You have to realize that anyone who communicates by e-mail is taking a risk in trusting you , or anyone else, that their private communication will not be made public(I hope I am not discouraging the people who do e-mail you!).

Rabbi Adlerstein has written in October, 2005 that “there are simply no secrets left. The “bird of the sky” that will inevitably “carry the sound” (Koheles 10:20) has sprouted digital wings. In the age of the internet, everything that is ever uttered becomes a matter of public record, and is never forgotten”.

Occasionally, when I have the opportunity to meet a “moderate” Rav/leader/Torah personality and it is feasible, I sometimes try to talk to them about various nettlesome issues of our day. However, the first challenge is to convince them that I am asking sincerely, and will not breach the confidentiality of a private conversation by publicizing it. If this concerns rabbonim when speaking in private “off the record”, how much more is it a concern in documented e-mail !

Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn has some good advice regarding live conversations, and mentions the above point as well (”problem is to convince them that you are trustworthy with what they divulge and that you are a good listener…”).

http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol03/v03n193.shtml#01

Mycroft,

I obviously don’t recall everything that you’ve written, but I think that any disagreement we have had, is more in terms of balance, and in how much weight to give to two opposing sides in complex issues. I think that’s what’s behind many disagreements in general, and the JBlogs in particular. If issues would be black and white, there would be no point in discussing them.

In “Burning down our own neighborhood — Reconsidered”, Rabbi Rosenblum mentioned this point as well:

“Nevertheless, if an issue is worth writing about at all, there are usually two sides to it…”

(Ironically, I don’t see two sides on that particular issue, but I guess I should be true to my principles, and attempt to understand those quoted in the article who think that the issue is more complex than the way that I see it.)

I would say that “spiritual growth” applies to an individual. OTOH “shifting to the Right” is on an organizational level. So they cannot be used interchangeably.

Selfishly, I agree with Baruch Horowitz’s last paragraph-one would probably describe me as MO-but among other things I usually go to some shiurim via satellite. I would love to communicate with speakers via e-mail-but sadly I have been unable to find their e-mail-as opposed to YU rabbeim-who one can find their e-mail on the internet and I have on occasion commented and received at least polite replies and often substantive responses.

In the August post of “Blogging: An Alternate Mission Statement”, Rabbi Adlerstein lists a number of purposes for Cross Currents and solicited reader feedback. The last item in the list was “providing support for one special group of observant Jews caught in the crunch between two worlds”. I am not sure what this refers to, but besides kiruv(outreach) and Orthodox/Charedi hasbarah(public relations), I see the following three purposes and goals benefiting internal Orthodox concerns, in JBlogging in general, and CC in particular:

(1) Bridging the RW/MO divide. Dr. David Luchins has termed the American/Israeli relationship as a sharing of “complementary” rather than “identical” interests. Similarly, both sides on the RW/MO divide, as shomrei Torah u’mitzvos, have complementary and mutual concerns which they have in common and share.

(2) Providing an intellectual home for, and a giving voice to the “moderate yeshivish”, who are either refugees from the recent shifting(sliding ?) to the Right occurring in the Charedi world, or feel that their interests are not sufficiently taken into account in the charedi press, which caters to the “multitudes” or to the “kannoim”. Obviously, the term “shifting to the Right” is a subjective one, and some would instead term the phenomenen “spiritual growth”.

(3)Relationship with the charedi Establishment(eg, Agudah and other unofficial leaders). Here too, there are complementary interests, as in biological mutualism. While it might not be acknowledged publicly, I believe that many in the RW leadership will privately acknowledge that the their publications do not fully or primarily cater to those on the outer orbits of the charedi world, or those sitting on the RW/MO divide. As of yet, however, no print publication has been created for this group of people.

Officially, the internet doesn’t exist in the chardi world, but nevertheless, to ignore the blogosphere’s existence would be to hold up a white flag to those who are hostile to the yeshiva world. The reality of blogging and various recent controversies have changed the way the Establishment needs to relate to the grass-roots.

It is in the best interests of the charedi world to have dialogue and open communication with the grass-roots, as some problems may be due to miscommunication, or may represent non-core issues where there may be able to eventually be some change on the charedi side. As I have mentioned on other blogs, bloggers should not feel that it is a beracha levatala(futile effort) to communicate with the RW leadership. Even if there is limited change which can occur in the short-run, communication and mutual understanding is always healthy, as Rabbi Adlerstein writes here concerning Chabad.

Whether or not the Establishment engages the blogosphere directly, or creates other forums like e-mail groups or private meetings, in my opinion, it is in everyone’s best interests that grassroots bloggers, including both idividuals on the outer orbit of the charedi world as well as people on the Right of Modern Orthodoxy(and perhaps the Left as well), maintain some type of communication with the Charedi Establishment or unofficial leaders.

BTW the story about R Yacov and Rav Gifter is a classic one of the approach of Rav Yacov-one that unfortunately is not often that much today.