There were 4488 page views (‘hits’) yesterday . Of those 1429 were unique
visitors. Unique visitors are the actual number of people who accessed my blog
during Monday’s 24 hour period. Of those, 307 voted on my poll. Which
asked to choose the biggest existential threat to Judaism from a list of 7
possible choices. The results were:
Chilul HaShem 78 (25%)
Education 127 (41%)
Feminism 11 (3%)
Internet 13 (4%)
Poverty 22 (7%)
Sex Abuse 14 (4%)
Tuition 42 (13%)
Not surprisingly the largest number of votes by far - 127 (41%) went to
educational concerns. A full 25% of the votes went to concerns about Chilul
HaShem. The third biggest concern was the Tuition crisis. The rest of the
respondents were in single digit percentages poverty being the biggest concern
among those.
The bottom three concerns were about the impact of sex
abuse, the internet, and feminism.
First let me address the fact that a lot of factors were not
included. Among them were: going OTD, divorce rates, dysfunctional families,
sexism, the move to the right, the move to the left, the Shiddach crisis, assimilationist
influences, isolationist influences, the State of Israel, increased divisiveness between Hashkafos… all serious challenges to Judaism. I could not
list them all. That would have made the poll almost meaningless dividing the
vote into small and insignificant numbers. I chose these because I believe that although they are not all inclusive - they do represent a wide variety of issues often cited as existential threats.
Not that these results are all that significant. The sample
was relatively small and not random. It was also heavily biased in that respondents
were people who read my blog. And only a small fraction of those actually
voted. So for these and many other reasons, this poll cannot be taken as representing
what the actual percentages of all Jews believe regarding any of these issues.
That said, I like to think that my readership consists mostly
of Orthodox Jews that are intelligent, well educated, care greatly and have
strong feelings about issues affecting the Jewish world. Although this blog’s demographic
skews heavily in favor of Modern Orthodox Jews, there are many Charedim among
my readers too. As well as non Orthodox Jews and even a few non Jews. I
strongly feel that the majority of those (at least of those who comment) are
fair minded, keen observers of the Jewish world whose opinions should be valued.
So even though this is not a random sample of all Jews, it is a sample of
thinking and caring Jews.
It was a little surprising to see how few people there were who
thought that sex abuse was the most important issue of the day. Considering the
fact that this issue is the most hotly debated issue in our day… and that the fact
that the slightest taint of it in any institution will cause a tremendous outcry…
and considering the damage that it causes
to victims – sometimes permanent psychological damage… and the damage it causes
to the victim’s families, and even the abuser’s family… and considering revelations
about the far greater number of victims than anyone ever suspected… and the
fact that so many of the victims go OTD… I would have thought sex abuse would
have gotten a much bigger vote than 14 people.
I guess the reason for that is that as bad as sex abuse is…
and as great the damage it does to so many people – even beyond the actual
victim, that issue alone is not seen as an existential threat to Judaism itself.
But still, the way religious leadership across the board has dealt with it in
the past – and even now cannot but have a deleterious effect upon our existence.
Many iconic names - religious leaders across the spectrum of Orthodoxy have - by
word , deed, or lack of action - have disappointed victims and their advocates. This
disillusions people about Orthodox Judaism. Sex abuse is a serious problem
in need of our immediate attention. It should have ranked a lot higher than 5th out of 7 - totaling only 4% of the vote.
That Chilul HaShem ranked number 2 is no surprise. If
anything can disillusion people, it is when prominent Jews get caught in wrong
doing like fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. Whether it is Rubashkin, the
Spinka Rebbe, an elderly Sephardic Rabbi in New Jersey, or of late, Rabbi
Yehoshua Pinto - it does not inspire a love of Judaism when such high profile rabbis
who are supposed to be roll models and teachers end up being crooks.
If the crimes are related to sex abuse, the Chilul HaShem
increases exponentially. Who wants to be part of a religion that thinks its OK
to cheat the government as long as you don’t get caught? Who wants to be a member
of a religion that defends convicted rapists and smears innocent victims? Who
wants to be a member of a religion where religious (looking) Jews spit on
reporters, call 8 year old girls whores, and embarrass us in a myriad of other
ways? When religious leaders are involved in Chilul HaShems like these, it is definitely
a great cause for existential alarm.
It is interesting to note that feminism scored the lowest
amount of voters. 11 people (3%) said this was the biggest existential threat. There
are many people who feel that this is
the defining existential issue of our day. , Among the first to express this
view was Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg ZTL, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel. Even though I
disagree with him, I can certainly understand why he felt that way. It is
almost impossible to argue against equality. That is what feminism is all
about.
That other denominations are responding to this issue by
altering their long held views barring women from various rituals and rabbinic positions
is a fact. Orthodox Judaism by definition could never fully do that. Some Orthodox
women caught by the spirit of the times are hard pressed to fully understand
Orthdoxy’s apparent unequal treatment of women. For some - it is hard to understand
why Halacha should supersede equality. It is in fact difficult to explain even among
many Orthodox women - and men - with
modern sensibilities about the equality of the sexes.
But it is not an existential threat. Judaism does not reject
the feminist goal of equality of the sexes in areas outside of religion. Equal
pay and mutual respect is something the Torah favors. With the right education,
the different roles of men and women within the context of religion can be explained.
It is also interesting to note that what the right wing says
is the greatest spiritual threat of our day – the internet – came in 2nd
from last with only 13 votes. I understand why there are those who feel it is.
But it is very obvious to me that the widespread use of the internet by
virtually all Orthodox Jews tells me that it is not destroying us. Its responsible
use is in fact aiding us in our daily lives. Although the dangers are real and
have lead some people astray - for most of us that isn’t so.
Poverty got 7% of the vote. 22 people felt that poverty will
destroy Judaism. I don’t think that’s true. It may however destroy the Charedi paradigm
of full time Kollel for all men without preparing them for a future. But that’s
a good thing. The vast majority of Charedim should be working – and being
Koveiah Itim. Only the elite should be learning full time and supported.
Tuition is a real problem for almost all of Orthodox Jewry. Without
a religious education it is highly unlikely that our children will become
observant adults. Assimilation will almost certainly overwhelm their
Yiddishkeit. The fact is that few if any parents are pulling their children out
of day school because of high tuition. It may be breaking the backs of parents
to pay tuition even with the partial scholarships. But most Orthodox Jews know
the importance of sending their child to day school. They therefore bite the
bullet and pay even while struggling to make ends meet.
That leaves the number one issue- Jewish education. Rightfully
so. By far.
Our children are not getting what they need. Educator after
educator has spoken about the need to instill a love of Judaism in their
students and the failure in many instances to do so has led to ‘the ignorant
Jew’. He may end up knowing how to learn a Blatt Gemarah but he won’t know a
thing about the meaning of Judaism itself. There is an over emphasis on Gemerah
or academics to the detriment of other subjects that are integral to our understanding
meaning in Judaism. Without meaning we cannot expect anyone to be observant in
anything but rote ways.
The availability of instant information on any and every
subject further challenges the system. I’m not sure there has been any progress
in how educators deal with the increasing number of questions stemming from that.
There are schools that teach to the lowest common
denominator and schools that teach only their top tier students leaving the
rest to fend for themselves. Sometimes they simply drop out.
These are only some of the problems. I’m sure I am only scratching
the surface. If we are going to survive as a Jewish people, we must revise the
system. The bottom line is that all of these issues contribute to the dropout
rate – with education leading the charge. If we don’t change things, our very
existence as Orthodox Jews is at stake.
