Broken
I saw an ad soliciting matanos l'evyonim in one of the Jewish newspapers that we get.
I know this is nothing new. But it struck me like cold water when I read the ad and processed what it really meant. Is this what the Torah had in mind?
I saw an ad soliciting matanos l'evyonim in one of the Jewish newspapers that we get.
Your Matanos L'Evyonim Sweetens (sic) The Bitter Lives of Over 10,000 Children In Every City And Town of Eretz IsraelMy reaction to this ad was one of sadness and chalishas hada'as. How have we come to this point? How could the "Gedolei HaDor" (who have supposedly appointed this particular charity as the one of choice) have allowed this to happen? They have created a society of voluntary poverty that relies on the goodwill and chesed of their coreligionists. They have created the 10,000 bitter lives.
I know this is nothing new. But it struck me like cold water when I read the ad and processed what it really meant. Is this what the Torah had in mind?
Labels: Random Thoughts
posted by MoChassid @ 10:47 PM
19 Comments:
At 7:08 AM,
bluke said…
It is even more distressing when you read things like this How much does it cost to get engaged in Charedi Israel? where people in the Charedi world are supposed to spend a fortune ($1000+ watches) on engagement gifts when they can't even make ends meet.
At 9:26 AM,
MoChassid said…
Bluke
Nice stuff on your blog.
At 11:14 AM,
MoChassid said…
kishke
A system that sentences its adherents to a life of bitterness (their words, not mine), is a system that is broken. A system that is designed to rely on the charity of others so that batei midrashot can be filled with men who are not qualified to be there is a system that is broken.
Devoting one's life to Torah is a great ideal. Taking care of your family while being koveiah itim is an even greater ideal.
At 11:47 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
"That's one way to look at it. Another way is that they have created a society in which limud haTorah is the paramount value, and in which people are willing to sacrifice for lives that revolve entirely and purely around Torah."
Bull. Shit.
At 12:03 PM,
MoChassid said…
Can we please watch our language? Thank you.
At 3:30 PM,
MoChassid said…
kishke
The leviim were 1/12 of the population. If only 1/12 of the chareidi community would be in kollel (for more than a few years), the system would work.
The system is just as broken in many communities in America were you can't get a shidduch if you work.
At 4:02 PM,
and so it shall be... said…
"Can we please watch our language? Thank you."
"SW: I return the sentiment."
Sometimes,the unvarnished truth just needs to be said.
At 4:54 PM,
MoChassid said…
SW
The truth can be said in many ways.
At 9:03 PM,
MoChassid said…
I am not suggesting 1/12 is the right ratio. I don't suggest that I know what the right number is. All I know is that the right number isn't what it is today. I concede that it isn't as bad in the US but there are still many things that are out of control. The absolute ban on the internet, for example, is a fantasy-land reaction to reality. Within a few short years, having access to the internet will be like having access to a phone. We can deny that or deal with it.
At 10:21 PM,
and so it shall be... said…
But had the gedolim not set up this system 40 years ago, there would be no Torah in klal Yisrael today, chas v'sholom."
SW: Unvarnished it is; the truth it isn't.
Sure. Convince yourself. If it makes you and your mindless leaders feel improtant. Talk about untruth ...
There was a vibrant, flourishing American Jewish community 40 years ago. It was comprised of upstanding, honest, hard-working, respectable, and eminently religiously observant Orthodox Jews. Jews that worked a lot harder to stay religious than the shtetl peasants who were yet to appear.
Yet, somehow, a nation of refugees arrived in America after WWII to let American Jewry know that without them, they would amount to nothing.
Take your chauvenistic claptrap and tell it to someone who agrees with you that American Jewry began in 1946.
American Jewry was doing just fine without the brilliant idea of promoting dependancy and fantasy as religious precepts.
At 8:01 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
I'm glad to hear that you are the product of frum people who lived in the US since the turn of the century.
As a matter of fact, I am, too. I'm a fifth generation American, the product of a family that founded two shul, both still in existence, and was intrumental in the establishment of a yeshiva, also still in existence.
The Young Israel movement, RIETS, Torah Vodaath, Chaim Berlin, Orthodox Union, Agudas Ha-Rabonim, and a host of other pre-war institutions were vibrant and effective; hardly dying entities in need of santimonious critics and revisionists.
The Rabbonim who founded these organizations were from Europe -- who wasn't? -- but these were native American creations that, consistent with my point, existed and flourished before the kollel set arrived. For goodness sake, YU was started by European rabbis; Rav Soloveitchik was hired by the Agudas-Harabonim
Furthermore, the stock of Orthodox Jews in pre-war United States were hearty and wholly committed to the continuance and solidification of American Orthodoxy. They didn't need to be bullied and manipulated into observance. It was germane to their being.
They had forged a unique Americanized Judaism that melded the civic reponsibilities of education, activism, observance, and self-sufficiency; not necessarily in that order.
Such Jews were found, if not in quantity then certainly of quality, from one shore of the US to the other.
The lionization of a generation of Jews eager to tamp down these accomplishments with their halcyon recollections of Euorope is a calculated fiction and offensive to descendant Orthodox Jews of pre-war America, of which there exist quite a few.
At 10:24 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
At 10:28 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
Who in the world is denying facts? There was a reason all the organizations I referred to in my earlier post were organized. They shared a concrete concern about rampant assimilation.
Why else would organizations like Torah Umesorah have been established (which it was in 1944, by a visionary American educator of European origin)?
But this is not my point. I resent, object, and laugh at your assertion that American Orthodoxy would have evaporated if not for the corruption- and dependancy-condoning populations that established themselves in Lakewood and Brooklyn after the war.
It simply is not true and propogating these myths only serves to conveniently dismiss and disregard the tremendous sacrifices and advances of pre-war American Jewry -- that which made ALL of the arrogant posturing of post-war kollel proponents a possibility to begin with.
Without the infrastructure pre-war American Jews created, there would be no American Orthodoxy today. Just pockets of dependant isolationists cowering in fear of the next Holocaust.
At 10:34 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
But I will not let the negative aspects of our experience blind me to the huge positive things we have gained.
If these gains were simply a means to reach the insideous, damaging, and decadent ends that you just described, then what was the point? The whole concept of American frumkeit has been tainted by the so-called Chareidi elite.
I'd even go as far as to say that if not for them, American Orthodoxy would be far more vibrant and Orthodox.
Those who champion a lifestyle of dependancy, social manipulation, and skin-deep frumkeit thoroughly taint the achievements of the American pre-war pioneers who fought tooth and nail to create a Jewish America that stood for religious sincerity, freedom, and intellectual honesty.
At 2:10 PM,
and so it shall be... said…
As for the downside I pointed out, these people are not the core of American Orthodoxy; they are the fringe people. They have more power than they once did, but as people become more aware of what is happening, their power is sure to decrease.
This is no less specious than muslims who claim that the radicals are a fringe element. It's simply not true and furthermore serves to mask the real danger of their ideology. Not to compare arabs to Jews, god forbid, but the sociological precedent is clear that radicals beget more radicals. It will not diminish if left unchallenged.
And besides, these views are not an outgrowth of normative yeshivishe Orthodoxy, they are an import of Israel haredism, and of chasidism.
They may not be an outgrowth, but your so-called 'normative' yeshivishe Orthodoxy, due to it's inherent lack of substance and intellectual honesty, has long ago been enveloped and redefined by this radical Israeli import of Israeli haredism and chassidism.
It's easier to take than to give. And this mentality has transformed frumkeit and limud hatorah into a rabbinically ordained Ponzi Scheme that will soon swallow all of Orthodoxy alive.
At 8:22 PM,
and so it shall be... said…
"It appears to me that you're not saying anything you haven't said already, and I've pretty much made my points as well. So although I disagree with you strongly, I'm going to call it quits now."
Thank you for proving my point: the basis of the kollel club rests on the erroneous insistence that some Jews are simply better than others because and only because that's how their leadership has chosen to interpret recent, otherwise verifiable history.
At 1:03 AM,
Jack Steiner said…
The system is going to collapse.
At 8:51 AM,
and so it shall be... said…
"I don't know how you read that into my comment, but if it makes you happy, it's fine with me."
Actually, I didn't have to read anything in. You said it yourself:
agree that the system could use some fixing and tweaking, so that those who are not truly devoted to Torah can have other options. But had the gedolim not set up this system 40 years ago, there would be no Torah in klal Yisrael today, chas v'sholom.
That is their right, and to my mind, they are to be praised, not vilified. Giving them tzedkah, in addition to the mitzvah of tzedakah, is an opportunity for us to gain some small chelek in their sacrifice. It's not something to complain about.
At 12:12 PM,
and so it shall be... said…
I know you are, but what am I?
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