“…it is the modernist project that Rabbi Willig further fears will ‘lead to a schism within Orthodoxy…'”

…it is the modernist project that Rabbi Willig further fears will “lead to a schism within Orthodoxy…that the beliefs of liberals are really Conservative but they publicly cling to Orthodoxy because of its identity and its association with authenticity.” And, in my opinion, this is where the post-modern project begins. Post-modernism, at its core, is a rejection of the utility of binary oppositions like Orthodox = authentic Judaism in opposition to Conservative = inauthentic Judaism. Modernists need to realize that their goals will be better achieved under a post-modern identity. This means rejecting the charge of relativism, that we are giving up on truth or authenticity and, instead, argue that the ends of Halachic Judaism — assuring that it remains an eternal tradition — are better suited by a discourse that does not privilege arbitrary division and using labels as conversation stoppers.

David Weitzner, “It’s Time to Embrace a Post-Modern Approach to Orthodoxy”, The Sisterhood (18 August 2015), [http://forward.com/sisterhood/319385/its-time-to-embrace-a-post-modern-approach-to-judaism/]