I once thought levels of observance in Judaism were clearly marked. I envisioned observance as a tiered platform with all performers conscious on what step they are standing. If the tiered platform analogy is accurate, then players look down and take note only of the steps below them, oblivious to the many rows above their heads.
I’ve listened to people with a modern background claiming online their family was as frum as it gets. I assume they heard about black-hats before, but can’t think in that direction. Relative to their neighbors, classmates, or congregants, they were saints, and that’s all that matters. The ultras are just that: ultras; out of the equation.
The same is true within the many layers of Chreidim. The yeshiva guy thinks he reached heaven because he grows a beard and his wife wears the most rumpled wig in town. He is blissfully unaware that somewhere a sanctimonious coreligionist removes the wine off the table during Kiddush because the label contains Latin lettering.
Ego-centricism is at play here. The people below don’t have a sense of what it really means to be frum, and the people above take it to an extreme. This credo is held even by sliver splinter groups.
Oh, falsehood comes in so many flavors, but the cherished truth is only one. And only a handful of people know it, most of whom happen to be born into it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"The yeshiva guy thinks he reached heaven because he grows a beard and his wife wears the most rumpled wig in town."
ReplyDeleteLol. This line is classic!
"He is blissfully unaware that somewhere a sanctimonious coreligionist removes the wine off the table during Kiddush because the label contains Latin lettering."
Is this for real or an exaggeration?
I've always felt that the most truly religiously observant people I knew were those who didn't obsess over their outside appearances or silly little details, but looked at the larger picture, and actually took to heart everything that contemporary Judaism stands for.
I.e., if we are using the word "frum" as an equivalent to "religiously observant," I can think of some Modern Ortho people who are more "frum" than some Chareidim.
Is this for real or an exaggeration?
ReplyDeleteI know somebody who does; I wasn’t just making it up. But this is so weird and isolated that an exaggeration would not be an overstatement.
Hasidic-Cabbalistic literature attributes slight negativity to the Latin alphabet as it originates from Hellenistic cultures.
I've always felt that the most truly religiously observant people I knew were those who didn't obsess over their outside appearances or silly little details
Well, lucky you. In the place where I come from wardrobe has great religious significance.
I believe the more accurate adjective would be "Ortho-Centric". I truly envy the people who grew up in Jewish but non observant homes. My level of observance is the same as theirs except for one thing. They play golf on shabbat, they eat anyplace they damn please,they marry who they fall in love with, they dress anyway they please. AS for me when I do these things I am aware that I am "mechallel shabbso" I am aware that I am eating 'treif" and I am aware that I am not wearing a kippah.
ReplyDeleteNu, so what's the truth?
ReplyDelete