Q&A: Haredim
Haredim
Question
To Rabbi Michael. I’ve seen that you often criticize Haredi conduct, their isolation from the internet and the like, but I’d be glad if you would answer a question that’s bothering me. After all, when you look at the results, you can see that in the Haredi sector far fewer drop out than in the religious sector; these are very high percentages, as you presumably know. And the value scale on which a Haredi child is raised is completely different from that of a Religious Zionist child. A Religious Zionist child admires actors, and naturally wants to be like them, whereas a Haredi child admires rabbis and also wants to be a rabbi. Thank you very much.
Answer
I’m a bit exhausted by this banal question that keeps coming back again and again. See columns 331, 354, 680, and many others. Briefly here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D-vs-%D7%93%D7%AA%D7%9C/
Regarding admiration of rabbis, indeed this is a very significant Haredi defect. Like in any cult. I touched on this in column 722 (and see also 682).
Discussion on Answer
You read rather quickly.
These are the kinds of comparisons typical of infantile Haredi thinking, and of the absurd arguments it uses
to defend these views. I assume you also read my columns that deal with this, so I won’t elaborate.
Admiration of rabbis is like any admiration of celebrities, something entirely distasteful. The difference is that in Haredi society this is an ideal they educate toward and that everyone suffers from, young and old alike, whereas in the broader world, insofar as it exists (and no, not everyone admires actors), it is a passing youthful phase. The admiration some people have for actors is not like the Haredi admiration for rabbis, and therefore admiring actors is not like a cult. No one treats their words as the living word of God, incapable of error, and obeys everything they say. This is a nonsensical comparison. The two are nowhere near comparable. And we haven’t even begun to talk about the fact that the rabbis they admire are really not figures worthy of admiration. In most of them there is an aspect worthy of appreciation—their devotion to Torah—but with most of them it comes with infantile thinking, with no depth; their world is as narrow as an ant’s. In that sense, admiring them is roughly like admiring actors.
Haredism is a different religion from Judaism in many respects, though it cannot be denied that there is some affinity between it and Judaism. They are detached from morality, detached from several basic commandments and principles of Jewish law, base themselves on primitive thinking with no connection to reality (what affects reality, what works in it, and what does not), impose their entire doctrine on their people, including all the foolishness in it, and deny people choice. They cling to distorted Jewish law and baseless inventions, along with many other aspects.
That is the short version.
I read what you wrote, in all those columns, and you still aren’t answering the questions. Haredi children admire rabbis the way religious children admire actors, and you wouldn’t say that this conduct—”admiring actors”—is like any cult. In general, you also don’t explain why in your view Haredim are a different religion. They conduct themselves according to Jewish law and the Jewish worldview throughout the generations—unless, that is, you consider yourself wiser than the Hatam Sofer and the like. And if so, then there’s no basis for discussion at all.