Joe emails:
I’ve been reading your heeb report. I’ve been out of the orthodox loop for about 15 years, so it’s interesting to see what’s going on. I saw something about the bifurcation between orthodox and reform. This brought to mind a conversation I had with a friend of mine who is modern orthodox. He tells me that most communities and scools are moving to the far right (black hat).
I spent about the 1980’s in "top" east coast Yeshiva’s including Mir Yeshiva, Darchei Torah, Ner Israel.
Would you believe that I learned almost nothing about the history of the Jewish people? Actually, there was very little focus on the Torah. It was almost exclusive focus on the talmud, and halacha. This was really worthless without the hostoric/social context. What was the point of being Jewish? Or orthodox?
I did learn the importance of wearing a black velvet yarmulka as opposed to the suede, or knitted type. Also I learned that god considers it important that you wear a stetson hat while praying (preferrably black, or dark blue).
