The following is a parody of the modern Orthodox world. Now, when I say "modern Orthodox", I mean those MO whose religion includes Yom Ha-atzmaut as the MOST important moed, mixed swimming, TV, open Internet for the kids, everything coed lichatchila, tzniyus is for yeshivish people only, over the top materialism, Ivy League education is the goal while yeshiva is OK for a "gap year" etc. etc. There are many many fine people and Bnei Torah who identify as MO. People who are far better human beings and Jews than I will ever be. I refer not to those. I also prefer to focus on the viewpoint and not on the people who were raised with these intellectual and cultural poisons so we can - and must - be melamed zchus on them. We also have to call them out lest we and others be sucked into their net.
Now the problem with this parody is that it is SERIOUS!!! Like a whole article that just reveals where people who claim to be "Orthodox" are holding. Humor is often best when it is not meant to be funny [like when your child says something precious].
It was written by a bloke [??] named P.S. [not "Post Script"] - a former principal of Yeshiva Gedola D'Ramaz. Now mind you, my father - he should have a refuah shleima - graduated from there. In 1946 I believe. And look at what HE produced. 3 AMAZING children, true Bnei Torah, one son is a big Rav and posek, another a very chashuv "balabus", serious learner, man of chesed and tzdaka etc. and daughter a Tzadekes Gmurah married to a son in law who is a Rosh Kollel and very big Talmid Chochom. And one more child who nebuch steered from the path of Torah [me]. But there is even hope for him. So like nothing against Ramaz. Maybe this dude is no longer principal b/c the board didn't like his hashkafos!! Rav Haskel told him "You don't toe the Rav Schach line - you're out!!" [My parents actually told me I could go to Ramaz if I wanted. It was right across the park. I considered it b/c I wanted to go to a coed high school. I liked girls [before I found out that to be REALLY COOL and prideful one had to like boys]. But I declined b/c I heard that they take school really seriously over there. That was too much for me.]
Here goes. Hold your breath. This is going to be dripping with Ahavas Torah, Ahavas Yisrael and Yiras Shomayim of the purest sort!!!
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Like many of us, I am trying to make some sense of what is going on in the Jewish/Israeli world around us. Tisha B’Av seems like a good time to stop and take stock.
The best analysis of the ‘mega-picture’ I have read is written by the somewhat exotic academic scholar of Hassidut (and much else), Prof. Rabbi Shaul Magid. He asks “Why are American Jews so shocked by Israel's far-right turn?” – you can find it on academia.edu. (At the same time, read his piece on Ben-Gvir; and when you’ve finished that, read this excellent essay by Yehudah Mirsky. If you print out these three they will provide a good session of reading for Tisha b’Av afternoon.)
Very briefly, Magid argues that Jewish history over the last few centuries has been characterized by a struggle between two rival mega-historical tendencies. One, with roots in the Jewish mystical-messianic-apocalyptic traditions – think Kabbalah, Sabbateanism, Hasidism; was identified and spotlit by Gershom Scholem. The other is rooted in the rationalist, Emancipationalist, socially aware (if not socially progressive) movements – think Reform, Conservative, Hirsch, YU, Kibbutzim, Socialist Zionism, classic M.O./ the ‘old’ Mizrachi.
Israel was the creation of the latter. But what is happening now is that the former tendency is bubbling to the surface, and an apocalyptic irrationalism is driving the Jewish agenda. The hilltop youth, the racists, the anti-science and anti-education activists, the purveyors of snake-oil and miracles are in charge.
In Israel, the right-wing have no interest or belief in democracy. The ‘judicial reform’ is their first objective; but the list of following legislation tabled by Bibi’s coalition colleagues is hair-raising. It is anyone’s guess how all of this will be reflected in the next elections in Israel; let alone in the legislative program which will follow. There are some indications in the last week – the back-tracking editorial in ‘Yeted’ – that the Haredi parties are slowly realizing that their triumphalist rush to support Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and Levin may bring them disaster in the long-term. (Maybe the Israeli electorate will not sign on to eternally supporting 25%-plus of the population who refuse to work, serve in the IDF or educate themselves?)
Are we any better off in the Diaspora? Well, not if you are female, that’s for sure! Our Orthodox life is marked by determined drives to erase visible female presence and womens rights from our community. I can listen to sixty minutes of podcast on why ordering a cup of black coffee in Starbucks is forbidden; but I am hard-pressed to find sixty minutes civilized discussion on the merits of literacy, or the merits of current yeshivah curricula. The internal problems of the Orthodox community are legion; but they are ring-fenced by a wall of silence. Materialism and the awful costs of being observant are rampant, encouraged by hechsher-obsession and ever-increasing ‘chumrahs’ and ‘rising standards’. This is forbidden and that is ‘ossur’! First the ‘Three weeks’; then the Sefira; soon the ‘Fifty-two weeks’!
All of this is taking place against deliberately-fostered, growing ignorance – of Judaism. Yes, we have stadiums full of committed Jews celebrating Daf Yomi, although the nature and quality of their learning is never assessed. But a young Haredi Rav recently confided to me that he had never heard of the Books of the Maccabees “until recently” and that for his shiur he had to look up the history of Hanukkah in … “The Little Midrash Says”. How many rabbis do you know who can intelligently discuss, say, the Dead Sea Scrolls? Or Emancipation? Or the Shoah? Or Zionism? Or the history of the Jews in Eastern Europe? Or – gasp – the history of Jews in Yemen (did you know there was a Haskalah in Yemen?)? Or the halakhic history of, say, kitnios?
Reader, you are right – I’m not happy. Nor should you be.
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There is soooo much to unpack here. I could go on and on. But I will not use the time Hashem has given me for this. I will leave it as is. Thank you "P.S." for being so frank and open as to how you think.
But I CAN'T resist saying that I agree with him that this phenomenon that rabbis can't intelligently discuss the Dead Sea scrolls and the Emancipation is a central, acute problem that MUST be fixed. No "rabbi" should be allowed smicha until he has mastered these areas of thought. Who needs Yoreh Deah when you have those?!!!
He concludes by saying that he is not happy. This article made ME happy. That I don't think like him. AND that I don't spend Tisha B'av afternoon reading דברי שטות ושנאה and most probably Apikorsus as well.
And who the heck is this guy to tell everyone that they shouldn't be happy? It is against a pasuk: "Don't worry - be happy!!😊😊😊"
