Finally, Some Sanity

ADDeRabbi, whose blog I always enjoy, makes one of the most sensible comments on the shemitah ta-ra-ram I've seen yet. I wish there were more like him.

On Frumkeit and Hypocrisy

As a practicing MO Jew, I have nothing against frumkeit per se. On the contrary, I consider the present flourishing of the Jewish religion to be a highly positive phenomenon. After being told by non-Jews and 'enlightened' Jews for the past two centuries that we are doomed to extinction, it is heart-warming to see the exact opposite happening. Even academia, that bastion of secular liberal humanism, is starting to recognize the power and importance of religion in Jewish and non-Jewish society.

Nevertheless, this revival is not without its uglier aspects. One of these is the phenomenon of self-appointed 'defenders of the faith' who disparage and disgrace talmidei chachamim, gedolim and rabbis who are not 'frum' enough in their mind. The most extreme expression of such fanaticism is of course the small group of Me'ah She'arim kana'im (obviously I refer to a group within Meah She'arim, not all of its residents) who viciously attack all but the most stringent authorities. At times, this even leads to physical violence, as when some kana'im physically assaulted Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, when he attended and spoke at Rabbi Isser Zalaman Melzer's funeral in 1954.

Most of the expressions of this disparagement do not reach this level, although they are no less digusting and disgraceful. One such phenomenon is the use of the term 'JB' for Rav Soloveitchik or referring to Rabbis without their proper title, like a recent comment on My Obiter Dicta's post about authorities on heter mechira referred to Rav Shlomo Goren.

It goes without saying that such people would go apoplectic if one referred to the Brisker Rav or the Hazon Ish in like form. That this is utterly hypocritical and disgusting also goes without saying. It is also contrary to halacha, which did not make kavod talmidei chachamim and the issur of bizui talmidei chachamim contingent on agreement with their halachic opinions, though I'm sure many have tried to be metaher that sheretz. Worse still, by allowing the use of ad hominem and insults against Rabbis one doesn't like, the more stringent sections of the Orthodox community are burning whatever bridges of common dialogue remain between them and the 'insufficiently frum' crowd. Nay, it undercuts the very fabric of halachic dialogue and 'friendly disagreement' on which I believe normative Orthdox Judaism rests. Otherwise we are no different than the various murderous sects of tzadikim the Netziv lamented in his intro to Sefer Bereishit. It pains me immensely that it has come to this.

I don't care what your opinion is on heter mechira, kashrut, or whatever halachic issue gets your goat. You have an unequivocal halachic obligation to respect the authority and person of Rabbis who hold differently. Otherwise, you're not much different from the thugs who attacked Rav Herzog - in other words, you're just a common self-important bully.

Checkmate

The reviewer of Foreign Affairs wipes the floor with Mearsheimer and Walt. Well worth the read. (Hat Tip: Martin Kramer)

The Silent Demon: OCD and Orthodoxy

We walk among you. Most of us are normal people, many are quite intelligent. You may know us as very hard workers. Perhaps you think that we are "perfectionists" when it comes to cleaning or doing work, or that we worry excessively over what appear to be insignificant issues. What binds us all is an overwhelming, often emotionally paralyzing fear of having done something wrong by omission or commission (leaving a place dirty, not knowing whether we locked the house) as well as a ritualistic need to repeat actions over and over again until we're "sure" the problem has gone away. But the fear and the need always come back, often the second we finish our ritual.

What we all share is a biological-psychological disorder known as obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD. I'm sure you've heard of this illness in the past. You may have thought it a funny or strange quirk, one of those quaint neuroses we suffer from in the modern world. Nothing could be further from the truth. OCD is hell repeating itself over and over again on a daily, nay hourly, nay sometimes even minute-to-minute basis. Whatever our "quirk" is, it paralyzes us, takes up an increasing amount of our time, and if not checked, can consume our entire life. What's worse is that many of us are ashamed of it or don't even realize that we have a sickness, since we mistake our problem (cleanliness, order) for the cause of our anxiety rather than just the disease's "excuse" for torturing us. We're very good at hiding it too, making a compulsion seem just like slightly excessive diligence.

All of which brings me to the issue of the relationship between OCD and the 'humra' mentality of many yeshivot and Orthodox communities. What I say here is based primarily on my own experience and knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true elsewhere.

Imagine the following scenario: A new yeshiva student comes at Zman Elul and is immediately immersed in rabbinic speeches about the need to do teshuva, to change. His natural zeal to change now becomes an overwhelming fear when he realizes just how many things he's doing wrong, certainly by the ridiculously high standards he set himself and which are encouraged in the strict yeshiva world. All of a sudden he doubts himself with every action he takes - always not sure whether he said the right words at davening, always thinking that he did a sin with every move he made, or that he wasn't makpid enough or mahmir enough. Every clearly minority opinion in halakha in the mahmir direction forces him to go even further, shema that opinion is right. Eventually he simply breaks down in davening after imagining himself committing the worst sin he could think of at the time. Or perhaps, instead of just thinking and worrying excessively, he moves to compulsive activities, such as repeated fasts, mikve bathing or tefilot and acts of crying and self-flagellation.

I myself was fortunate to have a RM who was aware of dangers such as these, and helped to calm me down and take things slowly. Whenever I had a ridiculous question on halakha, he knew to answer me patiently and allay my fears. Eventually I learned of my condition and have adapted myself accordingly. I deliberately avoid the study of halakhas that would encourage crazy thoughts (such as hilkhot hanhagat haboker, nedarim etc), at least not without the oversight of someone knowledgeable enough to put things in perspective for me. Thanks to a lot of hard work, I have started to actually enjoy mitzvot and mo'adim, instead of spending every waking second thinking about what I might have done wrong.

I highly doubt there is such awareness of this problem in many of the orthodox communities and yeshivot, especially, but not exclusively, the more "right-wing" ones, where religious stringency is the norm. I have no doubt that Hanokh Daum's book on the subject, regardless of his motivations, contains a great deal more than a grain of truth when it comes to the sufferings of OCD Orthodox Jews in the "total" atmosphere that is yeshivah. For us, religion becomes a hell of emotional torture, instead of the multifaceted experience, which should include happiness and contentment alongside periods of fasting and sorrow, which I believe Judaism to be.

We walk among you. We could be your fellow hevruta or student, a neighbour or a relative. For years we have suffered terribly without you noticing. Now it is time that you look for, and listen to, our desperate cry for help.

Ahh, sweet schadenfreude!

There are few things more entertaining than watching the radical secular looney-left folks at "the newspaper for thinking people", Haaretz, tear each other apart. It seems all the hard-core secularists (scroll down for the vituperative stuff) are up in arms over a critique of a five-volume encyclopedia of post-emancipation Jewry which focuses almost exclusively on secular Judaism and Jews, by a radical post-Zionist, no less. This post-zionist critiques the book for not having Mizrahi Jews or women on the writing staff, and is a bit miffed at the lack of mention of religion in this massive encyclopedia.

Now, I have not seen the encyclopedia myself, but if this very perceptive critique by an author I read and respect has any truth to it, then not only is the encyclopedia essentially a WASP-ish (White Ashkenazi Secular Protectionist) endeavor meant for other WASPs, but much of it sounds like a souped-up version of those who-is-a Jew books that include people who were Jewish by accident of birth and no more. More importantly, the encyclopedia apparently has removed anyone who was not a die-hard secular atheist liberal - this would remove almost all of the great "Jewish" thinkers of the age, regardless of how they defined their religiosity.

After years of us religious folk having to defend ourselves against the attacks of these ideological die-hards, it's nice to see them suffer the same fate, and on the pages of their "in-house" newspaper yet. Ken Yirbu.

Attention, up-and-coming Israeli Graduate Students: WE ARE SCREWED!

One of the most common questions I get asked when I mention my field of study (Contemporary Jewry), aside from "what is that?" is "what are you going to do with that"? To tell the truth I haven't given it much thought. I entered the subject of history because I like it and because I'm good at it. I always figured I could lnd a job at a think tank, teach, do research, or if those don't work, then try translating or editing. Still, I've always wanted to be Prof. Higgins' definition of a happy person - making a living from my "hobby".

Recently I received the equivalent of a sudden dunk in a bucket of ice water. A recent study found that the amount of Israelis with higher education finding work in their chosen fields is quite low. Not only that, but the amount of tenured faculty in Israel has essentially been frozen even though thousands of students graduate with higher degrees every year. This is not even mentioning the tenure process in Israel, an over-beauracratized, top-secret and convoluted matter which can lead to decisions based on, among other things, "academic politics". Needless to say, I am not optimistic about my future, and I am seriously considering a career change if things don't start looking up.

If anyone has any suggestions to improve the situation, I'm all ears.