Once again I have been challenged about my motives for blogging. This time in a private e-mail from a Centrist friend who is of the Torah Im Derech Eretz variety. I am seen as so convinced that Charedim are the wave of the future and that they're messing things up that I am blinded to the fact that the majority of my blog is anti-Chareidi. He then says that my predictions of an all Charedi future are pre-mature in any case.
That he thinks I am anti Charedi saddens me. I of course disagree with him. But he is right that I think that Charedim are the wave of the future. Here’s why.
The Charedi pioneers in America have done a magnificent job in transplanting the Yeshiva world of pre-war Europe. The great Torah giant, Rav Aharon Kotler insisted that the institution he built be an uncompromising Torah institution. He founded Bais HaMedrash Govoha, more popularly known by the New Jersey town in which it is located, Lakewood. And he recruited students from an Orthodox population mostly concerned with making it in the new world.
Full time learning was hardly a value then. But Rav Aharon Kotler was a determined man. That institution is now the single most successful Yeshiva …perhaps in the world. Charedim have much to be proud of. But they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. When Rav Aharon Kotler died, his Yeshova had 250 students. It now has over 5000! It is has spread across the continent in the form of Yeshivos, high schools, and community Kolelim. It even has a branch in Israel.
Rav Aharon Kotler was not alone in building the Torah world as we know it today. One cannot minimize the contribution of Chasidim and Yeshiva University. They most definitely played very imporatant roles in creating what we have today.
But there was one other individual who was a key player. He too was Charedi. His name was Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz. He headed a major Yeshiva in New York and founded Torah U’Mesorah. That institution has built and spread the day school movement all over this country. I truly believe that these two individuals are the most responsible for creating the Torah world of today and its products are mostly Charedi. It will be from those ranks that Judaism will be perpetuated.
But as anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, it isn’t all a bed of roses. As vital as the leadership of Charedi leaders like Rav Aharon Kotler and Reb Shraga Feival were to the existence of the Torah world as we know it today, it has evolved into something I don’t believe its founders ever intended with a resultant great many problems.
There have been some destructive things happening in recent years. Not only that, there has been a shift of focus in recent years to Israel for rabbinic leadership. I don’t mean to say that every rabbinic leader here follows in lock-step with Israeli rabbinic leaders. But there is definitely a shift eastward as to who the Torah world looks to for leadership. And That’s bad. Israeli Charedim are an entirely different breed of Charedi. Their views are far more extreme and cannot successfully be applied in America.
In my view and in those of significant people in the Charedi world (who shall remain nameless) there have been decisions made that are outright harmful to the entirety of the Jewish people. Not that this is what was intended. But this is what has resulted. That’s where bloggers like me come in. We give voice to these issues and make sure that others clearly understand what they are.
But… even with all the problems inherent in the Charedi world, they are still likely to be the conduit for the continuity of Klal Yisroel. They are holding the keys to the future. They have the lion’s share of Mechanchim. That’s because it is in the nature of their system to produce many Mechanchim.
They are the ones with the large families. They are the ones whose children are being indoctrinated to believe that their rabbinic leaders are for all practical purposes infallible. Bans are then unquestioned. The devout Charedi will buy into them all.
The dominant thinking among the current rabbinic leadership, especially in Israel, is that Avreichim must stay in learning as long as possible. And the devout Charedi buys it. They are told they can’t formally prepare for a livelihood as that would take away valuable learning time.
There are just a few of the troubling issues… There are more.
Personally I believe things will eventually change for the better. These problems will eventually be dealt with. But not because of Centrism. It will change because of necessity. In fact it’s already happening. Much of the modern Orthodox community is already what one would call ‘right wing modern orthodox’.
And the Charedi community already has a huge proportion of college educated professionals in this country. And with colleges like Touro and Lander… Charedim are increasingly choosing to prepare themselves for a Parnassa. Even at Yeshiva University most of the students are interested in making a decent living and go to YU for that eventual purpose. How many YU students truly care about Torah U’Mada?
Rabbi Berel Wein is right about this. The two worlds will eventually merge. Right wing modern orthodox feels increasingly more comfortable in the more moderate Charedi environments. I don’t see the extreme right or the extreme left as independently sustainable into the future beyond a generation or two.
One may ask, ‘Why don’t I just shut up and let it happen if this is what I believe is to be the destiny of Orthodoxy? The answer is that I want to influence the trend to incorporate some… or at least tolerance of Centrist Hashkafos, be they Torah U’Mada or Torah Im Derech Ertez (…the original one - not the revisionist one that Agudah claims it is.) I want to help accelerate the process of tolerance and accelerate the idea that people should be preparing for their Parnasos better. So that there will be less poverty in Klal Yisroel sooner rather than later.
Though I acknowledge that things are changing, at the same time I fear that the Israeli Charedi mindset is spreading across the ocean and will find its way here. This is a counter influence to the trend Rabbi Wein speaks of. I don’t think that mentality can ultimately sustain itself but the spreading phenomenon can easily slow down any self correction that is currently happening here.
That is why I do what I do. I want to help change things for the better. And decry bad policy or bad behavior when I see it no matter where or by whom.
Blogs may not be doing much influencing yet. But articles like the one in the Jewish Observer tell me that the right wing is paying attention. That’s a good thing. Let them get mad at me. I don’t care as long as they listen.
