The Virtual Infallibility of Subjective 'Daas Torah'

Yeshiva students protesting the arrest of one of their own (VIN)

It isn’t their fault. Although they are surely responsible for their own actions - the protesters are simply victims of a culture that mandates fealty to one’s religious leaders regardless of its inherent logic or the consequences to others. The concept of Daas Torah being represented by a particular religious leader has become the sine qua non of the Yeshiva world.

Judaism does not believe in human infallibility as does another mainstream religion. Papal infallibility is the cornerstone of the Catholic Church. The authority of the pope cannot be challenged. He cannot by definition make mistakes. Any pronouncement by him is to be believed. 

For us, only God is infallible.  A human being, no matter how great can and does make mistakes. 

I would suggest that that in our world today, the idea of an infallible religious leader is now a reality among the religious right. No mater how much they will deny it.  

One would think that the belief that only God is infallible would prevent any of us seeing a religious leader that way. In theory that is absolutely true. But in practice it has become the rule among the  religious right. 

How does the right reconcile this contradiction? In the following way. Yes, our religious leaders can and do make mistakes. But since they are the most knowledgeable Jews among us, we need to trust their judgment and follow what they say. In this way they can eat their cake and have it too: Built in deniability to the infallibility argument while as a practical matter they are indeed infallible.

This used to be the sole province of Chasidic Rebbes. But the Yeshiva world has increasingly adopted the same modus operandi about their Roshei Yeshiva or other accepted religious leaders.  

Which brings me to the recent protest by Yeshiva students in Israel. It was against the arrest of a student that refused to register for the draft. From VIN:

Shimon Gozlan, a student at the Ponovezh yeshiva who was arrested for desertion and whose arrest sparked stormy demonstrations by the Jerusalem Faction in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak Wednesday, was sentenced to 68 days in a military jail. The sentence will be implemented after the festival period.

Gozlan (23) was arrested during a routine check in the north which revealed that he was a deserter who had not shown up at the enlistment bureau for deferment of army service.

The “Committee for Saving the Torah World” affiliated with the Jerusalem Faction will meet at the home of Rabbi Asher Deutsch to determine whether to renew the demonstrations in the wake of the jail sentence.

On Wednesday, the demonstrators blocked major intersections in Jerusalem and on road 4 near Bnei Brak at 4:30 PM, causing huge traffic snarls and disruptions. Some demonstrators crawled under a police water cannon truck in order to prevent it from moving. After 3 hours of protests, the demonstrators dispersed by themselves and the roads were reopened. Police arrested two of the demonstrators during the protest.

It still galls me that army service is so vehemently vilified by the Yeshiva world (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this post). But leaving that aside, what this community had always wanted for Yeshiva students they have.

 A few years ago there was a move to eliminate the exemption for all but a few students. Long story short a compromise was reached whereby they now must register for the draft and thereby be exempt for as long as they study Torah full time. (Up to a certain age. After which they will automatically be exempted if I understand correctly.) 

This was accepted at the time by the two most senior rabbinic leaders of the Yeshiva world. It was however rejected by another senior rabbinic leader who urged his followers - mostly Yeshiva students - to refuse to register. They saw him as their virtual pope and considered it their religious duty to protest when one of their own refused to obey the draft law and was arrested!

This is not about their right to protest. They certainly have that right in a democracy. It is about whether that particular right was inherently justifiable. That they got what they wanted but didn't like the conditions placed on it  does not in my view justify the kind of disruption - and possible danger to life by hindering emergency vehicles -  they caused

For me the fault lies in the indoctrination of today’s right wing youth about the infallibility of their religious leaders - calling it Daas Torah. Thereby rejecting the Daas Torah of more rational leaders.

In my view it is illogical - and even moronic - to not register for the draft and then get the very exemption you always had and will continue to have. But logic has nothing to do with it once you have a pope.

After all if over a billion Christians believe that their pope is infallible, why not a few Yeshiva student about their religious leader?!  It’s too bad that these otherwise very intelligent Yeshiva students have had their brains turned into mush.