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The recent escalation of Charedi violence in Bet Shemesh and the issue of Jewish leadership has been on my mind constantly.
I am troubled by some of the cultural norms in the Orthodox community which seem nothing short of primitive. Where people who are fathers and husbands spend their day assaulting and spitting at members of neighboring communities.
Tell me it is the extreme. Tell me the majority of Charedim don't support the violence. And I will ask you in return: "Then where in the world are they? Why aren't the 'normal' charedim protesting this violence?"
Don't tell me that the protests in Israel represent only the most extreme elements of Charedi society.
Don't tell me that most charedim don't support it.
Don't.
When 9/11 happened, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser expected the Muslims to demonstrate by the thousands all over the world proclaiming their protest to violence and terror.
Instead there was deafening silence. No protests. No shouts. No denouncing.
That left the world with the conclusion that the terror represents Islam.
The fact that Charedim and their leaders aren't denouncing this extremist behavior, means by default that they are supporting it.
The fact that the educators in these state funded schools are given the freedom to preach all the fanatical and fundamental hate-speech and rhetoric that comes to their minds encourages silent support for the extremists.
I went to a shiur yesterday by a charedi female seminary speaker. She speaks at the MOCH (Modern Orthodox-Charedi) seminaries. MOCH seminaries are ones which accept Modern Orthodox students, but employ a CHaredi faculty and hope to convert the student body from Modern to Charedi. Some seminaries of this category are: Michlala, Sharfmans, Midreshet Tehillah, Darchei Binah, Neveh, Tomer Devorah... fill in the blank
Anyhow, I have developed an aversion for seminary speeches throughout my life, but I kept on hearing how good friends of mine, who seemed to be quite smart and intellectual raving about her brilliance.
I thought I might have been quick to judge and perhaps not all speakers from a certain religious spectrum spoke about the same things in the same way the entire time, so I went to the speech.
And needless I should have never doubted myself on that matter. The speaker was standing there fire and brimstone shrieking the walls down about the gashmius in America and how people went to Costco to buy stuff in bulk and then had so much stuff that they couldn't connect with God.
She drew a black dot on a paper and held it up and then told people that they see the dark dot because people tend to focus on the darkness. I wanted to tell her that if she took a black paper and drew a white dot., people would notice that, because the contrast is what is visible. I did not. But no one seemed to have a problem with what she said.
I was standing there in total awe. The room was packed with women in their mid to late twenties; women, who were university educated, most of them going for their graduate degrees. They were in touch with the world, products of YU, and yet, they were totally enthralled in the speech. I thought I was losing my marbles.
In the future, I will think twice before changing my opinion of 'spiritually uplifting' speakers.
If you listen to speeches of the Agudah, which is not considered extreme in the Charedi world, but is representative of the majority of Charedi institutions across America, you will hear speeches which reflect a society which is almost barbaric: Rabbis screaming and ranting against the internet, against texting, against email YEMACH SHEMAM.... Some of the speeches from the most recent convention can be accessed here.
The speaker refuses to put the blame on fathers for neglecting their children. The internet is to blame for that. As if before the internet, all men were perfect attentive fathers. As if the total elimination of the internet would institute blissful family life. As if all troubles of the community can be blamed on two external factors: texting and the internet.
Is that normal?
Do I want to belong to a community where a person spewing such ideas is regarded as a spiritual leader?
Do I want to belong to a community where the 'mainstream' magazines will exclude all pictures of women to the extent that an onlooker browsing through one of the publications would assume that Orthodox Jewry has only men in its constituency?
Rabbi Slifkin mentioned in his speech that the beginning of Daas Torah was established when Chassidim agreed to join the Aguddah on condition that the ruling of their rabbis wouldn't be questioned and it would need no justification.
And another question is: who is controlling the situation? Is it the rabbis and the so called da'as torah? Or is there an entire mafia manipulating the rabbis to control the press, the materials taught in classes and the dresses worn on the street?
Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein wrote a phenomenal piece about the meaning of a Torah leader and Da'as Torah. If you are short on time, at least read his conclusion on the last page. And don't leave this blog without sharing your thoughts below.
Daat Torah Lichtenstein
