Not Simple, but Necessary: Why Isolation?

[If there's one thing I've learned from the brilliant and irreverent Evanston Jew, it is the importance of empathy towards those with whom you disagree, even if virulently. If you truly understand where your rival is coming from, then a genuinely constructive dialogue can potentially commence. The following is an explanation of the RW impulse against integration and interaction with non-Orthodox Jews. I will explain why I believe this impulse does much more harm than good in the following parts of this series. - aiwac]

For decades, liberal and moderate religious Jews have bemoaned and decried the increasing dogmatism and stringencies that have taken root among the rising force of RW Charedim and RWMO Jews. It's a "new/modern phenomenon" they cry, not the "real thing". This debate, sparked by the programmatic essays of Yaacov Katz and Haim Soloveitchik, continues to run round in circles to this day, each side clinging to their positions for dear life.

All of this may be true, but it is ultimately useless, because it ignores the very real psychological and religious forces behind this drive to the right. Put bluntly, the RW Jews may be factually "wrong", but theirs is nevertheless a perfectly natural and understandable human reaction to the infinite challenges of modern life to a life led by Torah and Mitzvot, even if I believe it to be mistaken. Consider, if you will, the fact that pre-modernity, most Jews were Shomer Torah and Mitzvot to some extent, even if many were lax or not knowledgeable on the fine points. By the time of WWII, the situation was completely reversed. As of this writing, roughly 90% of the world's Jews are not actively Orthodox, a statistic which is not likely to change in the near future.

That small portion of Jewry that held fast to Orthodoxy literally saw the religious world around them collapse. Suddenly everything they held dear – from the existence of God to the authorship of the Chumash, the morality of halacha and the relevance of Torah to the modern world – was increasingly dismissed not just by non-Jews but also fellow tribesmen. Even Jews who grew up in a religious atmosphere or went to a religious school had the unpleasant experience of seeing most of his or her classmates "leave the faith". David Ben-Gurion's famous quip that "everyone who grew up in Plonsk, became a kofer" may not be strictly correct, but it certainly speaks of the atmosphere of the time.

We can thus begin to understand the isolation impulse. Having often seen this collapse for themselves, or their parents having seen it, they want to ensure their own children do not have to endure such tests and possibly go "off the derech". We can thus understand that the problem that sparked this ever-increasing impulse of isolation is very real.

Nevertheless, I think the solution is dangerously flawed, for reasons I will go into another time.

Shabbat Shalom

aiwac