Before coming to Israel I never described myself as Charedi. I didn't even understand the need for the term. What happened to Yeshivish and Chasidish? I sensed that the term was an Israeli import and I sometimes judged it unfairly as a self-indulgent attempt to create a new extremism that departed from tradition.
But so it goes, one should never judge another until he stands in his place. After a few months in Israel, I could see the need for the term as a way of separating Yeshivish and Chasidish people from the Dati Looney.
In America, the Modern Orthodox are insecure around the Yeshivish and Chasidish groups and often try to imitate them and win their approval.
In Israel, the MO or DL are emboldened by their association with the military and the state and by their living in the land, which is the highest value on their menu. (Irr)-Religious Zionism in America is problematic by definition for why are you living in America if you believe in your claim that dwelling in the land is obligatory and not only that but the purpose of life? Thus, IRZs in America are always insecure.
But the DL in Israel are not just emboldened, they are just plain bold and even brazen as the culture here rubs off on everywhere. It is a culture created by military worship and we become like our gods. So while in the USA, the MO mostly admire the Charedim, the Israel they try to tear down the Charedim in all sorts of ways but none so blatantly as with the draft.
Watching the hostility towards Charedim demonstrated by the DL I can only think of antisemitic Europeans. I understand the rock throwing helps trigger the hostility but in fact the rock throwing is rare and the DL do everything they can to make any issue with Charedim, any mistakes by Charedim appear to be 100x worse and more common than they really are. Chiloni violence on Charedim is far worse than the reverse. Ask my neighbor who has a fractured eye socket due to the punch in the face he got from a Chiloni man he had never seen or talked to before. Out of nowhere -- punch in the face. I hear slurs like parasites, which is one the Nazis were fond of, used to describe Charedim. I hear slurs like wife beaters, child abusers -- claims as ridiculous as those used in the blood libel days. Of late, I have heard repeatedly the mysterious epithet of Jew-hater tossed at the Charedim. I can't say that's one the Europeans would use but it is European-like in its saying just anything that makes Charedim look bad, look horrible, look sub-human. I hear constant plotting to call the police on them. I hear encouragement of raids on their homes and confiscation of children to the state, lo aleinu.
When one tries to explain the Charedi position on such matters as the draft and modesty, the DL, or nearly everyone I speak to, don't get it at all. It's like they have no grasp on matters of kiddushah or halachah.
They, or most of them, have no respect for rabbinic authority either. Or compassion for children who are being arrested by the police via entrapment. I have had more bad interactions with women! of the DL world who demonstrate no logic (no surprise there) but also no compassion, no maternal instinct for these young children. It's appalling. And then there's their bizarre worship of the military and police. I am reminded of Prussians.
I feel as though I am not talking to Jews but something else. And I am coming to conclude that the reason it feels that I am not talking to Jews is because I am not. I suspect that there is a great deal of eruv rav in the DL/MO world today. They pretend to be religious as the eruv rav did in the desert but in fact are not even Jewish. Their mothers may be but they have latched onto the evil spirit of the eruv rav. Talking to them is so much like talking to goyim that I am reluctant to say even that they are influenced by the secular world. That would apply to a point but stop when it comes to compassion for children.
No, they are eruv rav, or appear to be, many of them. And we must all keep far away. Philosophically, Charedim are so different from the DL/MO that it's time to stop thinking of the latter as brothers and sisters of the same religion. The religions are entirely different, the latter borrowing some of the practices but having an outlook on life that is nearly entirely secular, gentile, and even decadent. It is time to cut them loose. One understands Austritt in Frankfurt better than ever. One does not have to embrace people who are trying to destroy them, even so-called brothers and sisters. Ishmael was booted from the house. Abraham separated from Lot. And Esaiv?
But so it goes, one should never judge another until he stands in his place. After a few months in Israel, I could see the need for the term as a way of separating Yeshivish and Chasidish people from the Dati Looney.
In America, the Modern Orthodox are insecure around the Yeshivish and Chasidish groups and often try to imitate them and win their approval.
In Israel, the MO or DL are emboldened by their association with the military and the state and by their living in the land, which is the highest value on their menu. (Irr)-Religious Zionism in America is problematic by definition for why are you living in America if you believe in your claim that dwelling in the land is obligatory and not only that but the purpose of life? Thus, IRZs in America are always insecure.
But the DL in Israel are not just emboldened, they are just plain bold and even brazen as the culture here rubs off on everywhere. It is a culture created by military worship and we become like our gods. So while in the USA, the MO mostly admire the Charedim, the Israel they try to tear down the Charedim in all sorts of ways but none so blatantly as with the draft.
Watching the hostility towards Charedim demonstrated by the DL I can only think of antisemitic Europeans. I understand the rock throwing helps trigger the hostility but in fact the rock throwing is rare and the DL do everything they can to make any issue with Charedim, any mistakes by Charedim appear to be 100x worse and more common than they really are. Chiloni violence on Charedim is far worse than the reverse. Ask my neighbor who has a fractured eye socket due to the punch in the face he got from a Chiloni man he had never seen or talked to before. Out of nowhere -- punch in the face. I hear slurs like parasites, which is one the Nazis were fond of, used to describe Charedim. I hear slurs like wife beaters, child abusers -- claims as ridiculous as those used in the blood libel days. Of late, I have heard repeatedly the mysterious epithet of Jew-hater tossed at the Charedim. I can't say that's one the Europeans would use but it is European-like in its saying just anything that makes Charedim look bad, look horrible, look sub-human. I hear constant plotting to call the police on them. I hear encouragement of raids on their homes and confiscation of children to the state, lo aleinu.
When one tries to explain the Charedi position on such matters as the draft and modesty, the DL, or nearly everyone I speak to, don't get it at all. It's like they have no grasp on matters of kiddushah or halachah.
They, or most of them, have no respect for rabbinic authority either. Or compassion for children who are being arrested by the police via entrapment. I have had more bad interactions with women! of the DL world who demonstrate no logic (no surprise there) but also no compassion, no maternal instinct for these young children. It's appalling. And then there's their bizarre worship of the military and police. I am reminded of Prussians.
I feel as though I am not talking to Jews but something else. And I am coming to conclude that the reason it feels that I am not talking to Jews is because I am not. I suspect that there is a great deal of eruv rav in the DL/MO world today. They pretend to be religious as the eruv rav did in the desert but in fact are not even Jewish. Their mothers may be but they have latched onto the evil spirit of the eruv rav. Talking to them is so much like talking to goyim that I am reluctant to say even that they are influenced by the secular world. That would apply to a point but stop when it comes to compassion for children.
No, they are eruv rav, or appear to be, many of them. And we must all keep far away. Philosophically, Charedim are so different from the DL/MO that it's time to stop thinking of the latter as brothers and sisters of the same religion. The religions are entirely different, the latter borrowing some of the practices but having an outlook on life that is nearly entirely secular, gentile, and even decadent. It is time to cut them loose. One understands Austritt in Frankfurt better than ever. One does not have to embrace people who are trying to destroy them, even so-called brothers and sisters. Ishmael was booted from the house. Abraham separated from Lot. And Esaiv?
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