The Far Right Does Not Represent Torah Values

Libs of Tik Tok  - Twitter feed (JTA)

I often say that I lean politically conservative. That’s because as an Orthodox Jew my religious values coincide more often with politically conservative values than they do with politically liberal values (as they are defined today). While I realize that there are Orthodox Jews that identify as politically liberal for the same reasons, I think it is pretty safe to say that most Orthodox Jews would agree with my perspective. All you have to do is look at Orthodox Jewish voting patterns.

Generally speaking conservative voters tend to be guided by their religious values while liberal voters tend to be guided more by humanistic values. I don’t think this is arguable.  This is why religious conservatives tend to be on the same side with Orthodox Jews on cultural issues that affect our respective communities.

There is unfortunately some negative fallout from this phenomenon. Which is the tendency on the part of many Orthodox Jews to go too far in support of those values. For example - it is one thing to vote for a candidate like Donald Trump because you support policies which are perceived as beneficial to the State of Israel and beneficial to religious rights. It is another to buy whole hog into every delusional comment the man utters. The sad fact is that there are too many Orthodox Jews that buy into Trump’s post election delusions about a stolen election.  Some of whom attended the events that took place on January 6^th. Although I believe most of them did not intend to break into the Capitol building, some of them actually followed those who did into the building! 

And that is extremely troubling. It a mockery of the vaunted intelligence of the Jewish people. 

That being said - in a general way I understand why so many Americans like Trump. It’s because they were sick and tired of the ‘business as usual’ way the government ran things. Too much government control, tax payer money wasted or spent on things that don’t matter to them, and too much attention on values that are antithetical to their value systems. They see Trump as the antidote to all of that. And actually like his abrasive confrontational style. 

I have heard many of his supporters saying exactly the same things he has in private even before Trump - who are now cheering the past ‘leader of the free world’ who had and still has the ‘guts’ to say publicly what they have been saying privately for years! And there are plenty of Orthodox Jews among them who believe the election was rigged and still support him.

Unfortunately this has spawned a few Orthodox Jewish nutballs that love to spew this garbage as truth much the same way the far right does. One such individual it seems is Chaya Raichik. She has been identified by the Washington Post to be behind the wildly popular Twitter feed, Libs of TikTok.

Whether the Post violated her rights by exposing her identity against her will is a subject for another discussion. But the fact that there is an Orthodox Jewish woman spewing garbage as though it were gospel is in my view a Chilul HaShem. 

This is not to say that every thing she protests shouldn’t be protested. There are some  things that definetly should be as was the case with one teacher that was recorded teaching  young students to waste seed as a means of awareness and protection from predators!  Aside from the sinful nature of doing so, it is beyond disgusting that there are teachers that see great value in advocating that their young students do such things.

 But that isn’t all Ms. Raichik does. From JTA: 

Raichik peddled and embraced many of the tropes that are popular with the pro-Trump right, including the former president’s election falsehoods.

Her fiercest focus, however, has been on the LGBTQ community. The Libs of TikTok account searches for and solicits from its followers videos in which adults — often teachers  — share their thoughts on explaining sexuality to children…

She mocked the terminology the community uses, calling it “LGBTQIABCD” and laughed. “A lot of it is based on narcissism,” she said. “Society has to give in to their delusions.” 

These views are not based on the Torah. They are based on a corrupted or overly simplistic understanding of it. I need not go into details to explain why embracing Trumps delusions about the election have zero to do with the Torah. That is self evident. And her views about LGBT go well beyond simply objecting to an agenda of normalization. She in essence condemns people that have these inclinations as narcissistic and delusional.

The Torah does not condemn inclinations. Just certain types of behavior, a distinction apparently lost on Ms. Raichik. By not making those distinctions she gives the Torah a bad name and that - as noted- is a Chilul HaShem.  

Unfortunately, I don’t think she cares. She thinks she is God’s spokesman. And a lot of Orthodox Jews don’t make these distinctions either and feel the same way she does. 

Which means she will very likely continue her crusade, very likely continue to have a huge number of followers, many of whom will be Orthodox Jews and thereby prolong the Chilul HaShem. And I don’t think there is anything we can do about it except protest it and condemn it. Which I just did.