Rabbi Weissman: A Million Man ......

 

....Chillul Hashem…..  A perspective no one will like, but which must be considered

In this week’s Torah class we learned about one of the defining traits of Avraham Avinu: the willingness to stand alone and stand for truth, even if it meant risking everything. (The class is 48 minutes long, so don’t think it can be reduced to this sound bite, and there’s no reason to watch it.) It’s embedded above and on Rumble here. 

Although we pay homage to Avraham Avinu for defying societal expectations, few of us internalize the message, certainly not enough to take action. I have tried to emulate my forefather in my own small way, publicly going against the flow numerous times over the years. This ensured that I would never fit smoothly into any of the various boxes that have tragically come to comprise the Orthodox Jewish world. 

This comes with daunting consequences. A seriously frum Jew who doesn’t fit into a box, doesn’t pretend to, and doesn’t want to, is virtually unmarriageable and, as a rabbi and teacher, unhireable. (This is why so many of our brightest young people, the ones who simply can’t or won’t become clones and drones, go “off the derech”. Going against pseudo-religious social expectations while remaining firmly inside the pale is a very lonely path.)

With that in mind, I’m going to offer an avant-garde perspective on today’s massive “Charedi” protest, which will somewhat resonate with people in every box, but which will please almost no one.

I don’t care who likes it or how much, because it’s firmly rooted in Torah. Not “Da’as Torah”, but real Torah. And that’s all that matters to me.

But first, to fully appreciate this perspective, we need an introduction.

People have occasionally wondered why I don’t become “Charedi”. After all, many of my views align with theirs, more or less, so why not just slap on the uniform, join the club, and enjoy all the benefits of being one of God’s REAL Chosen People? 

I definitely would have had an easier time with shidduchim had I caved and put on a black hat. (One time I was told a girl’s grandfather wouldn’t have minded if at least I wore a grey hat, but the girl insisted on a black hat, since apparently we’re so much more frum today, so that shidduch idea was killed at the moat.) I might have even had one of those mythical lists of girls just desperate for a date — even with me! — because there are so many amazing single women out there and not enough guys (LOL). 

Without the black hat, however, they’d rather remain single for a thousand lifetimes than even consider me, irrespective of supply and demand. What kind of Torah home could I possibly have? And, most importantly, what would their friends say?

But there was no way I would “compromise” on this seemingly trivial requirement to date someone without a major blemish, if even that. The cost of becoming a Charedi, or even pretending enough to marry a religious, sincere, devoted, reasonably attractive, moderately brainwashed girl, who might also be pretending just enough to fit in, was for the essence of me to die. 

I too would rather remain single for a thousand lifetimes than for the essence of me to die, especially at my own hands.

Over 20 years ago, when my articles about the shidduch world and my work with EndTheMadness were making waves, a prominent Rosh Yeshiva in New York who knew my family invited me to meet with him. One of the main points I had been stressing was that the infatuation with non-halachic externalities was improper and wreaking havoc in the shidduch world. The purpose of the meeting, I quickly discovered, was to take issue with this and demonstrate that the “Charedi” uniform was essential and sacred.

Argument #1: “If you were meeting the President of the United States, wouldn’t you wear a hat? So you should certainly be dignified and wear one for Hashem.”

“Actually,” I replied, “I wouldn’t wear a hat if I met the President. Most people don’t wear hats today. The President himself doesn’t wear one. And there’s nothing dignified about running around in the rain wearing a hat with a shopping bag wrapped around it like the Chassidim do, just for the sake of wearing the hat. I certainly wouldn’t meet the President like that!”

The Rosh Yeshiva proceeded to argument #2: “All the Gedolim wear a hat.”

This is one of two joker cards Charedim play in lieu of substantive arguments. The other, of course, is “Da’as Torah”, which is similar, and serves as a fallback option when a Charedi attempts to articulate a reasonable, Torah-based argument and fails. Whatever, Da’as Torah, checkmate.

The Rosh Yeshiva was going to need to do better than that, at least with me. First of all, I replied, who exactly are “All the Gedolim”? Who is part of this exclusive but ambiguous club, who isn’t, who gets to decide, and what are the criteria? Since the Rosh Yeshiva wouldn’t accept anyone as a Gadol who didn’t wear a hat, he was engaging in circular logic. 

Second of all, are we just monkeys? If all the Gedolim eat cornflakes for breakfast every day, does that mean we should eat cornflakes every day?

The Rosh Yeshiva’s reply was surprising: “Yes! If they are eating cornflakes it must mean that there is something special about it, and we should emulate them.”

It was at this point that Charediism, for all its virtues, officially became a cult, and I realized there could be no intelligent, productive discourse with this Rosh Yeshiva or anyone like him. I dismissed his reply and told him there is certainly much to learn from observing the Gedolim, but I would eat whatever I like for breakfast.

Argument #3: “The police department has uniforms. The fire department has uniforms. Torah Jews also have uniforms. This is their uniform.”

“First of all,” I countered, “the police and firemen aren’t wearing the same uniforms they wore in Poland a hundred years ago. Uniforms change.

“Second of all, you don’t dress like Rashi, or the Rambam, or the way Jews dressed thousands of years ago. If you want to be traditional, dress like them. If not, why should I dress specifically like a Polish nobleman?

“Third of all, who cares what the police and firemen do? Since when do you copy the goyim?”

That was essentially the end of the conversation.

Someone in shul this morning asked me if I’m going to the “Charedi prayer service” today. I’m not sure if he was being playful or serious. Either way, not actually wasn’t I going, I told him, I was livid about it. It’s a million man chillul Hashem. What gives them the right to block the roads and highways all around Jerusalem? What gives them the right to punish thousands of random, innocent people for the sake of their cause, however noble it might be?

***********

Ironically, my father is also a musmach of Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, and was one of his personal drivers. But because of this giant protest “for the sake of Torah and those who study it”, my father was going to be abandoned this afternoon when he was in desperate need of company for his physical and mental health. And my father was far from the only unwilling sacrifice.

Did the organizers of the protest take this into account? Did all the obedient uniform-wearing attendees take it into account? Did they make contingency plans for the many, many people like my father in hospitals, rehab centers, and nursing homes, who desperately need people to visit them and look after them?

No. A Charedi yeshiva student in prison who somehow became a poster child for the protest was more important. Showing Charedi clout was more important. That most of all.

Yesterday after shacharis one of the ubiquitous fundraisers and schnorrers who make it even harder to daven than it already is delivered an original pitch. He was raising money to buy musical instruments for a band to play for residents of nursing homes. “It’s literally pikuach nefesh!” he proclaimed.

If that’s the case, then staging a protest that denies countless elderly and sick people visitors who do much more than play music for a few minutes is literally killing people. Even if you want to argue that protesting the imprisonment of a yeshiva student is pikuach nefesh, what gives you the right to do so at the expense of other people’s nefesh?

If I had the time and ability, I would have loved to interview some people at the protest on camera and ask them. 

No doubt they would have dutifully recited their canned lines about Gedolim, Da’as Torah, and Kavod HaTorah. We are fighting for the sake of Torah and the Jewish people, so we have to make sacrifices! We follow the Gedolim!

But the question should lead to serious reflection, not a reflexive defensive response; that’s intellectually dishonest. The question should bother them. It should make them seek a proper answer. It should make them reconsider participating in the protest, even if that comes with social consequences. We don’t blindly follow the herd, especially when the herd is trampling on innocent people.

“I’m sure the Gedolim took all your arguments into account” is not an acceptable response, either. If that is true, the Gedolim™ should have proactively demonstrated this with a proper teshuva well in advance. That’s how it’s supposed to work if we’re talking about Judaism, and not a cult.

None of the programmed reactions bring any honor to the Torah; just the opposite. No one who isn’t already deeply programmed and indoctrinated, who hasn’t decided that being a good Charedi is more important than being a good Jew, or even just a mensch, will be impressed. 

No one who isn’t religious will want to become Torah observant in light of this “kiddush Hashem”; just the opposite. 

No one who doesn’t identify as Charedi will care more about the plight of yeshiva students who are languishing in prison; just the opposite.

None of the thousands of random, innocent people stuck in traffic for hours, or whose difficult lives were otherwise made miserable, will be drawn to the Torah cause because of this protest. Many of them will be cursing the protestors. How is that a kiddush Hashem? Does anyone even care?

And that’s the biggest problem with the whole thing. The people who dutifully shut down the main arteries of Jerusalem today, bringing havoc on thousands of innocent people in so many ways, don’t care. It probably didn’t even enter their minds, and if you bring it to their attention, they stillwon’t give it serious consideration; they will just be defensive. All the Gedolim, after all.

The joke is that I am actually sympathetic to their cause. I have been very outspoken about the atrocity of the regime arresting yeshiva students, or anyone, who refuses to join the IDF. I have no problem with referring to prisoners of Zion as hostages, and I’m glad to see large numbers of people organizing to protest — but this is not the way.

I don’t know who came up with the idea of punishing the general public in this fashion whenever you’re upset about something, no matter how legitimate or important the cause might be, but it is indefensible according to the Torah. Even if “All the Gedolim” proclaim otherwise. 

Melodramatic proclamations about fighting for Torah and saving lives are not a substitute for a carefully reasoned halachic responsa that clearly outlines the boundaries of causing collateral damage for the sake of protesting an injustice, and explaining why this particular protest falls comfortably within these boundaries. 

Real Gedolim go to great lengths to avoid causing even minor inconvenience to others, even to children, for the sake of their exalted Torah study. They would not rob people of their sleep. They would not rob children of their playtime. They would certainly not rob hardworking people of their parnassa and hospital patients from potentially lifesaving visits. 

The protestors could regale you with Gedolim stories illustrating this point, but still they don’t get it. The lights are on, but nobody’s home.

Everyone who went to the protest today will have to give a reckoning to the Heavenly Court for all the damage they caused to random innocent people, and prattling about the Gedolim™ will not be acceptable. YOU caused the damage. YOU need to answer for it. The organizers will have their own trial.

This is why today’s protest was a massive chillul Hashem. It did nothing but serve the interests of the Erev Rav state. It casts further needless division among the people when they should be unifying and protesting togetheragainst unjust, un-Jewish imprisonment of IDF soldiers and those who refuse to join the IDF alike. 

That would be the state’s worst nightmare, the Dati Leumi, Charedim, and even the secular Jews going off script and protesting together. 

Instead, the Dati Leumi will not protest the imprisonment of Charedi yeshiva students, because they are Charedi.

The Charedim will not protest the imprisonment of IDF soldiers, because they are not Charedim.

The Charedim did not protest for the sake of the Torah when the state seized the yeshiva in Yitzhar, because it was not a Charedi yeshiva. 

Hardly anyone cares anymore about Amiram Ben Uliel, who is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit after the state brutally tortured a confession out of him. Most Charedim haven’t even heard of him, because he isn’t one of them, and the Dati Leumi gave up on him to continue serving the state. Tough luck for him.

Imagine if they all stopped taking the bait, stopped hating each other while the Erev Rav, their mutual oppressors, watch with glee, and protested together — in ways that punish our oppressors and not random innocent people.

Turn off the poisonous controlled media, and tune out the rhetoric. Think for yourself — really think. Don’t just get swept along by the social tide. Ask questions. Insist on solid answers. Be like Avraham Avinu and stand for what’s right.

Share this with people, and ask them to do this same.

Speaking of color war:

“The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has sent a legal warning to the Ateret Shlomo yeshiva in Beit Shemesh, accusing it of “cynical, degrading, and unlawful use” of the Forum’s campaign symbols and materials.

“The letter, sent by attorney Asa Kling, head of the intellectual property department at the Naschitz, Brandes, Amir law firm, claims the yeshiva used the movement’s designs, slogans, posters, and the signature yellow ribbon identified with the Families Forum campaign without permission, in a manner constituting copyright and trademark infringement, deception, misrepresentation, and exploitation of the forum’s reputation for political and propaganda purposes.

“The forum demands that the yeshiva immediately cease all use of its materials affiliated with the Families Forum campaign, provide a written commitment not to repeat its violations of the Forum’s intellectual property, publicly apologize to the families of the hostages, and pay NIS 400,000 in compensation.”

This is not one of my satires. The color war clown show is in full swing.

FYI, the yellow ribbon goes way back. They don’t own it. 

And if anyone engaged in exploitation, it’s this deep state psy-op, which I’ve already shared a great deal about. With the hostages home, they are still doing their dirty work of division and distraction.

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