All we can be certain of is that he was ten years old when he died. He was a Jewish boy and the grandson of a prominent leader of the Jewish community in Prague in the late 17th century. His death in 1694 will forever remain a mystery. His father claimed he died of natural causes. The medical faculty of Charles University, then a Jesuit stronghold, claimed he died a violent death. His father, Lazar, was arrested and charged with murdering his son to prevent his conversion to Christianity, about which the boy had shown some interest. Lazar died from torture before the authorities could extract a confession. Although Shimon Abeles, the ten year old boy, was never baptized, he was declared a Christian saint and a martyr, and buried in Prague’s Tyn Church, in the Old Town Square.
I stood in front of that very church in January, 2009 as part of a Rabbinic mission to Prague and Israel with the Chicago Rabbinic Action Committee. It was in front of that church that I first heard the story of Shimon Abeles. Afterward, the group of rabbis went into the Church to see Shimon’s burial place. Not all of the rabbis went into the church, however. Our Orthodox colleagues remained outside.
The reason they stayed outside, on that bitterly cold January day is based on a verse from our Torah reading for this week. In our Torah portion, the Jewish people are about to enter the Land of Canaan. G-d is worried about their sliding back into idolatry when they come in contact with the Canaanite people who worship their gods in abominable ways. After the sin of the Golden Calf, G-d knows how susceptible the people might be to succumbing to idolatrous forms of worship. So, he tells the people, “Beware of being lured into their ways after they have been destroyed. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did those nations worship their gods? I too will follow their practices.” Thus my Orthodox colleagues refused to enter the Church, lest they violate that commandment to inquire about other religions.
Most of us here this evening take a different view entirely toward inquiry into other cultures and religious practices. We encourage intellectual inquiry into other faiths, cultures and modes of worship. We hope that others take an interest in us as well. In some cases this may indeed lead to the observance of another religion. In the United States, 34% of American adults currently have a religious identity different from the one in which they were raised! What was a relatively rare occurrence at the time of Shimon Abeles is a common practice in present day America. In fact, some firmly believe that our inquiry into the faith and customs of others leads to understanding of one another that is crucial to the very survival of our world. We Americans place freedom of knowledge and inquiry among our highest values.
One of the major differences between what we call “Modern Orthodox” Judaism and what we call “Ultra-Orthodox” also known as “Haredi” Judaism is the degree to which inquiry and exploration outside of the religious community is tolerated. “Modern Orthodoxy” encourages its members to engage fully with Western culture. It believes that secular ideas and insights can inform Torah knowledge, just as Torah knowledge can inform secular ideas. Ultra-Orthodoxy, or the “Haredi”, on the other hand, sees little value in teachings outside of their own circles. Their rabbis seek to isolate their members from contact with outside world, be they secular ideas, ideas from other religions, or ideas from non-Orthodox forms of Judaism. They see non-Haredi ideas as potentially corrupting and leading their adherents astray.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders will go to extra-ordinary lengths to keep the outside, outside. Just imagine the challenge posed by the ever present smart phone. As we all know, we have at our finger tips a previously unimaginable wealth of knowledge through Smart Phone technology. When they first came on the market, Haredi rabbis condemned Smart Phones as a new evil. One prominent leader said they were as destructive as weapons, and another publicly destroyed a Smart Phone to get that message across. In 2013, however, Rami Levy Communications, an Israeli company, came out with a kosher smart phone. How can a smart phone be kosher, you ask? It actually has a heksher, that is, rabbinical certification that it is permitted to use. What convinced the rabbis that a smart phone CAN be kosher? This is a phone that one can make a call on, one can text on, one can email on, but one whose search engine has been disabled. In its place, there are apps. Approved apps. Apps that Haredi Rabbis have deemed appropriate. There were 600 approved apps when the phone came out in 2013. The company hopes that this number will eventually reach 20,000.
Some Haredi authorities are doubling down on the ban on “non-kosher” cell phones. It was reported in June of this year that anyone possessing a “non-kosher” cell phone at the Musayof Synagogue in Jerusalem is disqualified from leading prayers during worship services.
Intellectual freedom, the ability to explore ideas outside of one’s own narrow experience, may constitute a risk. One might become attracted to the religious beliefs and practices of the other, as the Torah seems to fear. The ideas of others may challenge and call into question one’s own beliefs. One might even be tempted to go down unhealthy or even self-destructive paths. But such strict limitations on inquiry demonstrate a lack of confidence in the ability of one’s tradition to hold onto its own in the face of competing forces. The answer to this dilemma, in my opinion, is not to control access to the ideas of those who are different from us. The answer is to study Torah, and to teach our traditions to our children so that we can pass them on. I believe when we truly educate ourselves in our Judaism we come to see and understand the beauty, the power and the logic of our faith. Once do we will want to maintain it and embrace it in the face of all challenges to it that we might confront.
Shabbat Shalom