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CHAPTER XII CRITIQUE OF NEO-ORTHODOXY 1 Impressive character of Neo-Orthodoxy's defiance of reason-Neo-Orthodoxy's argument for belief in supernatural origin of Torah based upon an artificial dilemmaNeo -Orthodoxy's failure to stress other-worldly salvation a surrender to the spirit of the times-Neo-Orthodoxy inconsistent in permitting Jewish civil lllW to become defunct. THE striking characteristic of the reply offered by Neo-Orthodoxy to the challenge of the modern spirit is its boldness. The boldness of this reply seems commensurate with the magnitude of the challenge, and gives the apologia the force of a counter attack. Neo-Orthodoxy's eloquent reaffirmation of the traditional conception of Torah which is the basis of its apologia is overwhelming, and one's first disconcerting impression is that it is the "spirit of the times" rather than traditional Judaism which is on the defensive. The vista which Neo-Orthodoxy opens up before the troubled eyes of the modern Jew is alluring; the whole difficulty of being a Jew seems to have been dissolved. If this reaffirmed supernaturalism is acceptable, then the problem of Judaism is settled. Even if it is hard to be a Jew, what does that signify when so great a prize is at stake, the prize of life everlasting and of shining progress on paths clearly and unmistakably marked out by God? With the assumption of a supernaturally revealed Torah, all the contemporary political, economic and intellectual realities which have· attacked the integrity of Jewish life and Jewish destiny no longer seriously affect the issue. The whole point is contained in the following question which Neo-Orthodoxy, by implication, poses: will you conform to the will of God or will you reject it and commit moral suicide? The choice we ought to make seems clear. We cannot ignore the fact that there are people who in all sincerity disavow the can.ons of logic and experience when they deal with what to them is religion. Since the defiance of all rational standards is for them the main characteristic of religion, how can they be expected to treat deferentially the evilSI JUDAISM AS A CIVILIZATION dent objection to a program like that of Neo-Orthodoxy on the ground that it cannot be integrated with the world-outlook of the majority of thoughtful men and women? What God commands must be obeyed and not weighed. Results in terms of visible influence in self-adjustment, material or spiritual, are of secondary consideration . Whatever is divinely revealed transcends human ken or power to alter. It must be recognized that however impossible it may seem to most of us to accept the type of reasoning upon which Neo-Orthodoxy bases its program, orthodoxy as such possesses a fascination for certain types of mind. Among these may even be found those who are temperamentally sceptical. Their very scepticism, ending as it usually does in a failure of nerve, drives them into the arms of a faith that is free from all doubt. In the flux of beliefs and ideals, it is guod to be able to lean upon some truth which may be regarded as eternal and changeless. They may possess brilliant intellects and be gifted with fine sensibilities. But the one thing they cannot and will not endure is a world hanging on nothing. They crave fixity, permanence, order, and they will achieve it at all costs, at the price of the most audacious intellectual somersaults. They delight in the very daring of the mind's defiance of reality. It is to them a sort of proof that the mind is inspired to this negation of experience by a reality that transcends experience. Credo quia absurdum est is no mere paradoxical epigram. It is the revolt of the human mind against its limitations and its avowal of allegiance to some transcendent and unfailing source of truth. That is the secret of orthodoxy's appeal to minds like Tertullian, Cardinal Newman ,' Chesterton, Belloc, Santayana and the modern school of Royalist French Catholics. In the brilliant publicist, Nathan Birnbaum , the Jews have had an outstanding example of that type of mind. He started out as an adherent of historic materialism, changed into a Zionist, then became a radical Yiddishist, and finally embraced strict orthodoxy: But though we may be carried away in the beginning by NeoOrthodoxy 's glorious boldness, we are constrained to pause and inquire whether this boldness be genuine. We are constrained to ask· is this boldness candid? Is it...

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