"Torah Light" versus "G – d's Will"

B"H

What is G – d's will ?
Kabbalistically speaking, G – d is an infinite being without any form or matter. A being we are unable to grasp with our human thoughts and mind. But how do we know what G – d's will is ?
We just have to look into the Torah and know His will. At least we should acknowledge that He created the universe and everything in existence.

He gave us the Torah as instructions about how our life should be. Additionally it says in the Torah that nothing should be taken out or changed. The Torah is eternal.

You can argue that times have changed. Many things mentioned in the Torah don't seem to be up – to – date and therefore not valid anymore. Times have changed and today we need to be flexible and adjust.

Superficially speaking, you might be right but as soon as you take a deeper look into the matter you will realize that many topics mentioned in the Torah apply to each of us. Nothing is out of time because the world hasn't changed and we still face the same problems.

The Jews kept the Torah or they didn't. Directions and specifications such as orthodox, conservative, progressive or reform were unheard of. Jews used to be religious, traditional or nothing until the reform movement started in Germany. I have to state that the first reform Jews kept the Torah; they still kept Shabbat and ate kosher food. But slowly slowly, the Torah became of less importance and the reform movement claimed that it was just a book and not written by G – d anyway. The first opponents of the reform movement were actually the Chassidim and the Litvaks. Right at the beginning, the "orthodox" rabbis saw the danger in the new movement. And they were right.

The reform movement became extremely successful in the United States, and today, the US and England are the most famous negative examples for the effects of the reform. Many statistics show us disastrous results.

Already in the early days, reform Jews started changing Halacha. Kashrut, Shabbat, Third Temple or Meshiach ? Who needs that ? They even introduced their own Sidur (prayer book) where they had erased whole passages written hundreds of years ago. Prayers added by the Sanhedrin were taken out as well. Just a few weeks ago, the head of the world's reform movement, Mr. Joffe, admitted that reform Jews don't have not much left of a Jewish identity. Keeping Shabbat is totally forgotten even if there might be some Shabbat feeling.

Halacha is completely irrelevant to a reform Jew. "What do we care about the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) and the "old" guy Rambam (Maimonides) ? Today we lead a modern life and what do you want ? Leave us alone ?"

Is G – d not modern enough for those Jews making this claim ? Who else is modern enough ?

Everything could be just perfect if there weren't these orthodox Jews bothering. Reform Jews as well as the non – Jewish press see the orthodox as weird fundamentalists who live and dress like 2000 years ago and discriminate their wives. Those who hear this and don't have a clue about orthodox society of course start hating the orthodox. They live in places like Mea Shearim, hang around lazy without work and just keep their ancient laws.
Orthodoxy doesn't recognize the reform movement, as everybody knows. Of course, a reform Jew is a Jew but reform converts are not considered as Jewish at all. We don't need to discuss this matter, as it is a fact.

But what has the reform movement really gained ?
There is not much positive to tell. Thanks to the reform, Jews more and more assimilated and nowadays almost half of the Jewish population is intermarrying. 50% of US Jewry is marrying a non – Jewish spouse. This is just horrifying and many times I meet kids from such mixed marriages who want to study at a Yeshiva in Jerusalem. But only after their orthodox conversion to Judaism. What intermarrying parents don't realize is the identity problem such kids have. But I also heard that especially the non – Jewish parent pushes the kids to accept Christianity.

So, what have the reform gained ?
They erased Halacha, as it is too ancient. The Torah ? Well, a nice old book. And G – d ? He is far away and He simply has to understand that times have changed.

The tragedy is that more and more Jews got lost over the past decades. They are not being taught the basics of the Jewish religion, are totally assimilated and don't have a Jewish tradition anymore. No wonder they start searching for their spirituality somewhere else. In Israel, the extreme left – wing party Meretz used to be a coalition partner in the past. And ministers of education such as Yossi Sarid or Shulamit Aloni abolished Jewish religious studies at schools. Nothing religious whatsoever and today we see the terrible results.

Now the present minister of education, Yuli Tamir, is planning to start a huge PR – campagne for the reform movement. Israeli kids may be taught reform ideology in the near future. Some "Judaism Light" instead of "G – d's will". That's enough. Don't we already have enough knowing nothing about their own religion ? Rambam who ?

In the eyes of reform Jews, the orthodox are wild fanatics who bother. Maybe it is just their own consciences when they claim that the Torah is not valid anymore. I want to do whatever I want and I need an excuse. "Excuse me G – d but you are out of time".
What I see more and more in Tel Aviv is that especially the so – called secular show lots of interest in orthodox Judaism. Not that they are now all on the Teshuva – Trip but what they are searching for is answers. A reform rabbi isn't able answering all their religious questions. Many secular show lots of respect to orthodox society and Chassidut is more than popular. Everyone wants to know more about Chassidut. Despite all the negativity, maybe this gives us some hope