Chaim Burg

For God's Sake: You Don't Have to Be 'right' - to Be Correct Chaim Burg

If Rabbi Akiva visited Bnai Brak or Boro Park today he would have great difficulty in identifying many of the local religious practices. They would seem basically correct to him, but he would quickly realize that people were adding stringency upon stringency to their practices of Jewish law - thus creating a world full of chumrot. Rabbi Akiva would sense that laws had taken on an unfamiliar direction - almost like a life of their own. Instead of seeing a world where mitzvot were a uniting force he would see a world where religious practices had become competitive and divisive. "For God's Sake!? calls for a reexamination into the nature of halachic decision making, arguing that the present tendency to stringency (chumrot) may possibly be legitimate as an elective individual decision, but certainly should not be halachic policy for the broad public. A tour de force that should be mandatory reading for every Rabbi and would well benefit congregants too."