Fundamentalism that created openness?
Greetings, Maran Shlita.
I don’t know if the rabbi has heard about what has been happening in recent years in the unofficial community of Ba’al-e-Teshuvah, so I will explain in which years most Ba’al-e-Teshuvah have kind of abandoned the Haredi lifestyle and the new converts don’t even enter it for the most part. It seems that the Ba’al-e-Teshuvah community is very modern, flexible and open religiously (I myself am the son of Ba’al-e-Teshuvah who converted to Harediism). Today, it is ostensibly modern Orthodoxy with all its characteristics, but when you look at their line of thought, you can see a clear fundamentalism of simple folk belief, adherence to the Pashtun line in Halacha, and more. And I am puzzled by such a phenomenon that contradicts each other. It is precisely the ultra-fundamentalists who have created such a diverse and open community. I would say that it is because of the genderless nature of Ba’al-e-Teshuvah and also because of the traumas they have gone through in the Haredi world. Incidentally, many of the Ba’al-e-Teshuvah members I have met are modern religiously in every sense.
Can the rabbi explain this phenomenon?
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Your description is interesting, although I don’t know how representative it is (is it really “most of those who have the answer”).
There are two facts here that require explanation: 1. That they are becoming modern. 2. That they maintain a fundamentalist interpretation of halakha and faith.
I’m not sure about your definitions. Modern Orthodoxy is also usually associated with a more flexible interpretation of halakhic law. In your definition, it seems to be doing something for a living, or reading poetry and literature, or engaging in art. I’m not sure.
There can be many reasons for this: familiarity with another world (they have an alternative before them). Disgust with excessive fundamentalism (a reaction to the parents’ move on the one hand, and imitation of rebellion on the other). There are of course psychological reasons (the traumas. They were not raised in a fundamentalist tradition. Their parents are also the searching type).
At the same time, they have no other religious model, because they recognize secularism or Harediism. Perhaps that is why their perception of Halacha is Haredi.
These are all possible explanations, but the phenomenon is worth a more systematic examination.
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Usually, a return to repentance does not happen for intellectual reasons, (yes, I have heard of the “professors” who were convinced by “values” and “conversation”), so using their intellect will cause them to repeat the question again.
This is a rough generalization. Almost every step a person takes consists of several levels, psychological and philosophical. But both exist both in answering the question and in asking the question.
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