Q&A: Faith
Faith
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I have a somewhat presumptuous request. I’m a returnee to religious observance, and I’ve been living in Haredi society for 15 years. In recent years, questions about the “Haredi religion” have been surfacing for me and have led me to make changes and adjustments in my private life. The problem is that over the past year, especially in light of the conduct of the rabbis and the public during the coronavirus period, I reached a point where all the defensive walls I had built for myself collapsed. I’ve gotten to a state where I’m no longer sure why I became religious in the first place, and whether there really is a God and what He wants from me.
So my request is: could you, in whatever way possible, give me the whole Torah on one foot, as a kind of life-saving treatment? It could be by referring me to certain articles of yours or in any other way you see fit—the main thing is to do root-cause treatment.
I would be very glad if this did not appear on the site; this is a private request.
Thank you
Answer
The question appears on the site because you posted it here. But it is without a name or any identifying details.
I can recommend my trilogy, which tries to make order out of the chaos from beginning to end. In general, I very strongly recommend not confusing the conduct of certain religious circles with religion itself. One can give up the notion that Haredi Judaism is religion in its purest form, or that the leading Haredi rabbis are indeed great Jews who know everything, without giving up faith and religious commitment. Those have very good grounds quite apart from the disgraceful factors that disappointed you, and rightly so.