ACHDS and Blessing

ACHDS student Elisha Kirshner  (Hamodia)

Achdus. Unity. That is a recurring theme for me. The news of our day unfortunately seems to indicate that we are further away from that lofty Jewish goal than ever. It isn’t only a religious/secular divide. It is even a religious/religious divide. The issues which have always separated Charedim on the one hand and secular Jews, modern Orthodox Jews and religious Zionist Jews on the other – have made us now more divided than ever. The rhetoric on both sides has gone from mild disapproval and grudging acceptance to venomous attacks. 

I cannot tell you how much this pains me.  The question is, what does the future hold? Are we headed to a point of no return? Will our differences cause us to have an irreconcilable break? Will it be religious brother against religious brother?  

In my view the situation between religious factions is more dire than it is between religious Jews and secular Jews. I actually believe that secular Jews are more accepted by each religious faction than each faction is of each other.

But all is not lost. This morning I have been given some hope. I attended the Kriyas Shem (naming ceremony) of my latest granddaughter born to my daughter Tovi. It took place at Arie Crown Hebrew Day School (ACHDS). More about that later.

Just before the naming took place, the principal, Rabbi Eli Samber, took me aside and asked me to take a look at the students in one of their two Minyanim. He then asked me if I noticed anything special about it. I picked up on it immediately. The students in that Minyan represented the right, left and center. There were boys with black hats, velvet Kipot and Kipot Seruga.

ACHDS student Doniel Gutnicki (Hamodia)

One might think that school that is situated in the Hashkafic center of Orthodoxy would attract mostly Jews of the center. But that is not all they attract. Parents from both sides of the religious aisle send their children there. 

One might then think… OK, but these kids have different Hashkafos at home and really have nothing to do with each other outside the school. But that would not be true. In fact it is the furthest thing from the truth. What Rabbi Samber told me next is an amazing fact that should make us all cry. Not because it was bad. Quite the contrary, because of how good it was and compare it to what the rest of the religious world is going through today.

Not only are these students friends. They don’t even see the black hat… or the Kipa Seruga their fellow students wear. It wouldn’t surprise me if you took any one of them into a room by himself and asked him what kind of head covering one of their fellow students was wearing - that they wouldn’t be able to tell you.  Rabbi Samber then pointed to one boy who was wearing a Kipa Seruga and told me what a Masmid he was. And that the fellow wearing a black hat next to him was such a close friend that he would give up his right arm for him. And what is true about the students is true about the parents and board members.

This! ...ladies and gentleman is what Achdus is all about. Which is why Arie Crown’s acronym ACHDS practically spells out that word. I have always known this about Arie Crown, Which is why (among other things) I was so active in it in and continue to so strongly support it.

This is a tribute to Rabbi Samber’s predecessor, Rabbi Meir Shapiro. His decades long tenure as principal there set the tone for the school. One that is being perpetuated by Principal Rabbi Eli Samber, and Assistant Principal Rabbi Neil Kirshner-  who is my son in law (and the father of my new granddaughter). They are doing a magnificent job. 

ACHDS student Doni Miretzky (Hamodia)

Rabbi Shapiro’s mentor was R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky. He was his role model. Rabbi Shapiro did not make a move in the school without first consulting with him. So ultimately the credit goes to him. R’ Yaakov was the true prototype of a Gadol B’Yisroel.  If all religious school prinicipals would see him as their role model, there would be a lot more Arie Crowns, I think.

As I said earlier, I attended the naming of my new granddaughter. Her name is Baila. She was named for my mother, who passed away just over 5 years ago. My mother was a quiet woman who was completely devoted to her family. So much so that she practically had no ego. For her, everything was about her husband (my father), her son (me), and her 2 stepsons, my brothers, Jack and Barry. 

She was a bit shy and not a particularly social person. Her model of behavior to my father was that of Ruth to Naomi. Wherever he would go, she would go. So that even difficult decisions about my religious education that caused me to be away from home beginning at age 8 (during weekdays - home only for Shabbos) were accepted by her with equanimity. Never a fight. Never a bad word. Just quiet loving acceptance. She trusted my father’s judgment in all important matters, even when his decisions were difficult to take.  She was the classic Ezer K’Negdo.

In a world where everything is about me,me, me… where people are increasingly  saying, ‘What’s in it for me?’ even in matters of religion, my mother stood alone. She was the epitome of self sacrifice and doing the will of God the best way she understood it. A Tzanua till the end in every sense of the word. When I think of the phrase Kavuda Bas Melech P’nima, I think of my mother. She was the quintessential ‘princess of internal honor’. A woman who ran away from externals.

 It was a very emotional moment for me to hear her name called out at the naming ceremony. My new granddaughter has a lot to live up to.

Moments after the ceremony I received a phone call. My daughter Sari gave birth to a brand new baby boy. What can I say? I am overwhelmed with joy. Ken Yirbu to all of Klal Yisroel.

A Godly Man? Or a Mass Murderer?

Dr. Baruch Goldstein 

How low can a human being fall when a mass murderer is seen as a saint, a hero, and a martyr? No, I am not talking about Osama Bin Ladin. Although he surely qualifies.  I am talking about a Jew. An Orthodox Jew.  An idealistic Jew. I am talking about Dr. Baruch Goldstien. For those who don’t know who he is or what he did, on Purim of 1994 he picked up a gun, went to Maaras HaMachpela (the cave of the patriarchs) and murdered 29 Palestinian Muslims while they were in paryer.

Unless he had a psychotic break and thus completely unaware of what he was doing, I can’t think of too many people that are more repulsive than this man. And yet, there are people that consider him a ‘saint’. They claim that he acted out of a justifiable fear that there was about to be a bloodbath in his community in Chevron. But even if that were true, there is no excuse for mass murdering people while they are in prayer. And as far as I know, there is no credible evidence that those he killed were anything but innocent Arabs.

And yet there are people who still go to his gravesite to pray that in his merit their prayers should be answered. They are not few.  And now we have this. From the Forward:

(S)ince not everyone can afford to make that pilgrimage, Baruch Marzel — a right-wing activist and Goldstein devotee — has organized a telephone service allowing Jews to outsource their prayers, according to a Walla report cited today in Yeshiva World News.

Call Marzel’s service and you’ll be invited to “Push 1 for a Yeshua,” a salvation. That salvation, which will come by way of a prayer to be said on your behalf at Goldstein’s grave, includes everything from financial and romantic success to improved health and victory in court cases.

If you’re worried about the spiritual credentials of the person who will be praying on your behalf, don’t be: Only “Jews who are Yirei Shomayim,” God-fearing, will be entrusted with this important task.

Baruch Marzel

What is even more disgusting about this is that it is being run by observant Jews. Baruch Marzel is certainly Shomer Shabbos. I’m sure that he is as ritually observant as any other believing observant Jew.  And those who will be doing the actual praying he calls ‘God fearing’!

I can’t think of a greater Chilul HaShem than this. And what is more troubling is that there will no doubt people who will be using this service. They too see Baruch Goldstein as some sort of saint - worthy of merit comparable to the great Tzadikim (holiest of people) of Jewish history whose gravesites are frequented for prayer and supplication. It is a custom among many Jews to pray at the gravesites of Tzadikim so that in their merit God will answer their prayers.

I have to wonder how Baruch Goldstein, a graduate of Yeshiva University and a physician… a man who was known as a Baal Chesed; who even treated Arabs… ended up such a Rasha?! What kind of Hashkafa leads one to commit murder, let alone mass murder? How can a normally kind and compassionate person, an observant Jew; an idealist who chose a career helping other people; a man who sacrificed much by living in a dangerous area in order to fulfill the Mitzvah of Yeshuv Ha’aretz – settling the land of Israel - become such a monster?

Perhaps he was insane when he did that after all.

But what about his fans? How can anyone worship such an individual. What kind of Hashkafa teaches that? Does it really matter that he was once an exemplary Jew once he committed such a heinous crime? Well, I guess to some people, like Baruch Marzel,  it does.

Rabbi Meir Kahane

I have no choice but to assume that it was the influence of Rabbi Meir Kahane whose ideas form the basis of such Hashkafos. Baruch Marzel considers himself to be Rabbi Kahane’s philosophical heir.

Now I’m pretty sure that Meir Kahane would not have approved of worshipping a mass murderer. But there is little doubt in my mind that it is Rabbi Kahane’s rhetoric taken to its extreme that created - or at least contributed mightily to creating – the Goldstein worshippers.

As far as I am concerned the Hashkafos of  Eida HaCharedis and Satmar are gold, compared to those that worship mass murderers.  In my view Judaism has no place for any of them.

The Ten Rights? Or the Ten Commandments?

 R' Hershel Shachter: Partnership Minyanim violate Halacha - Photo Credit: Forward

"The motivation behind partnership minyanim is to narrow the wide gap between the relative gender equality that Orthodox women experience in their professional and civic lives and the gender stratification they experience in their religious lives." 

This excerpt from a Forward article by Aurora Mendelsohn says all that one needs to know about Orthodox Feminism.  The emphasis is on gender differences in the lives of Orthodox women. Not on gender obligations. This dominates the Orthodox feminist cause - the worship in feminism of the false god of full gender equality in all areas of life.

I don’t know how many times in the past I’ve said that I consider myself a feminist. But I have been challenged on the basis that a true feminist takes no prisoners. That means that if there is ever a conflict between gender equality and any other consideration, gender equality wins.

That is a false god on the face of it. Women and men are not equal. Primarily, they are biologically different - having different reproductive systems.  Feminists will of course concede the obvious.  But that is where they say differences should end. It is an article of faith for them no less than the tenets of Judaism are articles of faith for Orthodox Jews. And that is where the conflict lies. To a true feminist, there is nothing that trumps the feminist article of faith about gender equality. Not even the word of God.

There can therefore be no such thing as a true feminist and a fully Orthodox Jew. For Orthodox Jews, Halacha trumps feminism when the two are in conflict. Orthodox feminists like those belonging to JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) concede the point. Hence they can only be called feminists with an asterisk. But they still call themselves feminists claiming that in every other sense - they are.

Well then I too am a feminist (with an asterisk). Except that my cutoff point is different than theirs. I am a believer in full equality for women in all areas outside of Judaism. That includes equal pay for equal work, and treating each other with equal dignity and respect. But where it conflicts with their roles as Jewish women, I part company with them. God for His own reasons gave men and women different roles. And the spirit of that has been guided throughout history by our traditions (Mesorah).

Which brings me to Partnership Minyanim. It does not make one a better Jew when the classic notion of the separation of sexes in public prayer is bastardized by finding loopholes in Halacha (assuming they really are legitimate loopholes). Loopholes that allows them to participate together. Partnership Minyanim allow women to serve as cantors in certain portions of a public prayer services. Like Kabolas Shabbos.  

But are the women who do this really doing it because it gives them a spiritual lift? Or are they doing it because of a goal of breaking the glass ceiling in Orthodox Judaism? I think the opening quote above answers that question.

Feminists see this as a right. But as I have said many times Judaism is not primarily about rights. It is primarily about obligations. Moshe Rabbenu did not bring down the ‘ten rights’ from Mount Sinai. He brought down the ten commandments engraved in stone. Commandments (or Mitzvos) are obligations. All 613 of them. They are the dos and don’ts of Judaism.

But for Orthodox feminists it is all about rights. So they focus very little on their religious obligations as women and instead focus almost exclusively on areas of gender equality by trying to force it into as many facets of Judaism as they can. I don’t think that is arguable. No matter how spiritual individual intent is - and I’m sure that is in many cases - it is impossible to separate the goal of breaking the glass ceiling they perceive Orthodox Judaism to have.

Ms. Mendelsohn uses the general societal measure of female participation to make her case. She says that since women are successfully integrated into all facets of life and capable of achieving the greatest heights of success in any field they choose - that ought to set the standard for Judaism. Judaism she says should grant no less opportunity to its women. She calls it fixing the gender thing. Why do Orthodox feminists feel so strongly about this? Perhaps the following excerpt will explain:

(O)nce one admits that a secular value, or an idea from outside the halachic framework, is what drives the pressure for halachic and ritual change, the door is opened for other changes based on other secularly sourced ideas, like gay and lesbian rights, intellectual skepticism or the value of breaking bread with your neighbors.

Once the traditional way can be wrong about something, then one is admitting it can be wrong and insufficient, which is a frightening concept for an institution that is supposed to guide one’s daily life with authority. This challenges the very nature of religious authority and the religious decision-making process, both fundamental concepts in Orthodoxy. The very fact that the innovation comes from the laity and not from well-respected, established, traditional rabbinic authorities makes it so unacceptable. This threat of influence from secular ideas and the challenging of authority and not only a desire for retention of power and internalized misogyny (though, of course, those as well) are the reasons that mainstream Orthodoxy is so resistant to partnership minyanim.

This typically feminist view about resistance to the challenge of male authority applied to Orthodoxy is a complete misunderstanding of the nature of Orthodoxy’s approach to male and female roles.

‘Fixing the gender thing’ is incompatible with the Orthodoxy. You can’t fix God’s commandments to make all areas of life the same for both men and women. Their desire to remain within the framework of Orthodoxy ought to tell them that. At best you can fudge it with oddities like Partnership Minyanim. But even if they were to find a lot of loopholes wherein women can participate in the domain that is traditionally reserved for men, they cannot go all the way. And they know it.

They will never for example be able to be counted towards the minimum number of people required for the religious quorum known as a Minyan. It has to be ten men. Nine men and one woman… or even a hundred women does not constitute a Minyan.  So their goals of gender equality can never be met in full. They realize that there has to be a stopping point. And yet they are willing to go far afield from traditional observance trying to reach an unreachable goal. What in the end will be gained? Certainly not full gender equality in the religious sphere.

I do not understand why Orthodox feminists can’t separate their religious identities and goals from their societal identities and goals. These are two different worlds with two different foci.  

Just to be clear I completely support the principle that women be given full rights and dignity in all areas that do not impact religion. I have no issue for example with female PhDs  or female university presidents.  I have no issue with female Supreme Court justices or with female surgeons. Or any other major accomplishment. Nor do I have any issue with great achievements in Torah study for women if they choose to do so.  The opposite is true.

I fully support the right of any women to pursue any goal they choose. But I don’t understand why the freedom to achieve success in all other areas must be transferred to the religious arena. Does it really make a woman with a PhD in physics feel inferior if she cannot be a Chazan in a Shul? Will the ‘transformation of Orthodoxy through Partnership Minyanim’ objectively help women gain greater spiritual heights? How many women can honestly make that claim? Or is this all about breaking the glass ceiling?

I am not here to question anyone’s personal motives. I can’t know what is in the heart of any human being. Nonetheless it’s really hard to see the focus on feminine equality in Orthodoxy as anything else but that.

Is the Army a Den of Iniquity?

There was a scene in the movie, Godfather III, where Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone who wanted to make his Mafia businesses legit said the following:  'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!'

This is kind of how I feel about the divisive religious issues facing Israel. Issues that divide Charedim on one side and virtually all other segments - both religious and secular - on the other. And it only seems to be getting worse.  I keep trying to go on to other things, but that issue keeps dominating the news and my thoughts.

A few days ago, I received the following e-mail with respect to the new draft law in Israel: 

I would call myself a moderate charedi . And have considered many views on the current crisis in Israel re the draft. My views lean towards yours. However I was talking with someone whom I respect greatly who just returned from a trip to israel. He explained to me that although he doesn’t think the current yeshiva system is sustainable this whole thing turned into shma because some of the people involved have an agenda to secularize  and desensitize the charedim.

His example was that a bunch of nachal charadi recruits (i am pretty sure it was nachal charedi) were told to line up for medical inspection and to strip. Then a young female (19 or 20 or 21) comes in to do the inspection.  He mentioned this to a friend of his who is dati leumi and served in tzhal (he is 50 so it was a while ago) and he said that it doesn’t surprise him as this has happened.  

That is a pretty shocking story. So shocking that it is hard to believe it’s true. But then again it doesn’t necessarily surprise me either. There are unfortunately people like that. People that take advantage of their subordinates.  The command structure of any army lends itself to such abuse. That’s why the incidence of rape is so high in the US army and yet so little is done about it. Most good people in the army don’t do that. But enough of them do to make it a real problem.

Assuming it really happened,  does this incident represent what the army is all about?  Clearly it does not. But if you are a Charedi who vehemently opposes the army, you might take a story like this to be the rule. Or at least a frequent occurrence.

I get letters like this all the time from Charedim who use stories like this to justify their opposition to  the draft. Especially to people like me who do not share the Charedi Hashkafa that every single person should be sitting in the Beis Hamedrash full time for the rest of their lives. How can anyone justify sending a pure and innocent soul into conditions like this, they ask?

My answer is that no one in their right mind would. And none one does. The fact happens to be that this story is not the norm. 

What is the norm has been described time and again by people in Israel who have served both in the regular army and Nachal Charedi. Many of my nieces and nephews have served and are serving. They have never experienced anything like this. This is not to say there aren’t problems. But life is full of problems. The army is certainly no exception.  You deal with them when they come along.  What is the army really like? The JerusalemPost has a wonderful article by an American who made Aliyah and is now serving. Here are just a few of his words: 

The army is full of Orthodox Jewish men and women, who carry weapons and undergo the same training and day to day life as any other soldier.

A military day starts like this: You are up before the sun, and those who want to pray are led away to a synagogue (found on any base, just a five-minute walk from your barracks) just in time for morning prayers. The army gives ample time for prayer (I never received less than 45 minutes for any prayer of the day), regardless whether any soldier requests the time or not.

Those who choose not to pray are forced to clean the barracks, bathrooms, etc. So if you were the type who wanted to pray, but didn’t want to wake up early in the mornings before work or school, your problems are solved, because you’ll have to be awake before the crack of dawn anyway. And what else do you have to do at that point? Essentially, people who didn’t pray in civilian life, pray in the army…

The entire army, as a government institution, must observe all Jewish holidays and dietary laws. Hence, all the food is kosher and supervised by the rabbinate. If you are a vegetarian, or if you eat only Glatt Kosher, you will receive exactly that and the food, will be good…

I often interact with soldiers from the Netzach Yehuda battalion, otherwise known as “Nahal Haredi,” which is a battalion made to specifically meet the needs of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) tradition. In this battalion, you will not encounter any female soldiers. You will not encounter any female commanders.

You will not encounter any female instructors. You will not encounter any female officers. You will not encounter any female doctors/nurses, nor any female social workers. No females, period. You will not only have specific times for prayer, you’ll have specific times for Torah study. You won’t merely be eating kosher, but Glatt Kosher. 

I have to ask, which picture is the truer one, the one the letter writer described of or the one from a soldier who lives it?

For me the answer is obvious. There are just too many people that I know who have served in the Israeli armed forces. And their experiences as they have told them to me are far more in line with that solider than the images one gets from the letter.

And yet whenever one talks to a Charedi in Israel, they completely reject the more likely scenario and insist that the less likely one is the norm. They insist that the Israeli army is the worst den of iniquity a Jew can experience. That one must avoid it like the plague for fear that they will end up stripping for a female superior officer with no recourse of action.

This is such nonsense that it is hard to believe that this is what most seem to believe, and yet they do. I have to conclude that their biases blind them to reality. They see an exception and believe it is the rule. And they will 'swear on a stack of bibles' that it is so.

All of this continues to divide Charedim from the rest of mainstream Jewry both observant and not. But apparently they don’t care. They believe in themselves so much - no matter how many people disagree with them, their way will prevail because God - their Daas Torah tells them - is on their side. 

The rest of us? We will die out just like all other Jews in history that dared to challenge their Torah True ways. Forget about Conservative and Reform. They believe that even observant Jews that differ with them will wither on the vine. In the end they will see us as scoffers and even Apikursim for daring to differ with the Daas Torah of their rabbis. In time we will all disappear. Who will remain? They and only they will. God will see to it.

I don’t see things getting any better. The fight continues as Charedim consolidate and keep up the negative rhetoric against any detractor. We may very well end up as two nations. One nation that is a complete Yissachar. But without a Zevulun if they keep vilifying us. The nature of the Yissachar/Zevulun relationship is that it is voluntary. 

But what will the other nation look like? Can we be sustained without a core of Jews who study Torah full time? We need Yeshivos like that too! Where will our rabbinic leaders come from? 

Are they right? Will their current system be sustainable? Will God give them money like Manna from Heaven? Even if the Charedi parties return to power at some point and restore all the budget cuts that affected them negatively, can the Israeli economy sustain a break backing budget that this would certainly entail? Time will tell. But the future does not look all that bright from here, unless something drastically changes.

Breaking Bad

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran is a noted author, educator, and lecturer who often writes articles on issues of our day. Having read my post yesterday, he referred me to an article of his expressing a similar attitude that was published a few months ago in Arutz Sheva. But he made one very important point that I failed to make. From his article: 

How is it that our talmidim (students) are so wonderfully schooled in Torah and yet kept so ignorant in basic human decency?  How is it that the same so-called ben Torah, who was so well-educated in yeshiva – and undoubtedly well-versed in the tractates  Kiddushin and Gittin – who sat at the feet of rebbeim, who was surrounded by roshei yeshivas (various rabbinic figures), who had his most distinguished Rosh Yeshiva  serve as mesader kiddushin (perform the wedding), who invited other Torah scholars to recite the sheva brachos (seven wedding blessings), who celebrated seven days of sheva brachos with speeches extolling the beautiful Yiddishe home that would be established by this wonderful talmid, this young man “of whom we are all so proud…”, how is it that this same young man can be so quickly transformed into a beast simply because the marriage did not work out? 

I cannot emphasize enough how important this point is. It once again shows that as successful as our Jewish educational system is, it is far too often a major failure in teaching Menthlichkeit. It is almost as though becoming a Talmud Chacham is so important, that everything else falls by the wayside.

This is not to say God forbid that Jewish education teaches bad Midos (character traits). Of course it doesn’t. Nor does it say that everyone that goes through the system ends up rich in Torah knowledge and poor in Midos. Neither statement is true.  Most students in our religious schools do end up rich in Torah knowledge and are imbued with a sense of awe for Torah. For Orthodox Jews the Torah is the central feature of our lives. And for all Jews throughout history – it has kept us alive as a people despite all attempts to annihilate us either physically, spiritually, or both. 

But somehow in all this - the message of Mentchlkeit seems to have gotten lost. While most Jews that have gone through the system are fine people, observant Jews with exemplary Midos, far too many don’t have a clue about them. 

I see it all too often at weddings when Yeshiva Bachurim (young students) of all stripes – Charedim as well as modern Orthodox get so rowdy, so wild, so full of themselves that Midos go out the door. They becomes so self absorbed that during a dance set they ignore people around them – often bumping into elderly people standing right next to them. How many times have I seen Yeshiva Bachurim getting drunk at a wedding? How many times do I see some of them asking where they can find the booze? They find it. The get drunk. And they proceed to make a Chilul HaShem. All while their Roshei Yeshiva looks the other way! How many times have I heard a guest (religious or otherwise) at a wedding who observes their behavior rhetorically ask, ‘Is this what the Yeshivos are producing’?! I have heard that question asked more times than I can count!

And then there is the behavior in some Charedi Yeshiva high schools. While not universal by any means, how many times have I been told by Mechanchim that work in them  about the constant Chilul HaShem students make by ridiculing their secular studies teachers behind their back – and sometimes to their face? Again, more times than I can count. (Not surprising considering how secular studies are generally treated by many Charedi Roshei Yeshiva and Rebbeim.)

It is that same self absorbed mentality that causes the some of these young men - many of whom who have studied in the finest Yeshivos to torture their ex-wives by refusing to give them a Get.

Now I know that the Roshei Yeshiva are all dismayed by some of that behavior. But in my view not nearly enough. If students don’t learn positive character traits at home, then they have to learn them in school. Good character is best transmitted by role modeling behavior. If a Rebbe becomes an icon to his students, as is often the case, his behavior will be emulated. 

In Charedi schools, The Roshei Yeshiva and Rebbeim cannot continually disparage secular studies and expect their students to have any special respect for those who teach them.

How did we get to this point? I think I understand what happened. Yeshiva students had always been looked down upon by a Jewishly uninformed public. In some cases even a religious public. ‘Bentch Kvetchers’. ‘Do nothings’. ‘Ledigayers’. ‘Leaches’. ‘Parasites’. These Roshei Yeshiva rightly tried to counter that by insisting to their students that they are not any of those things but instead instilling in them that they are the opposite. They are the Torah True Jews - the best of the best - who hold up the world by their Torah study.  

I agree that their function in society is important. But not at the expense of Mentchlichkeit. If you are not a Mentch, of what value is your Torah? If you are not a Mentch, your identity as a Yeshiva Bachur makes the behavior I described above a huge Chilul Hashem!

I’m sure that there is not a Rosh Yeshiva worth his salt that doesn’t agree with this. But they must be keeping it a secret from their students. Maybe not all of them… but enough of them to make the Yeshiva world look bad. And that has to change. 

A Blow to the New Draft Law

Prayer rally in Jerusalem a few weeks ago. Photo credit: Jerusalem Post

Charedim will never be thrown in jail en masse for resisting the draft. This fact of life is already being played out at the earliest stages of the new draft law in Israel. The widespread opposition by Charedi rabbinic leaders to the new recruitment centers where their students will receive automatic deferments and exemptions has caused the government back off from their requirement to do so. The older procedure for doing so will still be maintained.

One may ask, why is the Charedi rabbinic leadership so opposed to the new recruitment centers? An exemption is after all - an exemption… isn’t it?

Well not exactly. From  the Jerusalem Post: 

The haredi daily newspaper Yated Ne’emanpublished a report on Friday saying that haredi youth and yeshiva students who receive induction notices, or who go to obtain their deferrals or exemptions, would be required to attend the new haredi induction centers, where they would receive information about the IDF and the benefits of enlistment. 

And that is what is upsetting to the Charedi leadership: 

The haredi leadership was extremely concerned that some of the yeshiva students would be tempted to enlist after being exposed to the information provided at the new centers. 

Charedi leaders have threatened to tell their students to boycott these centers. And any Charedi doing so would be in violation of the law and subject to arrest. That was enough for the government. They have backed down.  Deferrals and exemptions will now be given the old fasiohend way, without any explanation of the benefits of joining the army.

Some may say that this is just kicking the can down the road. That eventually draft resisters will be arrested when in three years exemptions will no longer be automatic and only the elite will be exempt. But I don’t see that happening. As I said many times the last thing the Israeli government wants is images in the media of masses students being dragged out of the study hall at gunpoint, placed under arrest, and thrown in prison. Aside from that terrible image, the kind of resistance that the government in Israel would get would be unprecedented in both numbers and intensity.

Why are Charedi leaders so opposed to their students finding any merit in army service? Because they fear that too many of their students wouldopt for the army and leave Beis HaMedrash. That would severely change the paradigm they have worked so hard to create and perpetuate over the past 60 years. A paradigm of full time Torah study for everyone at the expense their material welfare. No job training. No secular education. No training of any kind. Just training in the skills of Gemarah study. So that certain study skills that are learned by everyone else, are missing from their repertoire. While they have mastered the skills of Gemarah study - they have no clue how to study for other disciplines.

This is what the Charedi leadership wants to keep in place. They know very well that there will be no mass arrests, not now and not 3 years from now. What they fear is a voluntary attrition when it becomes evident that what the government really wants is for those who choose to do so, to have options that will benefit them and their families. That fear and is made obvious by their threat to boycott the new recruitment centers precisely for those reasons.

How sad it is that they are looking a gift horse in the mouth and don’t see what is in front of them. They have the opportunity to ease the pain of poverty among their people by simply letting them choose, and instead they threaten a boycott.

Is keeping all their students in the dark about about the army the only way they can keep them in line? Because that’s what it seems like. The only way they can keep all Charedim in the Beis Hamedrash it seems is by denying them access to the truth. They fear some of their students may enlist after hearing the benefits.

This development undermines their entire argument that the government is forcing them to leave the Beis HaMedrash.  And that the government’s goal is to jail students for studying Torah. Not a single Charedi student would beforced to leave the Beis Hamdrash now. Not a single student will be arrested for desiring to continue learning as before. No one would have been arrested unless they failed to report to the new recruitment centers  from which they would have recieved their deferments and eventual exemptions (if they so choose).

The only thing they were required to do, is listen to the options the army made available to them. And that was enough to threaten a boycott. Why? Because God forbid their entire paradigm would change from one of every single Charedi student in Israel spending as long as possible in the Beis HaMedrash to one where only the most talented and motivated would do so.

I do not understand this attitude at all. I know how important Torah study is to them. I’ve been there. I have gone to Charedi Yeshivas. I have heard the Drashos and Shmuessen – the rabbinic arguments, Mussar and pep talks. Many times. Talmud Torah Keneged Kullom.  Torah study supersedes all else. Torah Umnaso. The highest achievement any Jew can achieve is when Torah study becomes his the length of their days.  

Nevertheless - the extent they are going to preserve a financially unsustainable system still boggles the mind. I do not believe that God intends every single Jew on the planet to spend the rest of his days on earth in the Beis Hamdrash to lead a life of poverty for himself and his family. A poverty that has become all too common. But this is the paradigm that Charedi leaders want to preserve and protect.

God willing - despite the rabbinic opposition to these new recruitment centers - there will be a grass roots movement among Charedim to check things out anyway. If enough of them do it… and some of them opt for army service that honors their religious sensibilities - maybe the paradigm will change. And the Charedi world will evolve into a far more productive one both materially and spiritually.

The truly capable and motivated will continue to study and be supported. The rest will do what God intended for them to do. They will find their niche and serve God better that way by utilizing their God given talents and abilities in areas more suited to them. That will reduce the poverty tremendously. The Charedi world will thrive. If only this new draft law with all its positive features is given the chance.

The Rabbinate's Unreasonable Standard for Conversions

Alin Levy - Photo Credit: Jerusalem Post

How far must a potential convert go to please a court that will convert them? In what has to be one of the clearest departures from common decency regarding conversions, the Israel Chief Rabbinate has once again disappointed me.

The primary requirements of conversion are as follows. Circumcision (for men), immersion in a Mikva and a declaration that they intend to follow the Mitzvos of the Torah. Even if they do not know what those Mitzvos are and will be in violation of many of them after they convert, once these requirements are executed they are accepted as full fledged Jews. We are only required to inform them of a few basics before the actual conversion. They then continue to learn more and do more after the conversion. If upon conversion a convert immediately violates all Halachos. He is called a Yisroel Mumar – a blemished (sinning) Jew but still a Jew in every respect.

It should be noted that there is some controversy about the need for the acceptance of Mitzvos. But for purposes of this discussion, let us stipulate that this is indeed a requirement. That is in fact how the vast majority of conversion courts operate.

It should also be noted that Rav Moshe Feinstein who was by many considered the Posek HaDor ruled that any potential convert that declared his intent to observe Mitzvos and then after the ceremony would celebrate by violating clear Halacha that they promised to follow – such as eating a non Kosher meal – that is the strongest evidence that their declarations were insincere and that their conversions were not legitimate. 

Which brings me to the situation at hand.

As reported in the Forward, 23 year old Alin Levy is the product of an intermarriage. Her parents are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. She was 4 at the time of their arrival in Israel.  Her father is Jewish. Her mother is not. But she is not just a person that wants to be Jewish in name only.  She wants the full package. To that extent she strated becoming observant. From the Forward:

Alin said she had felt Jewish all her life in Israel. It was during her military service that she began to be troubled by that fact that as far as the Chief Rabbinate was concerned, she was not Jewish.

It upset her that she wasn’t ‘officially’ considered a member of the religion, and, according to the interview, she determined to become a full-fledged kosher Jew, she began the procedure for Orthodox conversion, studying Torah three hours each week, dressing modestly, making blessings over her food and began to observe Shabbat. Asked if she might become fully Orthodox in the end, she responded “I can’t rule it out.”

The process is standard operating procedure for secular Israelis who want to complete conversion. In order to do so, they are required to adopt a lifestyle that is far more observant to become Jewish in the eyes of the stringent conversion court.

So far so good. But what happened next is in my view a complete distortion of the requirements of conversion - even by the Rabbinate’s standards.  They informed her that her career choice of becoming an actor was unacceptable and that they would not go forward with the conversion if she continued on that path. Why? Here’s what they said:

“An acting career does not go together with the spirit of the religion.”

The best way to sum up their ‘reason’ is with the phrase ‘Es Past Nisht’. Her goal of becoming a trained actor was deemed unacceptable.  I do not recall that portion of the Shulchan Aruch that says that becoming an actor is a disqualification for conversion. That’s because it doesn’t exist.

There are reports that the Rabbinate has denied that this was their reason for the rejection. But if this story as reported in the Forward is true, this takes the rabbinate’s license to disqualify converts to a new low. It is an abuse of power. A low that rejects exactly the kind of people we should be seeking to join us. People who should be role models for those of us who were born Jewish and raised in observant homes. We take our Judaism for granted. And many of us perform our religious duties by rote behavior. We do not have the inspired drive and devotion of someone who  sees the beauty of Judaism to such an extent that they are willing to radically change their lives to live a fully Jewish life.

Now I will admit that becoming an actor is not exactly the most accommodating profession for observant Jews. In the case of a woman issues of modesty are an additional complicating factor. So I understand why such a career is completely frowned upon in the Charedi world. But it is not impossible for a woman to be an actor and be fully observant - and even Charedi.  There are hundreds of opportunities for women to perform before women only.

The rabbinate should not be looking at how much they dislike a profession or how inappropriate it is for a woman to be in it. What they should focus on is enforcing their own rules about the sincerity of commitment to Halacha by the potential convert.

I therefore see absolutely no justification for the what the rabbinate has done. It is hurtful to the convert and it is hurtful to the Klal in that it will discourage good people from even considering conversion.

And it isn’t even only acting that is a ‘forbidden’ profession for a potential convert. From the Forward:

Levy’s story is far from unusual, says Rabbi Seth Farber, whose organization ITIM helps people navigate Israel’s religious bureaucracy.

“It is a complete absurdity” Farber said, for someone to be rejected as a candidate for a conversion because of choosing a career in acting, but he has seen similar occurences (sic).

“We’ve had people who work as nurses being told they couldn’t convert because their job requires them to work shifts on the Sabbath,” he said.

I guess the Rabbinate never heard of Frum nurses before. I am once again disappointed with how the rabbinate is being run. I will not go so far as to say it ought to be disbanded. I think a Jewish State needs an official rabbinate that can decide religious issues. But not one like this.

Updated: Monday March 24, 2004 5:48 AM CDT

Lies, Damn Lies, and the Yated

Rabbi Pinchos Lipshutz

Yated editor Rabbi Pinchos Lipshitz is an anti Semite. I’m sure that sentence will raise some eyebrows. That’s because he really isn’t an anti Semite. But if I were to follow his lead (and those of like minded individuals in his community) this would be an article of faith. His abhorrent attitude about clearly observant Jews whose only goal is to serve Klal Yisroel is spread all over his latest editorial. And it is filled with hate.

What he and others have said or implied is that the things said by non Charedim about Charedim should be considered anti-Semitic. Just substitute the word Jew for the word Charedi in many of those columns and the world would be screaming anti Semite at whoever uttered them.

His editorial is filled with the usual crop of hyperbole, lies, and innuendos. Here is one of the more egregious lies: 

People can disagree, but to call 50,000 frum, peaceful people murderers because they gathered to daven is abhorrent... 

This falsehood has been repeated numerous times by various Charedi media. It is based on Yori Yanover’s ‘cry from the heart’ about Charedim avoiding being subjected to a military draft which can entail dying for one’s country - while everyone else is subjected to that possibility. To say that this is calling them murderers is not only a flagrant distortion of the truth, it is designed to whip up the anger and animosity of his crowd. And just like any big lie, the more it is repeated, the more it is believed. That is what makes this type of yellow journalism so disgusting. They are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of masses of observant Jews so they resort to hyperbole, exaggeration, distortion, and outright lies.

The rest of his article is filled with derision, invective, and ridicule about religious Jews. He doesn’t even acknowledge that someone like Rabbi Dov Lipman is observant, calling him a Kipa wearing Jew as though it was some sort of disguise and not an indication of his being observant!

Here is a particularly disturbing comment: 

Those who stoke fires, create diversions, and fuel division in the pursuit of any goal expose themselves as guilty of hypocrisy and a refusal to examine the real facts the way they are. Throughout the ages, we have been victimized by blood libels. It is shameful that religious people are now utilizing the methods of Eisov and tactics of Haman to further their agendas. 

I agree with the first sentence:  Those who stoke fires, create diversions, and fuel division in the pursuit of any goal expose themselves as guilty of hypocrisy and a refusal to examine the real facts the way they are.

But it is the pot calling the kettle black. It is Rabbi Lipshutz and his fellow travelers that stoke those fires, create diversions, and fuel division. And he has the nerve to say that religious Jews are using the methods of Eisav and the tactics of Haman? We are not the ones lying about things. He is! 

Here is yet another lie: 

The people who give those speeches, write those articles, and post and publish them are using their words to further their battle against the much despised lomdei Torah. 

Does he really believe that people like me despise Lomdei Torah? And that our mission is to battle them? Whether he believes it or not, it is a lie. And frankly I think it is a deliberate lie. Any sane person who reads any of my posts on this subject knows that it’s a lie!

Here is a ridiculous question he asks: 

Might it be that the secular camp and their Orthodox enablers are the inciters? Might it be that those who so vehemently decry the chareidi leadership are guilty of far worse? 

Vehemently decry? Who among us has said anything vehement about Charedi leadership? I certainly haven’t. That I and others like me strongly disagree with some of what they say is not done with any kind of vehemence. Certainly not anywhere near the vehemence expressed by Rabbi Lipshutz in this editorial. Is Rabbi Lipshutz ready to call Rabbi Berel Wein a Kippa wearing Jew? …an Orthodox enabler of secular Torah haters?

Rabbi Lipshutz also takes umbrage at another comment made by Yori Yanover: 

The post-Holocaust Haredi world is all about fear. Fear of new things. Fear of books. Fear of voices. And above all, fear that the education a young man receives during his 20 years in a Haredi yeshiva is worthless, because as soon as he encounters the outside world, those 20 years would vanish, melt away like cholov Yisroel butter on a skillet.” 

While I agree that this was worded indelicately, how false is it, really? This too probably stoked the fires of hatred… which is Rabbi Lipshutz goal in repeating it. He wants those fires to be stoked – against detractors!

But is it not fair to say that there is a fear of books that do not exactly parrot the Charedi version of history; books that turn human beings into heavenly angels; free of sin; born that way from the womb, and staying that way till the tomb?

Is it not true that they reject for their students in Israel any secular education – if not out of fear, then out of the belief that it is Bitul Torah – wasteful of the time one should instead be studying Torah? Is it not true they fear the kind of challenges one might face on the outside world (e.g. the internet)? ...that it would shake their beliefs and that 20 years (of the Charedi version of Jewish education) might vanish, melt away?

Rabbi Lipshutz says nothing to dispel these notions. He just says: ‘There you have it’. As if to imply that these challenges are so absurd they do not justify a response. 

Really, Rabbi Lipshutz? I think they do. Because without any explanation, these values are exactly what Charedim constantly espouse. How many times have I heard the argument that history is only as important as the inspiration it can provide. So that any bio that does not make its subject larger than life and ignores truths about a Gadol that makes them uncomfortable, is worthless… and perhaps even detrimental. They do in fact fear facing the truths of history.

Rabbi Lipshutz uses this paragraph to ‘prove’ that a war is being waged against Charedim. And fuels the outrage with the claim that food is being taken out of the mouths of Charedi babies because entitlements have been cut.

That is total distortion of the facts. Why every single able bodied Charedi who chooses not to work should be entitled to welfare that is basically designed to help those who cannot help themselves - is beyond me. This is not taking food out of the mouths of babies. 

As I’ve said a million times, we do need to support the elite Torah students among us. They should be given a fully divinity exemption and be paid a living wage. But to do that for every single able bodied Charedi just because he wants to - is unfair and wrong. And reducing (not eliminating) welfare to them is not taking food out of the mouths of babies.

I doubt that Rabbi Lipshutz will respond to anything I wrote here. Probably because he can’t. But even if he does ‘respond’ it will not be with any rational arguments or proofs. It will be with more lies; more innuendos; and more distortions. He will not prove his position at all, just as he did not do so now. He will instead attack, attack, attack and continue to promote the ‘big lie’ until he’s satisfied that everyone believes it. 

Are Rabbinic Leaders Out of Touch?

R' Aharon Leib Shteinman and R' Shmuel Auerbach

There are many people in the right wing world of Orthodoxy that would take strong exception with the following: 

The Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel (are) two cataclysmic events (that) changed the present Jewish society radically if not even permanently. Yet much of Orthodoxy inexplicably ignores these two events as though they never happened.

They occupy no space or time in many Orthodox schools and days of commemoration of these events are absent on school calendars. Instead there is a mindset that hunkers back to an idyllic Eastern European world of fantasy that is portrayed falsely in fictional stories, hagiographic biographies and omissions of uncomfortable facts and doctored photographs – to a world that never was. 

I’m sure that the right wing rabbinic leadership and their spokesmen in the media will take to task anyone impugning their world in this way.They would respond by touting  the very successful establishment and growth of Orthodox Jewish education.  Which has been the single biggest factor in the growth of Orthodoxy – both in terms of Torah study and Mitzvah observance. But that does not diminish the uncomfortable truth.

These words were not written by me. They were written by a man who identifies as Charedi, Rabbi Berel Wein in yet another exceptional analysis of the flaws in a system that ignores unpleasant truths about itself. These flaws are of such major significance that if they are not corrected, it could spell disaster far greater than the imagined one which their rabbinic leaders feel they are about to embark. As Rabbi Wein says: 

It is again too painful to admit that our past mindset regarding the State of Israel is no longer relevant. As long as large sections of Orthodoxy continue to live in an imaginary past and denies the realities of the present, such issues as army or national service, core curriculum of essential general knowledge for all religious schools, entering the workforce and decreasing the debilitating poverty and dysfunction of so many families, will never be able to be addressed properly. 

These are constant themes here on this blog. I am always accused of not understanding the dedication of Charedim or the Hashkafa that drives them.  But here we have someone who is not only Charedi, but a Talmud Chacham, a founder and former Rosh HaYeshiva of Sharei Torah, a noted Jewish historian, and in my view one of the clearest thinkers in all of Orthodoxy. He is the epitome of a moderate Charedi Rav and Rosh HaYeshiva.  I think that this is his most critical piece yet of the rabbinic leadership in his own community. 

The strident and inflammatory rhetoric against the those responsible for drafting of Charedim in Israel and other changes about to take place in their world is constant and fierce. A rhetoric that practically writes them out of Judaism.

Just today on Rafi’s blog (Rafi is a moderate Charedi)  we see a clear illustration of the illogic to which the more extreme element in Israel go.  A young Charedi student was arrested for not showing up to register for the draft. Something that is the pro-forma  procedure for all Charedim. It  involves showing up at the draft board and after a series of tests and questions they receive their exemptions. This young man decided to listen to his ‘Daas Torah’and not show up at all. He was arrested. And the right screams that he was arrested because he wanted to learn Torah. Every article written by the right about this whole mess is designed to vilify opposition. Which their rabbinic leaders say is anti Daas Torah.

I don’t think all this rhetroic is aimed so much at the secular community. (Although they too are surely vilified.) It is aimed at the religious sector. The Dati community and even some of their own who might be sitting on a fence about some of these issues. It is also aimed at the American community. They want to make sure that everyone sees things the way they do… and that everyone understands that not seeing things that way is practically heresy.

Their willing accomplices in the Charedi media are more than happy to oblige as they too continue to characterize any opposition as anti Torah.

The problem is that it isn’t working. Thinking people with their eyes open can see that the rabbinic position is not only misleading, but counter-productive. And though they are sincere, their thinking is flawed. As Rabbi Wein said, they are living in the past and making judgements based on that. 

And he isn’t the only one. Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, a modern Orthodox Rabbi who is usually very sympathetic to the Charedi viewpoint was just as critical in a recent article himself: 

It is unconscionable that there exists in the Chareidi world this idea that work and army service are beneath them, and that the rest of society which they hold in contempt must work and pay higher taxes in order to support them in order that they should sit and learn.  

And although he says he was misunderstood (although his words were pretty clear when he said them), another moderate Charedi, Jonathan Rosenblum was not exactly in concert with the rhetoric coming out of his rabbinic leaders.  Words that freely call religious Jews Amalek. Amalek is a nation that the Jewish people are required to annihilate. 

One rabbinic sage that is considered moderate has condemned religious Jews like Rabbis Dov Lipman and Shai Piron to hell because of his perception that they want to throw students of Torah in jail. And yet it is clear to anyone that is paying even the slightest bit of attention, that even if you disagree with them - this not what they are doing.

That these leaders are not in touch with reality is what I think Rabbi Wein’s point was. And yet the veneration for these elderly sages is so great, that far too many still walk in lockstep with them for fear of going against Daas Torah. Especially Charedi politicians and journalists who are the loudest screamers of them all. But even with all that shouting and screaming - the truth will not be denied. A truth that is becoming increasingly evident to members of their own community.

How much longer are the more right wing members of the Charedi world going to ignore reality and continue to falsely frame this issue as Amalek versus the Torah because ‘the Gedolim said so’?

Irreconcilable Differences?

If  only this image was more common...

The following two perspectives are, I believe, a relatively decent illustration of the differing mindsets of  the right wing Charedi; and the moderate Charedi and  non Charedi. Although the two sides do not address each other’s points directly, I think reading them together illustrates the focus of each segment.

One was posted as a comment buried in over 340 comments to Mondays post. The other was sent to me by e-mail. I do not know the identity of the first writer. But I do believe he presents a more or less accurate description of Charedi ideology and how that impacts their view of the State of Israel.

The second perspective was written by someone whose identity is known to me, but for personal reasons has asked to remain anonymous. I believe he sums up the non Charedi mainstream perspective quite nicely. The differences are clear. Are they irreconcilable? I leave it to the reader to decide. Their words follow.

The Right Wing Charedi View

Yated publisher Pinchos Lipshutz
Champion of the Charedi cause

There seems to be a lack of understanding of the chareidi ideology vis a vis the State of Israel. Put simply it goes like this.

1) The state was not created B'ruach HaTorah. Most of it's inhabitants do not uphold the bris between Hashem and the Jewish People. Therefore we have no Divine promise of protection in the land. Our only hope is to have as many people as possible being moser nefesh for Torah and to try to help people do Tshuva. If the Jewish people would all be Shomer Torah and Mitzvos we would be redeemed and Mashiach would tell us how we should proceed (i.e. whether to fight or not, when to build the beis hamikdash etc.).

2) The yeshivos hakedoshos, where learning/a relationship with Hashem is all that matters, are the only thing keeping us alive, literally and spiritually, and to give the government any say at all over who should stay and who should leave and when, would be a tragedy - and worth dying to prevent.

Brisk Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik

3) The fact that chareidim benefit from the protection of the army is true, but they only need the army because the state was started in a way opposing Hashem's will and by people looking to destroy the entire concept of Am Hanivchar by creating a new Europe in the middle east. So, chareidim do oppose the draft for all citizens, assuming that they would all become shomer torah umitsvos instead. As far as religious soldiers, it would be better if they could just learn, if they cannot, then why not go to the army (as long as they dont have to give up Torah values)?

4) Halevai that the Jews would've listened to the Rabbis generations ago who were against any secular state in Israel especially knowing that the Arabs would constantly attack us. (The Satmar ideology would argue against ANY kind of Jewish state, but that Hashkafa was never accepted publicly by the leaders of that or any subsequent generation) 

If the State had been started with the blessings of the Torah leaders and was run fully according to Halacha, then we wouldn't have the issues that we do now. It is sad that anyone gets killed in battle ever, especially Jews in the holy land, but that can never justify a non Torah government from being legitimate. True, chareidim are involved in the government but that is only to be able to protect the community as much as possible.

5) Chareidim love all Jews, yet they feel that allegiance to Hashem as a people must come first.

6) The last and most crucial point. Judaism as we know it only has relevance because of our ability to receive it and transmit it. If we had not trusted in our leaders - especially when we disagreed or were unsure then Judaism would look totally different today. After all, we don't need leaders if we only listen to them when we agree. Rav Shteinman may not be your "Leader" but if he is ours, we feel obligated by the Torah to listen and pray that Hashem means what he says when he says to listen to the shoftim of the generation left or right.

Whether or not any of us agree with these points on principle, it is important to understand that they are not simply based on " Wanting other people to die so we don't have to". That would be as stupid as saying that the all of secularism boils down to "Wanting to give into every base pleasure at any moment and living a totally meaningless life" or that Zionism is "A way to live like a gentile while feeling very Jewish". Nothing is so simple. We do a disservice to ourselves when we tell ourselves (and others) that it is.

The Moderate Charedi and Non Charedi View

From Lock-Step to Guiding Steps: The Changing Responsibilities of the American Chareidi Community to Their Israeli Chareidi Brethren and The Entire Klal

The moderate Rabbi Berel Wein

1) I think it is important to focus on the hypocrisy/troubling reality, where someone like Jonathan Rosenblum genuinely embraces the Chief Rabbi of South Africa – Rabbi Warren Goldstein (his values, derech eretz focus, importance of work etc) but where such a Torah outlook is discounted at best and dismissed as worst by many in Israel

2) A seminal recently released book by Rabbi Berel Wein and Rabbi Warren Goldstein entitled “TheLegacy: Teachings for Life from the Great Lithuanian Rabbis” which basically makes the case that the absence of certain “Meta Torah Values” (which are not necessarily prescribed in Shulchan Aruch) make’s ones “Torah life” a non-Torah life. These include Derech Eretz, Honesty and Integrity etc.

  

South Africa Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein

3) The current developments in Israel should finally be that momentous wake-up call to the Chareidi American community where many still suffer from “how-I-yearn-to-be--like-my-Chareidi-brothers-in-Israel’ syndrome.  In other words, if only I did not have to involve myself in the gashmeous of work and just sit in learning all day for the rest of my life. 

The reality is that that system has failed in recent years and is simply unsustainable. Unsustainable financially, psychologically, family-wise and nationally. It’s time for communal efforts not to sustain the unsustainable. But rather to send money for Chareidi colleges of higher learning, Chareidi think tanks etc

4) And most importantly, if you do make Aliyah, don’t throw your American hashkafa away at JFK. It will cost you and Israeli society dearly. As it has, over all these wasted years.

5) We all know how more common it is that when a secular Israeli leaves Israel and finds him/herself in a religious community in Chutz La’Aretz – that that is where he or she is most likely to look at Judaism seriously. And why is that? Host of reasons – not least for many – the big brother Israeli Chareidi outlook and societal disengagement is the major turnoff to even consider an invitation to a shabbos table

6) For many a visiting American Chareidi Jew to Jerusalem, he or she is initially struck by the beauty of Measharim, the frumme kids with the payos running around, the sounds of Torah bellowing through the windows. And then typically he or she returns to the U.S. with a superficial understanding of how idealic Chareidi society is. Blinders finally need to come off. 

I would bet you that if you were to take a typical American Chareidi Jew and put him in  one of these Chareidi ghettos – he would not last 30 minutes.  After reality sinks he – he would at best not be able to relate to this Torah living. How ever more so for many secular Israeli’s – who see this every day and find it impossible to relate to such a community – never mind consider an invitation to join.

A few more points:

Myth/Argument: Israel is a different makom and so what applies/happens/works in Chutz l’Aretz does not mean made for Israel.

Reality: Israel certainly is a different makom. But Torah is universal. And we should all yearn to practice the right Torah (with all its many strands). It would be one thing if all in religious community in Israel had it all right. But that is not the reality. Yes there are vast differences in histories, societal make-up. But all the more reason to take a step back from the boiling pot of all in Israel and see virtues in other communities where they seem to have got some things, more right.

Myth/Argument: Chareidi American leaders telling Israel x,y is like saying the Gedolim have made mistakes

Reality: We are one nation. If we cannot utilize the collective resources, knowledge of all we are fools. We need to differentiate Halacha from hashkafa. Many of these Gedolim are surrounded by minders who make ill-informed decisions and present personal and other agendas as facts and figures to those that are trying to make informed decisions.

Just by one example of American Chareidi Society making a vast impact: Raising money in American Chareidi community to build colleges/training schools for Chareidi adults in Israel. 1) It helps Chareidim, 2) Tremendous Kiddish Hashem 3) Nurtures a better Israeli society – when non-Chareidim see tangible evidence of Chareidi society engaging and helping in very constructive way.

In summary

These turbulent times can be the time were the American Chareidi Community rises to the challenge to really help their Chareidi brethren in Israel, Israel society as a whole and the entire of Klal of Israel. 

The stark choice is theirs.

This could be the community’s finest hour. Will the collective take the mantle of leadership at this most necessitated hour? There are so many ways that a strong and balanced Chareidi communities outside Israel can play to positively impact the Israeli Chareidi society and the entire Klal.

See this new international development from Chief Rabbi of South Africa. Note the Torah of this Chief Rabbi and this community. Tolerance, respect, warmth etc.