Q&A: Haredim
Haredim
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi.
I’m not Haredi and I don’t know Haredi society in depth, so my question is being asked from that perspective.
Does the Rabbi think that Haredi society should open itself up to broader society?
I’m thinking of a certain downside: if, for example, all Haredim at age 18 were drafted, or in some other way exposed to broader society, many of them would not have such high Torah aspirations and would become more average. There would be more ordinary householders and far fewer rabbis, halakhic decisors, and religious court judges.
Since most rabbis who reached high Torah levels, I think, got there also because of the closed society that pushed them in that direction from a young age. Without that, most of them would be average.
Does the Rabbi think this is correct, and does the Rabbi think it justifies remaining closed off?
Thank you very much
Answer
By that logic, it would be worthwhile to send all Israelis to study physics, because then we would have more excellent physicists. And that is assuming they really do reach higher Torah levels. That assumption too is incorrect. See column 684.