To be a Torah Jew means to think in Torah categories ["Torah-dik" in Chinese]. Part of the problem with being part of general society [which has great undeniable benefits as well - such as like being able to make a living and eat] is that we think in non-Jewish non-Torah categories. [Just speaking a language other than the language of the Torah compels us to think in categories foreign to the Torah and there is literally nobody alive who speaks the language of the Torah. Modern Hebrew is the closest and still very far. As Jewish as Yiddish is - "Yiddish" means "Jewish" - it is not even close].
One recent example we wrote about on these pages is the Orthodox-Conservative-Reform classification. In Torah - there is no such thing. There are mitzvos and we have to keep them. If we do then we are Tzadikim. If not, we are the opposite - or worse [מומרים]. There is no such thing as modern Orthodox. This label is used by some as an excuse not to be careful about certain mitzvos. "Modern Orthodox and "Ultra Orthodox" [another non-category with a very pejorative implication] have the same G-d and have to keep the same mitzvos [as do conservative, reform, reconstructionist and unaffiliated Jews]. That is the great equalizer. A "Charedi" Jew is no better or more privileged than a "Modern" Jew. Same Torah, same G-d, same obligations. Calling myself "Reform" doesn't really permit me to drive on Shabbos just like calling myself "homosexual" doesn't permit me to engage in relations with another male. Which brings us to our next example....
"Homosexual" is not a category. There is no such thing in the Torah. There is an aveirah of having sexual relations with another man. Someone who does this is classified as liable to the death penalty [under certain circumstances] and a רשע [under all circumstances]. This aveirah [like all aveiros] has Teshuva. But there is no specific category of "homosexual" just like there is no category of "heterosexual" [or "cis" or any of the other celebrated wokeisms]. There ARE categories of חרש שוטה קטן טומטום and אנדרוגינוס. They helped make the Minchas Chinuch famous😊😊 .
"White" and "Black" are also not categories. The demarcation should ideally be dropped. "Black" is important in Halacha as the color of Tfillin and "white" as the color of certain clothing, certain women wear at certain times... But PEOPLE aren't classified by the color of their skin according to Halacha. Today, it is often the biggest liberals who make a big deal out of the color thing and are among the biggest racists [reverse racism is also racism].
Sometimes categories [even artificial ones] can be helpful [that is why we invent them] so they shouldn't be rejected wholesale but we have to be careful how they are used.
Mussar Haskel: Let's try to aim for the Torah category of "צדיק גמור" and our lives will be filled with meaning, purpose and goodness.
ואין כאן המקום להאריך יותר - ישמע חכם ויוסף לקח.
