A Political Religion Part 1

Unfortunately many times, in a Jew's practice of his/her Religion there is an unfortunate misconception that it is proper to have a political agenda in one's Judaism. There is no place where this problem is more prevalent than in and regarding the Land of Israel however I have noticed numerous events which have really distrbed me, in Canada, America, and Israel where people forget what the important things are, and what their priorites should be. If you don't understand what I mean, bear with me for one minute as examples will be provided

I'm going to start with something that was said to me not long ago. I was chosen to be the Chazzan for a congregation that is deeply rooted in the traditions of Rav Kook and considers itself to be a Zionist-Modern-Orthodox minyan in Canada. After Davening, I was approached by a number of people and was mocked slightly for my use of Havara Ashkenazis when I Davened. Just to clarify this means that instead of saying Barchu Et Hashem, I say Barchu Es Hashem. I have always received comments for this, but this was the final straw. This is an absolutely unacceptable comment. Let me explain why.

In Judaism we often respect tradition as if it were law. An abandoned tradition is often looked upon equivocally to an abandoned Rabbinical Law. According to almost every single reliable Moder Day Poseik (Reb Moshe Feinstein, Chazon Ish, Reb Shlomo Zalman, etc...) it is forbidden to change one's pronunciation of the Hebrew language while one is Davening. (There are a few exceptions but one must be cautious when changing their tradition). This Law is so important that even if somebody is taught their whole life to say the letter "Saf" as Taf but their grandfather or great grandfather pronounced it "Saf", this person is usually required to switch back. (See Tfilah K'Hilchosa Perek Daled and the footnote with Reb Moshe Feinstein's Teshuva)

All I'm saying is that if you are going to pretend to be an observant Jew but have more regard for conforming politically or conforming to societal pressure rather than follow Halacha then you are kidding yourself. To rely on a "MODERN" Orthodox Rabbi's Psak over the Psak of a Poseik Hador like the one's I mentioned earlier is naive, immature and usually downright foolish. (There are Poskei Hador who are Modern Orthodox and Zionist and I am not disrespecting them, yet I am certain they would agree with me on this point as I have asked a couple of them about this topic)

This is the first of my rants about our political agendas in Judaism and I attend to discuss other communities as well. I just ask everyone to really understand why they are doing something instead of just conforming to their community or sects standards.