Yesterday, a friend showed me a very insightful thought expressed by Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch. It is in Parshas Lech Lecha (17:1). It is just before God changes the name of our patriarch from Avram to Avraham. God commands Abram to be Tammim, perfect.
In that Pasuk the name for God used is Sha-dai (Shin Daled Yud). The word Tamim in the human character is the exact correlation of what that divine name indicates about the Divine character. The later part of that name is Dai (Daled Yud). Dai is the Hebrew word for “enough’. It is a limit. God tells Mankind, in the person of Avraham that perfection requires that he set a limit in all areas of behavior. What are those limits? They are those set by God through His Torah. He thereby gives us the parameters of permissible behavior. That says Rav Hirsch is the whole of the Torah. Within those limits is the holy and good. He calls this elbow room. By that he means that no prohibition of the Torah demands a complete killing of our tendencies. The Torah only directs them to be utilized within permitted limits. “Within the limits set by God, thou shalt conduct thyself freely.”
Freedom within the limits of Torah. What a concept! What Rav Hirsch is telling us is that instead of killing our natural tendencies, one should utilize them freely within limits set by God.
Contrast this with the current attitude expressed by a Rav/Rebbe I recently wrote about. One who tells his students that one who does not learn Torah full time, is a sub par human. And this is not just a renegade rabbi. This is a mainstream Mechanech who dispenses advice freely to all who ask for it. He even has a website. And he is well known for doing just that: giving advice to young people. And one of the primary areas is advice on Shiduchim.
We saw what his advice was in an earlier post. He basically said that if one is to be considered an on par Jew, one must be learning Torah full time. If not, and you are looking to get married… well then don’t bother looking for a decent Shidach. Young ‘Torah true’ women …whom he also advises… will never accept anyone other than a young man who learns full time. Only such an individual is marriage-worthy to a properly educated Bas Yisroel.
I wish I could say this Rav is alone. That his views are extremist. That mainstream views are not like that. But I can’t. Mainstream ultra-Orthodoxy in Israel is of that mindset. Although apparently an American, this Rav/Rebbe is located both physically and mentally in Israel. His views are definitely those of the Charedi world there. And the impact is felt right here in America. That was made painfully clear from in the post I wrote a few days ago.
A young man who is obviously ultra Orthodox felt that his Tafkid, his way of serving God, was not best fulfilled in learning full time. He followed his ‘tendancy’ to serve God in other ways…acting in accordance with Rav Hirsch’s insight. This was his perfection. But this is not the perfection of the right. They reject Rav Hirsch. They insist that God’s intent for His people to achieve perfection can only be done in one way: learning Torah full time. Anything less, is sub par.
And so many young women come back from a year or two in seminary with this very attitude. And it almost doesn’t matter what their background is. The seminaries in Israel all indoctrinate them one way. Yes. There are notable exceptions, but the vast majority of them condition young women to think that way.
Just to take one example. There is one young lady here in Chicago who is 29 years old. In Charedi ‘girl’ years that is almost old age. She desperately wants to get married. She has a masters degree in Chemistry and a high paying job in that field so as to support her future husband. But she absolutely refuses to date anyone unless he will be spending full time in Kollel. Even a thought of a future outside of Torah learning is grounds for her to refuse a date with someone. At the ripe old age of 29, being almost over the hill, she has seen the pool of potential mates dwindle to almost nil. Yet there she is adamant as ever on not settling for a sub-par Jew.
And another thing. On the subject of Achdus, I was appalled at some of the additional e-mails I received from other 'victims' of this Rav/Rebbe. It included some of the most divisive language one can imagine.
Here is one such exchange:
Q: (W)hy (do) “we” feel so strongly that we need to separate ourselves from (Daati Leumi Jews), and anything smelling (Zionist). (This is especially relevant with next week being Yom Ha'atzmaut).
A: Well, let's examine a number of points.
1. In many places DL women observe much different dress codes than Chareidi ones: the sleeves are shorter, the stockings are missing, the hair isn't fully covered. Chareidi men would feel highly uncomfortable in the presence if women whom are dressed in this way. When it comes to the teenage girls, the situation is worse: the clothing is often very tight and provocative. A Chareidi woman can ask herself "Why should I have to expose my husband and my sons to that sort of stuff every day?"
2.When it comes to the separation between the genders, DL people tend to be very relaxed about it. After davening it is not uncommon to see men and women standing together in groups and talking. Again, Chareidi people will ask themselves, "Why do my daughters and sons have to see that?"
3. We have a tradtional way in which we daven - how we pronounce the words and how we dress when we go to Shul. The DL have made large changes in the this tradition. Many Chareidim find this highly offensive: davening for the amud with a short-sleeved shirt and sandals without socks is lacking in the proper respect both for Shabbos and for the Shul.
These are three very good reasons for Chareidi people wanting to keep quite separate from DL people. There are others, along the same lines. Now, as to Zionism, apart from the fact that even among DL people - more specifically among the Chardalnikim - there are many who no longer agree to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut, besides this, we feel very strongly that we should follow the position of Gedolei Yisroel on this issue. There stand is crystal clear. Anyone who celebrates Yom Ha'atzmaut is making a very clear statement, that he understands things better than Rav Schach did, better than Rav Eliyashiv does, better than Rav Chaim Kanievsky does, better than the Gerer Rebbe, the Belzer Rebbe, the Viznitz Rebbe etc. do. So, when a Chareidi person sees people "celebrating" Yom Ha'atzmaut or Yom Yerushalayim, he is deeply offended by this major insult to Gedolei Yisroel. It is no wonder that he prefers to keep as far away from acts of this sort as he can.
How sad it is that in this world there is an attempt to divide rather than unite. The idea of respecting differing Piskei Halacha has gone out the window. It is all about comfort levels of those whose Psak Halacha on issues is stricter than the Psak Halacha of other Poskim. All the reasons for separating from Daatim are based on comfort levels. Mixed gender events, men and women interacting socially, Halachic but different manner of dress, even the pronunciation of Hebrew(!) And a near condemnation of of celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut …all reasons to be Porush. While all of this is mostly true in Israel much of it is slowly (maybe not so slowly) creeping its way into American ultra-Orthodoxy.
That this mentality exists is by now no surprise. But that it is so stridently preached to so many American students is troubling and dangerous. And in my view this man’s views ought to be fully exposed and he ought to be stopped.
