Gil Student on the Journey into Orthodoxy
The Tikvah Podcast
Tikvah
4.6 • 620 Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2017
⏱️ 33 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Ellen Willis’s brother Michael decided to leave behind his secular American life and study in an Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem, she knew that something was amiss. How could her intelligent, reasonable brother have decided to devote himself Jewish Orthodoxy? Yet, after flying to Israel in order to witness Michael’s new lifestyle for herself, Ellen realized that Judaism’s questions about the secular word—about her world—pointed to more truths than she wanted to admit.
Ultimately, Ellen returned to her secular life in America, while her brother went on to become a Haredi rabbi. But she documented her brother’s journey and her time with him in Jerusalem in an incredible essay entitled “Next Year in Jerusalem.” Published in Rolling Stone in 1977, the piece is an extraordinarily thoughtful and honest study of the contradictions and tensions of the human condition, presented through the lens of a secular woman exploring the world of Orthodox Judaism for the first time.
In this podcast, Jonathan Silver is joined by rabbi, editor, and blogger Gil Student to explore this essay as well as Rabbi Student’s own journey into the Orthodox world. They discuss the parallel journeys of Michael and Ellen and the factors that pulled one back toward the religion of his ancestors and pushed the other away from it. Returning to stories of his own life throughout the conversation, Rabbi Student gives us a greater appreciation of the challenges and rewards of adopting an Orthodox lifestyle in our secular progressive age.
Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble, as well as Ich Grolle Nicht, by Ron Meixsell and Wahneta Meixsell.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Tikva podcast and great Jewish essays and ideas. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. If you like listening to our podcast, I invite you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, and I hope you'll leave us a rating and a review. |
| 0:21.5 | If you would like to learn more about our work at Tikva, you can visit our website, |
| 0:25.7 | tikfafund.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. |
| 0:29.3 | Our essay today is called Next Year in Jerusalem, and it was published in Rolling Stone by |
| 0:33.9 | Ellen Willis in 1977. In it she tells the story of her brother, Michael, who on a trip |
| 0:39.6 | to Israel becomes a Baal Chuvra, a formerly non-observant Jew who returns to Orthodox |
| 0:44.8 | observance. Ellen had always seen Michael as a highly rational person, not someone given to mysticism, |
| 0:50.4 | to sentimentality, not someone likely to experience a sudden change of heart or a turning of the soul. |
| 0:56.0 | And in fact, it was Michael's insistence on the rational foundations of his newfound devotion |
| 1:01.0 | that so intrigued Alan that she went to visit her brother at his yeshiva in Jerusalem |
| 1:05.0 | and see his theological transformation with her own eyes. |
| 1:09.0 | Would she follow his example and adopt orthodoxy? Would her own |
| 1:12.0 | self-described feminist and radical commitments prevent her from sympathetically understanding her brother? |
| 1:17.8 | Next year in Jerusalem is an incredible essay, and we're privileged to discuss it with our friend, |
| 1:23.0 | Rabbi Gilstudent. Rabbi Gilstudent is one of the most interesting and successful authors and bloggers |
| 1:28.3 | in American Orthodoxy. In 2004, he founded Hirim, which quickly became a must-read for anyone |
| 1:34.3 | seeking to understand the interface between Jewish life and the ideas and practices of traditionalist |
| 1:39.3 | and more modern Orthodox Judaism. The blog has been recognized by the Jerusalem Post, |
| 1:44.4 | cited in the Wall Street Journal. It was relaunched in 2013 as the online periodical Torah Musings, |
| 1:50.0 | where Rabbi Student is the publisher, editor, and a regular contributor. Rabbi Student also |
| 1:54.6 | serves on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, the editorial board of |
| 1:59.0 | Jewish Action, and he's on the board of the |
... |
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