No matter how much I rail against it… no matter how much this brave new Orthodox world departs from the traditions of the past - they will continue along the path of encouraging the same identical lifestyle for all - and keep adding strictures in the name of ‘Torah True’ Judaism. (...a favorite expression of theirs)
The Charedi public has been indoctrinated to think along these lines. buying into it all hook, line, and sinker. So that if one does not follow this path, they aren’t really being true to the Torah. At best they are ‘Krum’ and at worst not even Frum! This both angers and depresses me.
There are two things I was recently sent that made me once again be painfully aware of this trend. One - sent by a freind - was an announcement made by a mainstream Charedi elementary school that offers a secular studies curriculum in the afternoon - that their 8th grade will now be substituting Talmud study for at least a portion of that part of the day.
But with a ‘clever twist’! They believe it will satisfy the English language requirement since they will be asked to write down what they learned in English and be graded on it. The primary thing being that they will be able to finish an entire Mesechta that way. As my friend indicated, this how a school can get rid of secular studies (and get away with it).
The idea that one needs to be able to function to the best of their ability in society is no longer a value. The only value is learning Gemarah and its myriad commentaries. For men the only way to fully fulfil our mandate as Jews is by doing that. If we don’t, well we are just second class citizens and ought to feel pretty bad about it. If one needs to feed their families and no longer able to study Gemara full time, it is seen as a depressing - almost tragic loss in their lives.
I can’t imagine how we came to this. But this is where the mainstream Charedi world already is. And it is apparently getting worse in that direction.
Judaism is not a ‘one size fits all’ religion. This is not how God wants all of we Jewish men to lead our lives. Nor was it this way in the past in pre-Holocaust Europe going back thousands of years to to the days of Talmud and Mishna. The most devout of Jews of those times did not do that. Most lived lives serving God in ways best suited to their talents. The great Talmudic academies of those times surely did not have every single Jew attending them. People worked. In fact some of the greatest sages of that era had jobs – even as craftsmen – like shoemakers and the like.
The right will argue that we have a lot more material to study now in order to come anywhere near what they knew. That even if we study Gemara day and night for all our lives we probably won’t even scratch the surface. So we MUST give up working in order to at least TRY to accomplish this almost futile task.
This is the mainstream Charedi mentality these days. Jobs? Work? Supporting families? That’s what women and government subsidies are for. That is what parents and grandparents are for. It is our obligation to study Gemarah first, foremost, and forever!
What about those of us that are incapable of doing that for some reason? Either because we don’t have the brains, the diligence, or interest to sit 24/7/375 in front of a Gemara? Well... that’s tough! We can’t afford to lose the one ‘late bloomer’ that might become the biggest Talmid Chacham of all time.
I do not believe for a second that this is what God want’s all; of us to do. What about that late bloomer? He will arise without having to sacrifice all of us on that alter. An example of a late bloomer often cited by the right is the Netziv. Can we imagine what we would have missed out had he been directed to do something else?
Well, guess what? He did not live in a time where every single male Jew was indoctrinated to sit and learn Gemara full time. Back then only the select few were given that opportunity. There were simply not enough places in the existing Yeshivos of that time to accommodate every Jew. But somehow, the Netziv found his way to his destiny without that kind of societal push.
Where there is a will there is a way. The idea that we must send every one to learn full time hurts Judaism more than it helps. It creates and perpetuates a dependency class that gives little if any value to men supporting their families.
The other upsetting thing I was made aware of was a tweet by Rabbi Gil Student (see above). It asked a legitimate question about what the biggest Nachas a child can do for a parent. Decent question. Right? Except the 20 respondents (one of which was Rabbi Student) were all men. As if it didn’t matter how a mother would answer that question.
This is yet another example of erasing women from the Jewish square. The new ‘Frumkeit’ of not publishing any pictures of even faces of women is not enough. We shouldn’t even hear how a woman feels about an issue about which she will be the most responsible parent.
Mothers are the parent that teaches their children about Judaism first. Should they not have been part of that discussion?
Not in this brave new ‘womanless’ world we now live in. Making matters worse is that most Charedi women are now being indoctrinated to accept this is the norm. They have been taught to see themselves as temptresses of men if in any way they might encounter men. Even by expressing an opinion on matter related to child rearing!
I am so disgusted with the way things are going. The Modern Orthodox/Centrist community that does not have these values is increasingly being marginalized by the Charedi world. And their much greater numbers and growth rate almost guarantees that mainstream Judaism will at some point not consider them Orthodox at all. With the proportional representation of each within Orthdoxy going in opposite directions it will make - the MO/Centrist portion of mainstream Orthodoxy infinitesimal by comparison.
There is an old saying that a pendulum always swings back. I hope it does. But the trend seems to keep going in one direction. I see no evidence that things will change – regardless of the obvious problems it increasingly causes. That is the saddest thing of all. And it is why I sometimes feel like a dinosaur - about to become extinct!