In today’s litigious world wherein so many people are sadly confused and their emotions cynically manipulated regarding all forms of sexual deviance and journalism thrives upon sensationalism, does the halachic principle of שעת הדחק כדיעבד דמי or the halachic mechanism of הוראת שעה allow us to settle a lawsuit and recognize a club for L.G.B.T.Q. students and their allies? What if that appears to be the only prudent, pragmatic path forward?
“I know beforehand the reaction to my letter on the part of our apostles of religious “modernism” and “utilitarianism.” They will certainly say that since a great majority of the recently constructed synagogues have abandoned separated seating, we must not be out of step with the masses. This type of reasoning could well be employed with regard to other religious precepts, such as the observance of the Sabbath, or the dietary laws. However, we must remember that an ethical or halachic principle decreed by God is not rendered void by the fact that the people refuse to abide by it. Its cogency and veracity are perennial and independent of compliance on the part of the multitudes. If the ethical norm, Thou shalt not kill, has not lost its validity during the days of extermination camps and gas chambers, when millions of people were engaged in ruthless murder, but on the contrary, has been impregnated with deeper meaning and significance, then every Halachic maxim assumes greater import in times of widespread disregard and unconcern. The greater the difficulty, the more biting the ridicule and sarcasm, and the more numerous the opponent – then the holier is the principle, and the more sacred is our duty to defend it.”
These are the immortal words of רבן של ישראל, the Rov זצללה"ה, in a message to a rabbinic convention, addressing the issue of the day, the movement to remove the מחיצה from hitherto orthodox shuls. There is, however, something conspicuously absent from his message. He demands that rabbonim remain steadfast and firm; he adjures them not to yield to a false philosophy. But he is very understated in his predictions as to whether they will emerge victorious in their struggle. Earlier in this message the Rov wrote, “I have the feeling that a well-coordinated, aggressive effort on our part may stop, if not reverse even, the trend of Christianization of the synagogue.” In other forums the Rov expressed his unshakable confidence that Orthodox Jewry would emerge victorious in its struggle over the מחיצה. And yet in his message to the rabbinic convention the best he can offer is “may”. Why?
Time and time again throughout our history we have been challenged to, ר"ל, renounce or compromise upon our commitment to the fundamental principles of Torah. Throughout the millennia Jews did not flinch. They met the challenges. They unwaveringly and uncompromisingly affirmed and re-affirmed their beliefs. In so doing, they knew that ultimately Torah would prevail. קושטא קאי, שיקרא לא קאי. Truth endures, falsehood fades. דבר אלוקינו יקום לעולם. The word of הקב"ה will stand eternally.
And yet this is not why our ancestors were מוסר נפש. Jews stand firm and are מוסר נפש not because they are assured of victory but because הקב"ה is true and thus His תורה הקדושה is true. Jews stand firm in their commitment to Torah because that expresses who we are and what we believe. For that reason and that reason alone. חנניה מישאל ועזריה tell נבוכדנאצר that they do not expect to be miraculously saved from the כבשן האש. And such is the halachah that one is מוסר נפש שלא על מנת שיעשה נס.
When our commitment to Torah is challenged or threatened, we stand firm without a thought for pragmatism or practicality. We are מוסר נפש not because we see a path forward. We are מוסר נפש because that is who we are, and this is what we believe בכל לבבנו ובכל נפשנו ובכל מאדנו.
This forms the substance of the Rov’s message to the rabbonim at their convention and for this reason he intentionally understated his confidence in prevailing in the short term.
Standing firm and upholding Torah are not contingent upon seeing the path to victory. Unflinchingly and unabashedly, a Jew stands by and affirms his beliefs, principles and commitment because they are true, because that is who he is and what he believes.
When a lawsuit is brought to force Y.U. to allow self-identifying L.G.B.T.Q. students and their allies to form a club, prudence and pragmatism should be non-factors in determining our response. Identification with the L.G.B.T.Q. acronym entails identification with a heretical, nihilistic philosophy which champions and celebrates all forms of sexual deviance in a Nimrodian, brazen defiance of הקב"ה. We must unconditionally reject their demands and can never settle. Whether this position seems practical is irrelevant. We stand uncompromisingly firm because that is who we are, that is what we believe.
Of course, Torah will prevail. The false, heretical L.G.B.T.Q. philosophy will fail. But we do not need to see how that will happen because that is not why we stand firm. We stand firm in rejecting the degeneracy represented and militantly advocated by L.G.B.T.Q. because that is who we are, that is what we believe.
During the מחיצה battle a Riets מוסמך under extreme pressure from his shul called the Rov and appealed for a dispensation to remove the מחיצה from his shul. The Rov adamantly refused. “But,” the Rabbi argued, “membership is hemorrhaging; people are deserting in droves to the Conservative temple, and I do not see any alternate solution to keeping people within the fold of Orthodoxy.” “Ploni,” the Rov thundered, “don’t bring me Moshiach. Your job is to uphold and defend Torah.”
“Don’t bring me Moshiach” means don’t cultivate a messianic complex where you see yourself as the savior; that mindset will lead you, albeit misguidedly לשם שמים, to feel that you must save your congregants no matter what. And, accordingly, when you see no other path forward, you will compromise upon Torah. הקב"ה has not authorized such a self-contradictory, self-defeating and self-destructive gesture.
Echoing the Rov, we too cry from the depths of our heart, “don’t bring us Moshiach”. Don’t save us from litigation, or any perceived or actual adverse consequences. Stand firm in rejecting the odious, heretical philosophy of L.G.B.T.Q. with its Nimrodian defiance of הקב"ה.
The חלול השם caused by a club for L.G.B.T.Q. at Y.U. cannot be abated.
A Yeshiva which institutionalizes חלול השם cannot and will not survive qua Yeshiva. The חלול השם must end. Now.
Mayer E. Twersky
8 Nisan, 5785
Editor's note: the audio of Rav Twersky's oral remarks, which this is essay is his official write-up of, can be found at track #11 here