to leave ample space for readers to take disparate positions. The Torah’s divinity is defined by the coexistence of opposing meaning that it hosts. While the Torah asks us to believe in a single God, it encourages us to be the multifarious people that we are. It is only logical, then, that the Torah is best guarded when we follow suit.
The perpetual background buzz of argument in the dialogue within our nation is what fuels our ongoing progression forward. A nation made of people more complacent with each other’s ideas or more uniform in approach would be a nation of stagnation. The constant fluctuation of opinions, exchange of challenges, and rising, but respectful, opposition is the pulse of a Jewish nation that has every sign of life; movement, growth, and change.
It is time that we stop viewing ourselves as many bodies with one vision. Instead, we must identify ourselves as many visions, which form the single body that we are. It is only through the expression of their divergent voices that the manifold instruments can achieve the overall melody for which they strive.
Some claim that refusing to face the world leaves the Ultra-Orthodox defenseless against it. But becoming homogenous leaves us, as a nation, most defenseless of all. The greatest threat to the Jewish people is neither assimilation, nor isolation. It is not even our relentless insistence on achieving a unity that is artificial as best.
As a matter of fact, as long as we never arrive at that homogeneity, our persistent efforts to reach it actually advance our genuine cause, namely, the dynamic equilibrium that can propel us to fulfillment of national goals. In other words, the illusion that we could and should eventually reach agreement results in our rooting our differences even deeper and stronger. It fuels people’s attempts to inculcate beliefs in one other. Those very efforts then only further ignite impassioned differences. The more fervently we flee from heterogeneity, the brighter we keep it burning.
With this realization, we can accept our non-acceptance of conflict, opposition and polarity. We can sustain and nourish our diversity in opinion, ideology, and lifestyle. We can perceive the perpetual background buzz of dispute as just one more harmonious layer in the symphony of our nation.