חדש באתר: עוזר בינה מלאכותית המבוסס על כתביו ושיעוריו של הרב מיכאל אברהם

Q&A: The 80/20 Question

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Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

The 80/20 Question

Question

Monday, in the weekly portion of “And Why Have You Deceived Me.”
A question that troubles me, and from what I can tell it troubles many upright servants of God.
If I were to propose to a nation that they eat a certain herb several times every day, with the promise that whoever eats it will not get cancer—and after a few generations I would see that among those who did not eat the herb and ignored the instructions, 20% got cancer and 80% did not.
And specifically among those who were careful to eat the herb, some of them with tremendous devotion, the results were: 80% got cancer and 20% did not.
Seemingly, I would be denounced as either a fraud or an extraordinary fool [or both, if I had some profit in the herb story], and I would have nowhere to hide my disgrace.
And rightly so.
 
Now for the analogy: a certain group claims that Orthodoxy is precisely doing God’s will, and through it we become people of values and morality, and it is good for us in this world and the next, and it is truly doing what is good and right.
Now it turns out that specifically those who believed in Orthodoxy [with varying levels of devotion/identification]—roughly 80%—supported and support the moral depravity [which contains disasters within it] of the government of a man charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, and a senior minister who was convicted twice… along with an additional collection of major moral failings.
True, perhaps/probably there too are 20% who may not be part of Orthodox identity in all its shades and forms, and in any case [for a variety of reasons] support this depravity.
And specifically the other side, 80% of whom do not accept Orthodoxy or its diverse identities as the proper path, do not sin by supporting the depravity of this government. And indeed there are about 20% there who do believe in Orthodoxy and understand the magnitude of the tragedy and did not vote for this government. But they are only about 20% of that group. [The numbers are estimates, of course.]
Seemingly this is exactly the complete opposite of what Orthodoxy claims to lead to. It really looks like pathetic fraud.
A. How can this be understood?
B. Must we admit that Moses is true and his Torah is true, but Orthodoxy is false?
C. Alternatively, can the Rabbi point to some particular failure that happened specifically to Orthodoxy, while in essence it is not false and perhaps is even the path of doing good?
 
Of course I am asking about Israeli Orthodoxy [including the traditionalists] as it appears before our eyes, and I dwell among my own people, not about the versions in the diaspora, which probably appear in other forms and patterns of thought, with other expressions shaped by surrounding cultures and different challenges.
I know that in my question I am giving voice to many good and decent people who want to do good, yet before our eyes we see that what we thought was good [and up to now, when faced with failures, we claimed there were this or that local problems] is in fact darkness, evil, falsehood, ignorance, and backwardness. So I ask, in every possible language of pleading, if it is possible to make the answer accessible and clear to every upright person who is confused.
  With great respect,
He Who Appoints Himself Prayer Leader
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Answer

If I remember correctly, you’ve already asked this question dozens of times in different styles. And as usual, there isn’t really a question here but a declaration. Still, here you tried to phrase it as a question, so I’ll answer.
Moses is true and his Torah is true, and that has no connection whatsoever to the question of Orthodoxy, nor to the question of the behavior of Orthodox people. Nobody promised you that if a person is committed to Jewish law he will be more upright. And even if all those who observe Jewish law were corrupt (and that is not the case), still Moses is true and his Torah is true. And besides, it is not true that everyone is corrupt. Some are corrupt, some think it is proper to make peace with corruption because of ideological considerations (the right wing, national identity, budget allocations and exemption from military service for the Haredim, etc.), and of course there are quite a few who do not join this corrupt move.
Next time I’ll simply delete the “question.”

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