Editing Modern Orthodox Judaism (section)

===Sociological and philosophical dilemmas===
Some observe<ref name="Waxman" /> that the ability of Modern Orthodoxy to attract a large following and maintain its strength as a movement is inhibited by the fact that it embraces [[modernity]]—its ''[[wikt:raison d'être|raison d'être]]''—and that it is highly [[Rationality|rational]] and [[intellectual]].
* Modern Orthodoxy is, almost by definition, inhibited from becoming a strong movement, because this would entail organization and authority to a degree "which goes against the very grain of modernity". A related difficulty is that Modern Orthodox rabbis who do adopt stringencies may, in the process, lose the support of precisely the "Modern" group they sought to lead. The logic: since one of the characteristics of [[orthodoxy|religious orthodoxy]] is the submission to the authority of [[oral law|its tradition]], the individual is expected to conform to all of its dictates, whereas [[modernity]], by contrast, emphasizes a measure of personal autonomy as well as rationalist truth. The very term "Modern Orthodoxy" is thus, in some sense, an [[oxymoron]].
* Modern Orthodoxy's "highly intellectual and rational stance" presents its own difficulties. Firstly, the ideology entails built-in tensions and frequently requires conscious living with inconsistency<ref name="Richlen"/><ref name="Sol Roth" /> (even in the term itself: modernity vs. orthodoxy). Secondly, there are also those who question whether "the literature ... with its intellectually elitist bias fails to directly address the majority of its practitioners".<ref>Rabbi Prof. Alan Brill, [http://www.edah.org/backend/JournalArticle/4_1_brill.pdf Judaism in Culture: Beyond the Bifurcation of Torah and Madda].</ref> The suggestion here is that Modern Orthodoxy may not provide a directly applicable theology for the contemporary Modern Orthodox family; see [[Torah Umadda#Modern Orthodoxy|further discussion]] under ''Torah Umadda''.
* As observed [[#Positioning|above]], the (precise) "philosophical parameters of modern Orthodoxy" are not readily defined. It is posited then that "modern orthodoxy", as such, may be disappearing, "being sucked into [[Jewish_religious_movements#Trans-_and_post-denominational_Judaism|pluralistic Judaism]] on the left and [[yeshivish]] on the right".<ref>This [[tongue in cheek]] comment is from [http://www.frumsatire.net/2009/05/13/artscroll-may-soon-be-losing-its-siddur-monopoly/ frumsatire.net]; although see Shmuel Hain in note.</ref> "Modern orthodoxy", then, as opposed to constituting an [[#Ideological spectrum|ideological spectrum]] centred on a common core of values, is, in fact, (tending towards) several entirely separate movements. In fact, "[m]any are making the argument that the time has come to state the inevitable or to admit that which already has occurred: There is no longer a cohesive, singular Modern Orthodoxy. Separate rabbinical schools and separate rabbinic organizations, the argument goes, reflect the reality of a community divided."<ref name="Hain">Shmuel Hain: [http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/07/1010497/op-ed-the-vital-center-and-modern-orthodoxy Op-Ed: The vital center and Modern Orthodoxy], jta.org</ref> See {{sectionlink|Orthodox Judaism |Modern_Orthodoxy}}.