Q&A: Existence and Purpose in the Haredi Worldview
Existence and Purpose in the Haredi Worldview.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I happened to be present at a conversation in which two friends raised claims about the Haredi worldview today. One said that the Haredim do not believe in the purpose assigned to the Jewish people, but only in survival/existence, and that therefore what they mostly study is shtetl law. He also claimed that their belief in the coming of the Messiah amounts to “that he should come.”
By contrast, the second argued that the most buttoned-up Haredim, as he put it, study Kodashim (he probably meant Brisk), as proof that there is an ideal in the study itself.
I thought to say in this context that precisely the Brisker approach of taking the frying pan out of the kitchen is proof of the first one’s point.
I would be glad to hear the Rabbi’s position on the matter, both in general and specifically regarding the study of Kodashim.
Answer
The question is unclear. What are the two possibilities?
Discussion on Answer
Both generalizations are incorrect. There are all kinds. In Brisk, the engagement with Kodashim is indeed a matter of taking the frying pan out of the kitchen (I’ve written more than once that Kodashim is preferable for them, because there we have fewer intuitions about the “why,” and it is easier to focus on the “what”). But the Chafetz Chaim founded a Kodashim kollel in order to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple.
That was my summary of the conversation. As I understood it, one side argues that the Haredim have no purpose as part of the Jewish people as a whole, and that belief in the coming of the Messiah is just a belief one is required to hold, nothing more.
Whereas the other insists that the fact that they study Kodashim shows that they do see it as something practical that one should be involved in.
I pointed out how I can understand the first one’s claim through the second one’s answer about their mode of study (“learning” with the stress on the first syllable), using the frying-pan example.
— The question is what the Rabbi thinks about the above matter (the Haredi outlook). And what he thinks of my little quip…