Why Rabbi Sacks was happy to be called a fundamentalist

But just because Rabbi Sacks opposed these forms of fundamentalism, should we say that he was a moderate?

Martin Luther King wrote that the “white moderate” had become more of a stumbling block on the road to racial justice than the Ku Klux Klanner. The “white moderate” was constantly advising “the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

In the face of searing injustice, the Reverend Doctor was surely right to be frustrated with the inability of the “white moderate” to recognise “the urgency of the moment.” In the face of evil, we shouldn’t want to be moderate.

Just as King was a critic of moderation from the left, we can find critics of moderation on the right. Indeed, Ben Shapiro, the American commentator, has criticised the rabbinic leadership of modern Orthodoxy for its moderation.

When the Orthodox Union published its response to the Respect for Marriage Act, it insisted that Jewish marriage can only be between a man and a woman. But then it went on to note that “Judaism teaches respect for others and we condemn discrimination against individuals.” Homosexual marriage was to be tolerated, so long as it occurs outside of the aegis of Orthodox Judaism.

Shapiro was incensed with this demonstration of religious moderation. In his opinion, “Judaism in fact requires discrimination against behaviour; it requires judgment directed against sin.” Shaprio would seemingly have the rabbis campaigning in favour of anti-homosexual legislation.

On the substance of the issue, Shapiro is wrong. Jewish law, in contrast to what he might think, contains surprisingly robust measures against religious coercion. But is he right about the broader issue?

Time-honoured norms regarding gender, sexuality, identity, and more, are currently under attack. Isn’t religious moderation, in the face of such provocation, a failure to recognise “the urgency of the moment”?

Judaism is fanatical about truth, justice and kindness

What might Rabbi Sacks tell us? Would he be championing moderation?

No. Rabbi Sacks was happy to be called a fundamentalist. The question is merely what you’re willing to be a fundamentalist about. Orthodox Judaism, in the writings of Rabbi Sacks, manifests a fundamentalism regarding the non-negotiable value of truth, justice and kindness.

These three values sometimes come into conflict, and Judaism has sophisticated teachings about how to navigate those conflicts. But the bottom line remains the same: Judaism is fanatical about truth, justice, and kindness.

And yet, to value truth requires humility. Rabbi Sacks used to say that the only defeat that is actually a victory is when a person, in debate and discussion, is defeated by the truth. To allow ourselves the possibility of being defeated by the truth requires the ability to listen to others. To listen to others is kindness in the service of truth.

The rabbis said that “sages of the Torah increase peace in the world.” This is a strange saying. The entire fabric of rabbinic literature is woven through with fiery debate. How can we say that they increase peace, if all they ever do is argue?

I think their point was this: if you spend years toiling in rabbinic literature, with all of its arguments and counter-arguments, you learn the skill of seeing two sides of an issue. You learn how to see where other people are coming from. You learn that there’s rarely an argument between two sincere and well-meaning thinkers where there isn’t at least a kernel of truth on both sides.

And thus, to be a fundamentalist about justice, is to side with Martin Luther King, and to be ready to stand up for the cause of the oppressed and the downtrodden, even if doing so is uncomfortable, risky, and demanding.

But to be a fundamentalist about the truth, and about kindness, requires that, even as we’re ready to stand up for the causes in which we believe, we must also be ready to listen to what other people are saying; not to pour fuel upon the fires of contemporary culture wars, but to chart a course towards peace, by honouring the fragments of truth to be found on both sides of any deeply-felt conflict. That was the sort of fundamentalism that animates the Judaism of Rabbi Sacks.

Rabbi Professor Sam Lebens will be giving a free opening taster session at 8pm next Wednesday, November 9, of LSJS’s new course, “Rabbi Sacks & the Scholars”, which will be running throughout the year. It has been launched to mark the fifth anniversary of Rabbi Sacks’s death. Details from LSJS

Professor Lebens teaches philosophy at Haifa University and is co-editor of the new volume of Tradition to devoted to Rabbi Sacks’s intellectual legacy