This Friday's "Jerusalem Post" had an article that really clarified things for me. It's a nice comprehensive piece on how the various "branches of Judaism" are cooperating. That is except for Orthodoxy, with few individuals as exceptions. If I were to tell students to summarize it, or if I were to show them how to summarize this, I'd come up with:
There are actually two main branches of Judaism, those who are connected to Torah, even with tight elastic, like what's used in fitness classes; sometimes they're closer and sometimes further away, but they're always attached. And the second, the Jews who circle around Judaism, sometimes closer, and sometimes further away.
So, basically, whether one is Reconstructionist, Reform, Traditional, Liberal or Conservative, no matter which label or non-label chosen, they're really all the same, because their basic commitment is the same to the Torah. And the "other" is the Torah committed/attached/connected, whether Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Chariedi, Chassidic and all variations of the same.
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