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| Is 'Just say no' the right message? (Mishpacha) |
Sometimes I wonder about the values of the Charedi world.
Not so much about the values they promote. But about the values that they don’t.
Obviously the Charedi
world cares about their obligation to God. In that sense they are almost by
definition extremely concerned about getting that right. And for the most part they do. They try and make sure that any Mitzvah they do is done in the best way possible even
if it is more expensive doing it that way. Such as buying the most Mehudar (Halachicly beautiful)
Esrog on Sukkos; making sure that they
fulfill the Mitzvah of Maaser Kesafim by giving ten percent of their income to
charity; or by spending as much of their time in Torah study as possible… and
much, much more. The meticulous nature of their observance is where they shine
above all other observant Jews.
As I have said many times in the past, they are to be
emulated on that score. Speaking only for myself, I fall short on many those counts.
So what’s my problem? In this case it is the lack of
instilling in their youth that committing a crime is against Halacha.Which is compounded by the
Chilul HaShem that results when they get caught. And yet in dealing with the problem Mishpacha Magazine practically ignores it – focusing instead on the consequences of being
caught.
The crime is smuggling khat (a plant that induces euphoria) from
Israel where it is legal - into a foreign country where it is not. A crime that by their own admission, many of their youth
have been increasingly getting involved with:
Over the last few months, dozens of chareidi youngsters have been arrested in airports across Europe for smuggling khat into England, Denmark, and France, among other countries. In almost all the cases, they are just carriers, with no real stake in the smuggling operation. These youngsters have been approached by a chareidi smuggler who offers them NIS 1,000 to 5,000 to take either a small package or an entire suitcase full of the substance. If you’re caught, the smugglers advise, most likely you’ll be sent home without a punishment. And if you make it through unnoticed, you’ll have a nice sum of money to spend for a few days in a foreign capital.
In some cases it is done unwittingly as follows. A
Charedi looking fellow who is a drug smuggler will dupe an innocent Charedi
youth he encounters at the airport into taking take a package containing this substance and lie about it, telling them
it is something like Parshiyos for
Tefillin that someone in their country of destination inadvertently left behind.
That actually happened as described in the Mishpacha article.
That young Charedi believed that stranger because he looked and sounded like the people he grew up
with and trusted. He found out the hard way that what was in that
package was a drug that was illegal in the country was going to. Fortunately the inspectors at the airport that caught him believed his story. He was sent on his way and made his flight.
It’s hard to believe that people would just accept a package
from a stranger these days no matter what they look like. The first question asked of a traveler is
whether anyone gave them a package. But I suppose they can be forgiven for their naiveté - which can be attributed to their sheltered lifestyle. That their community has allowed him to be sheltered to that extent is a
problem beyond the scope of this post.
But what seems to be more common is the fact that many Charedi
youth see smuggling dope a great way to earn some extra spending money in the
country they will be visiting. They seem to have no moral compunction about doing
anything like that. They apparently do
it with complete abandon as though they do nothing wrong. In other words it’s OK to
steal from Goyim if you can get away with it.
Stealing is exactly what they are
dong. G’nevas Daas (misleading people ) –
is as much stealing as is stealing money. Which is Assur whether it is being stolen
from a Jew or a non Jew. Nor do they apparently think about the Chilul HaShem that occurs
when a highly identifiable Jew gets caught in a crime. Especially when that crime involves international smuggling drug smuggling.
I understand why Mishpacha focuses on the consequences. Which
can be pretty severe – as they have been of late. While the consequences used to be a reprimand by the foreign authorities that caught them and perhaps an immediate deportation back to Israel, it has
been happening with such frequency that many of those countries ate now imprisoning them.
I
get that Mishpacha wants to prevent them form doing that by ‘scaring them straight’. A
lot of heartache will be avoided if they succeed in doing that.
But where is the moral outrage? Where is the education that
instills in these young people that smuggling dope is anathema to the very thing they
identify as - Charedi Jews? Why are they not taught to be Chareid L’Dvar HaShem
– to ‘tremble’ at the word of God on this issue as they do when they Daven Shemonah Esreh?
That is what was missing in the article. Do they think international
drug smuggling is not that terrible? Is it only getting caught that is? Because
by omission - that seems to be the message.
