Norman Lamm said what?!

It should've been no surprise. Rabbi Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University and widely published modern orthodox scholar, has no love for Reform Judaism. But it never stops surprising me to hear orthodox Jews disparage non-Jews, especially Christians, as a principle of faith. I know, I know I've heard the protestations before... it's not like racism or antisemitism. It's part of a spiritual-theological understanding grounded in holiness and Torah. Of course, it's no coincidence either that the most virulent white supremacist leaders in America call themselves "pastor" and run "churches."

Lamm, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post this past weekend, commented on the fragile state of American Jewish denominational structures (the financial crises at JTS, HUC, Yeshiva U., the URJ, etc.). Lamm predicted that the Reform and Conservative movements would soon disappear. He then acknowledged that the Reform Movement might survive only because it is, in actuality, an interfaith church. Okay, so he didn't use those exact words. He said, "The Reform Movement may show a rise, because if you add goyim to Jews then you will do OK."

Of course Lamm did not invent the stereotypical Jewish discomfort with Christians. Remember Woody Allen's depiction of his dinner with Annie Hall's parents? The problem goes back to Talmud, if not earlier. In his recent Polymath column in the Forward, Jay Michaelson discussed whether "Jews have a Jesus problem." Drawing on a recent book, Jesus in the Talmud, he wrote:

The image of Jesus that one gets from the Talmud is that of an illicit,
sex-crazed black magician who uses trickery to lead Israel astray. In BT
Sanhedrin 103a, Jesus is depicted as a poor disciple who “spoiled his food,”
which Schafer speculates may be a euphemism for sexual misconduct: “to eat the
dish” being a recognized Talmudic euphemism known for the sex act itself. A
later emendation adds that he “practiced magic and led Israel astray.” And the
virgin birth is ridiculed as a cover-up of Jesus’ true parentage: His mother was
an “illicit woman” (another Talmudic locution), perhaps even a prostitute.

This is strange territory. Most American Jews - including modern orthodox Jews - do not like to appear publicly as believing in the natural inferiority of other peoples. The outcry over Noah Feldman's July 2007 NYT Magazine article was as much about him "outing" the talmudic belief in Christian inferiority as anything. The general refrain said: You can criticize all you want, but only a traitor would tell the neighbors what we really say about them!

So, no I am not surprised by Norman Lamm's remarks. The orthodox assessment of Reform Judaism is well known to us. But I had forgotten how much that assessment is connected to the orthodox assessment of non-Jews.