Is Open Orthodoxy a Separate Denomination?

In May 2015, the Yated Ne’eman published an article on the burgeoning “Open Orthodox Movement.”1 This was not the rightwing Orthodox newspaper’s first investigation into the subject. To the contrary, the weekly publication had, for a number of years, run columns decrying Open Orthodox Judaism and its founder, Rabbi Avi Weiss. The most recent attack was different from the others, however. For the most part, previous assaults on Open Orthodoxy had accused Weiss and his disciples of espousing heresy and advocating positions counter to normative Jewish law. New developments proved far more frightening. The newspaper’s latest crusade included some of this, but focused mainly on the institutions “coming under the influence and control of Open Orthodoxy.” No longer merely a hardly-perceptible, liberal impulse led by a few “misguided” ideologues, Open Orthodox Judaism, warned a zealous editorialist, now possesses physical addresses and identifiable personnel to “blaze new trails and breach new boundaries.”