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| Charedi Posek R' Moshe Sternbuch |
He uses cites a question he read in in Hamodia where a Charedi tutor asks the following question:
“I tutor a yeshiva student every Monday after classes are done. At the beginning of the zman, I stipulated to the father that he had to pay me even if the boy did not come to the yeshiva that day. The father just called me to inform me that his son couldn’t come to yeshiva today but understands that he has to pay me regardless. It happens that I cannot be there today either, so I would not have been able to tutor him regardless. Am I obligated to tell the father, or is it my mazel that allowed me to get paid for a day that I could not tutor?”
Questions like this are not uncommon in the Charedi world. I believe that the vast majority of Charedim consult Poskim on a variety of issues. Many of them ethical. They want to observe both Mitzvos the Bein Adam L’Makom (man and God) and Bein Adam L’Chaveiro. – (Man and his fellow man).
Although contrasting the Charedi petitioner with MO is what Michael referring to, I was referring to another contrast: The proliferation of Ponzi schemes in the Charedi world. A problem so serious that a lot of innocent people within that community are getting hurt. So serious that it has made the pages of popular Charedi magazines asking experts to advise their community how to spot a fraudster and to how to avoid falling for their schemes.
What this shows is that there are scoundrels like this in every segment of Judaism. No less than the rest of the world. being no less affected by it than the secular world. That said I believe the vast majority of Charedim are more like the tutor asking the question in Hamodia than they are Ponzi schemers. At the same time that there are so many Ponzi schemers in the Charedi world says that there is something about the values that are taught. Apparently there is not enough emphasis on Bein Adam L’Chaveiro
Back to the question asked by Michael. Why isn’t there all that many Shailos being asked in the Modern Orthodox world?
I think the answer might be that many MO Jews simply do not care enough to ask question like these. They see them as trivial. So they make these decisions for themselves. Sometimes being Halachicly incorrect. But even so they do not think issues like the one this tutor asked about are such a big deal. Not in their lives and not in the lives of people affected by them.
On the other hand, asking Shailos of has gone too far in much the Charedi world. Many of the questions asked are indeed trivial or can easily be answered with common sense. But they have been indoctrinated to never make a move without consulting Daas Torah. So they will even ask what color floor tile should they use in a bathroom remodel. That is no good either.
The question is, where to draw the line.
I therefore think that the two worlds (Charedi and MO) could learn a lot from each other. The Torah’s view of ethics should be on the minds of all of us, MO included. But at the same time common sense ought to be a part of one’s thinking too.
