Something really doesn't add up.
I've blogged a few times about the legacy of Rav Azriel Chaim Goldfein זצ"ל, his commitment to balance, to moderation, to avoiding chumros, to just plain old common decency. I'm not going to rehash that now.
And in response to these articles, I have had overwhelmingly positive feedback, both online and offline. People wishing there were more people like Rabbi Goldfein in the world, people looking for moderation, people searching for a voice of reason and sanity. People of all stripes of Judaism - including a good many people who dress only in black suits and white shirts with velvet or satin yarmulkes. In common parlance, that means charedim (I think we've long since lost the connotation that Yeshayahu HaNavi intended when he coined the term).
And that's what doesn't add up. To the casual observer, charedi society today seems like nothing resembling these values. Not balance, not moderation, not accommodation with the outside world, not unconditional love for all other Jews, irrespective of where they're holding, and drawing them closer - but rather extremism, rejectionism, insularity and building walls to protect themselves from those - even religious Jews - who are not exactly like them. And the shtick you have to go through to win approval! Can't send your children to this school if they have siblings in that school, or if you eat food with the wrong bada"tz hechsher, or if you aren't in full time learning, or if your wife wears/doesn't wear a sheitel... if they don't go to this school then they won't get into that yeshiva, they won't get a good shidduch, blah blah blah.So if the society is full of shtick, and the people living in that society are telling me that they are against the shtick, then who exactly is running the society, who is making the rules, and why are people complying with them?
I'm currently re-reading Natan Sharansky's excellent book, The Case For Democracy. In this book, Sharansky describes his experience of living inside the "fear society" of the Soviet Union, and applies the lessons of how the USSR was destroyed to the Arab world today, making his case for how to transform today's "fear societies" into "free societies". He describes three kinds of people in a fear society: True Believers, Dissidents and Doublethinkers. The True Believers (TBs) are the ones who really believe that the society they have created is a good thing, and they are the ones who prop it up, who proselytize and brainwash, and who enforce compliance. The dissidents are the ones who are opposed to the regime and who are unafraid to speak their minds. And the doublethinkers (DTs) are the ones who don't really, in their heart of hearts, agree with the regime, but they are afraid of the consequences of non-compliance, and therefore toe the party line and do as they're told. Very importantly, Sharansky points out, it is nearly impossible to tell what proportions of TBs or DTs are in the population in a fear society, because they are indistinguishable by their actions.I won't go so far as to say that charedi society today is like the USSR or today's Arab states, but l'havdil elef havdolos, there are certain similarities, particularly in the "town square" test: can you walk into the middle of a public area and loudly proclaim your views, no matter what they are, without feeling threatened by violent retribution? You certainly can't drive through RBS-Bet with an Israeli flag on your hood, nor can a woman wear culottes in certain charedi neighborhoods without the threat of being physically attacked. Compliance with other chumros may not be enforced by the threat of gulag or summary execution, but if you get on the wrong side of the "tznius police", they can make your life a misery in other ways.
And however watered down the analogy may be, I think we also have here the same categories of TBs, DTs and dissidents. Judging by the responses I've had to my previous articles, it looks like there are a lot of DTs out there. DTs who wear the uniform, not because they think it's a good thing, but because it's what they're expected to do. DTs who look the other way when the TBs get violent, not because they agree with the violence, but because they're afraid to speak out. DTs who go along with all the shtick of chumros upon chumros, not because they want to bring themselves closer to Hashem, but because they fear if they don't they will be ostracized, excluded, rejected.
I personally live on the fringes of charedi society, and despite many of the negative things I have written about, I identify strongly with the charedi commitment to Judaism, to Torah, to taking our obligations seriously and living Jewish in the fullest sense, rather than tolerating our religion and finding compromises that allow us to live comfortably despite it. I have a lot of friends and contacts who are fully in the charedi world, shtick and all. I'm not sure I know any True Believers at all, and if I do, I can count them on one hand. The vast majority are normal, balanced people, who want to achieve closeness to Hashem through personal, internal struggle, not the superficial narishkeit of how long their tzitzis are.
DTs often think there's no harm in accepting chumros, if they serve their purposes of being accepted into charedi society in whatever context. I'm coming here to tell you that yes, chumros do do harm. Motzi laaz is a big one - casting negative aspersions on people who are keeping the basic halacha. What about yuhara - arrogant pride that you're doing things "better" than everybody else? Derech eretz kadma latorah - if you go into somebody's house, are you going to embarrass your host by refusing to eat his (perfectly kosher) food because you hold by a "stricter" hechsher? Show me the chumra and I'll show you the inherent kula. Not that all chumros are bad, but they have to be weighed up; it's not necessarily, nor even often, the safest route to be more machmir.
In summary, this is a call to all charedi doublethinkers to become dissidents, after a fashion. Obviously don't throw everything out - but don't reflexively accept the shtick that the True Believers are imposing on you. If you think it's good, then do it. If you don't see the value in it, don't be intimidated. Evaluate the gain of a chumra versus the loss. If you hear people saying "Daas Torah" or "The Gedolim Say", run a mile - because as one senior Rabbi told me, that's a sign of insecure people trying to squash debate. Rule of thumb: the gedolim didn't say it, and even if they did, it's a quote taken out of context or patched together by askanim with an agenda, who asked misleading questions to get the answer they wanted. Here's an example of that.
If enough charedim have the courage to dissent and refuse to comply with the shtick and narishkeit, then just maybe we might start seeing a transformation within that society, towards a gentler, kinder, more balanced environment - truly a society of charedim lidvar Hashem.
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9 comments:
Terrific post. I ran into my own DT - in trying to get my special needs son into a school. In one case, the ambivalence - which was a product of a school principal's double-thinking - led to an outburst against us.
But doublethinkers are not too far from being dissidents...
www.openmindedtorah.blogspot.com
You write well, and express something that many of us have seen and been concerned about.
I think that you need differetiate between American/chutznik haredim, who have a very different outlook and more tolerant attitude than the local Israeli haredim. Because the chutznikim work and are more exposed to the outside world and need to fit in, they behave properly in public (kiddush hashem in a non-Jewish workplace) etc. They grow up with 'western' manners and values of fair play and decency - otherwise known as 'good midoos'. Then they make aliyah. These are the DTs who know that they are haredi but don't really feel comfortable with the values of the local variety of haredi.
I don't know enough about Israeli home-grown haredim, but i think you need to spend time with them to understand the politics and years of Israeli history that has made many of them TBs.
I don't think that the fact that all of your friends are DTs says anything about their proportion in society. Frendship often develops as a result of similar thinking.
You are definitely correct that charedi society in EY is a fear society and the trembling that many are doing is more over what their neighbor,school,shidduch prospect will think of them than devar Hashem.
First of all, yasher koach on a really interesting post.
I think you're right about being able to count the number of TB (and I would suggest Dissenters) on one hand. I would extend the principle to much of life and society; i.e., beyond the haredi world.
I learned that one of the central roles of education is to socialize the children/students to understand and then practice the appropriate social norms of the community where they live. That way they will (more likely) become functioning members of society.
The idea of independent critical thinking—becoming, if you will, a dissident—is neither emphasized nor appreciated.
In other words, people are trained to be DT’s. It’s an issue of survival. It becomes even more pronounced when the community is small. At the risk of being overly dramatic, people’s lives are at stake so they wear the uniform and walk the walk (regardless how much of it they accept wholeheartedly). It's part of being part of a community.
Assuming the above is “True” (correct), what can be done about the lack of derekh eretz towards others? Here, it becomes murkier. Maybe it’s an overcompensation for people’s internal ‘disbeliefs’, maybe it’s an expression that their way (how they were taught) doesn’t permit deviation, maybe it’s having no exposure to other ‘life styles’ and they’re in shock (and don’t know how to respond or deal with difference), maybe it’s the fear of the mob and the local “tzniut squad” (or reasonable facsimile), or maybe people are trained not to think for themselves and they’re only doing what their leader tells them to do.
Whatever, the cause, the situation can easily and quickly get ugly and violent. See the recent demonstrations in Jerusalem surrounding the mixed/segregated bus lines and last Shabbat’s Jerusalem parking lot at Kikar Safra.
There are very few Natan Sharansky’s in the world who are both leaders and willing to challenge the status quo. Most people prefer the warmth and comforts of being accepted members of a community. (Why that prevents communal leadership from sheparding their flock to maintain the “shvil ha’zahav”, I can’t say.)
I have wondered about some of the things mentioned this post, but you certainly enunciated the dynamics nicely.
Personally, I used to identify with the haredi world.
However, I've become more than a dissenter. I've become an undercover agent of sorts. I work as a sofer, and as such I deal intimately with the haredi world as far as business is concerned. What this means is that I walk around with a black velvet kippah in my pocket to whip out if necessary. And, I have a hat to put on when I meet certain people I sell to.
However, in my own hashkafa and consciousness I'm light years away from the mainstream haredi world.
I really do wonder, honestly, what the redeeming (redeemable?) values of present day harediut are. You mentioned a kind of all-inclusive dedication to Torah. In a sense this is true, but I've found that the conception of Torah in the haredi world is essentially a galut-based model. And once you strive to incorporate a more geulah-based model you've basically put yourself outside the parameters of haredi society! Another problem is that this all-inclusive dedication is also all-exclusive, in the sense of not being willing or able to integrate anything which is beyond the purview of the haredi conception of Torah or the authentic Torah lifestyle or "daas Torah". The problem is not just that anything new-- say, technological advances such as the internet, or new developments regarding mitzvot such as techelet, are basically either ignored (techelet) or banned (the internet). It's also that the conception of Torah operates as a kind of hermetically sealed system that no hochmah or mada can contribute to in any significant way.
Given the haredi conception of Torah, I personally believe that Klal Yisrael moving into gadlut mode and a geulah-based Judaism will spell the end of harediut. I maintain that by definition this must be so.
The question can be asked: take something like techelet. Without getting into the details, there is abundant proof that it's more than karov l-vadai that we really do have the authentic techelet. Now, this a mitzvah de-Oraita. One might think that this should generate some real interest, no? Why, then, the lukewarm (at best) reception in the haredi world? The answer, I believe, is not halachic at all, but rather sociological. It's like a house of cards-- take one piece out and the whole structure falls down. Similarly, there's an instinctual awareness, which is, I might add, very correct, that to change or add anything would spell the demise of the entire structure.
So, to tie this back to the post, to become a dissenter within the haredi world is a little like crying foul on a ship that's bound to sink. I don't think the paradigm of Torah in the haredi world is such that a true, intellectually honest, sincere dissenter can ultimately stay with the system! By definition, the system cannot be changed in the ways that true dissent would suggest.
Micha - what do you mean by "galut-" and "geulah-based" Judaism? I think I know what you mean, but I'd prefer that you clarify more explicitly.
Shalom alechem!
what do I mean by galut as opposed to geulah based Judaism?
Let me give some examples. I remember hearing a shiur in which the Rav said that once he spoke to a yeshiva about the mikdash, and mentioned a teshuva by the Chatam Sofer to Rabbi Akiva Eiger. The question was: if the Ottoman sultan gives the green light, can we offer the korban pesach? The Chatam Sofer answered an unequivocal "yes". Now, the rav of the yeshiva, who was listening, was very uncomfortable and finally spoke up, saying: it cannot be that the Chatam Sofer said such a thing! He mustn't have meant it as halacha le-maaseh! The Rav who was giving this all over said, well, that's curious, it's in his shu"t to Yoreh Deah! The rav of the yeshiva just couldn't hear it; he said he knows people who follow the Chatam Sofer who never heard of this... The point is, the rosh yeshiva was basically saying that Judaism is about mairiv and kashrus, but certainly not the korban pesach!
Basically, galut Judaism is a bediavad form of Judaism. Read the Rambam on the seder of Pesach night to get an idea of what I mean: "this is what you do... and when there's no mikdash, this is what you do." Or, read how he describes how to tie tzitzit with techelet. He basically talks about it as the regular, normative way to do it. The aberration is when there isn't any techelet!
Basically, galut Judaism is exactly that-- a bediavad system. Of course, when you take that Judaism as the mold of authentic Judaism, then there are a great many things which are actually very relevant but which are treated as outside the realm of Judaism and Torah. A basic example: Jewish governance. A Jewish state. An army.
An army?!! Goyim do that.
Techelet? No, sorry, not interested. Rabbi Akiva Eiger didn't have it. What, are you saying you're better than Rabbi Akiva Eiger?
Reintroducing the ancient process of preparing klaf for sifre Torah, tefilin and mezuzot... not interested.
Wanting to speak Lashon Hakodesh in a proper manner... No, I must pronounce my Lashon Hakodesh exactly as my great-great-grandfather in Crakow did, mistakes and all. What, it can be conclusively demonstrated that the tsade is really a ssade and the sav is really a thaw? Sorry, it's assur!
Instead of geulah-mode Judaism, perhaps the better term would be, simply, Judaism. The fact is, the reality of living outside of Israel distorts the Torah. Galut distorts the Torah. It's like taking fragments of the whole picture and putting them together to make some semblance of a viable image. So, you kvetch together an image of sorts, but it's not really the true picture. Then, when someone then comes along and says, here, here's a piece of the picture. Now what do you do?
Correction:
I should have said gevil for sifre Torah and klaf for tefilin
Micha,
I like your approach. It reminds me of when i was told that it was inappropriate for a frum person to wear sandals. I said: "What, you think that Moshe Rabeinu walked through the midbar in a black hat and suit?" I was told that we don't take our dress code from these biblical figures, but from our 'tradition'- ie our ancestors in Eastern Europe!!!
(which is when i stopped learning with that person...)
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