I think that one of the more difficult situations that exists in the Jewish world of today, especially, in my humble opinion, in the Diaspora, is the widening disconnect between the vast bulk of the population and the rabbinic leadership. While there are many rabbinic pronouncements on the minutiae of Jewish law, customs and observance there is very little that is said and heard about the major problems that face the Jewish world – the security of the Jewish state, the dire financial situation that threatens the entire system of Jewish education, the astounding rate of poverty and unemployment (voluntary and involuntary) in religious Jewish society, children at risk because of one-size-fits-all educational institutions, growing rates of divorce and family dysfunction, an unhealthy and misogynic system of dating and marriage, growing anti-Semitism and a seemingly unstoppable rate of assimilation, secularization and intermarriage that guarantees a shrinking Jewish population in a few generations.
Rather than address these terribly difficult issues, Jewish leadership is engaged in fighting over – again - the battles that destroyed the Jewish world of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[...]
It is not the disconnect of the populace from the rabbis but the disconnect of the rabbis from the populace through the agency of the askanim that is the problem.
ReplyDeleteHow many great rabbinic leaders are aware of the problems the "learn, don't earn" culture has created? How many are aware of the level of spousal and child abuse? How many rely on their askanim who give them a skewed view of the world which they then response to, much to the bewilderment of those outside their immediate circles?
Rabbi Wein can have his opinions on this.
ReplyDeleteI vote for the rabbonim, as is.
Not sure that there is a better connect between Rabbis and people in Israel....think it might be even worse there.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Wein is wrong. He is the one disconnected from the real world, together with all those who get their information from blogs and their own
ReplyDelete"daas baalei batim."
And his snide remark referring to the Gedolei Yisroel as "those that claim the ability and knowledge to lead us." Yuck. Who "claims" the ability and knowledge to lead us? We claim that the Gedolim have the ability and knowledge to lead us. It sounds as if R. Wein thinks he could do a better job. Let him worry about what he thinks are the issues of the day. Klall Yisrael has survived thousands of years by following the Torah authorities not people who write articles in the Jerusalem Post. I am happy to continue doing so in the future.
Rabbi Wein is absolutely correct.
ReplyDeleteAs is often the case, he seems to be one of the only people making any sense at all.
Well said, Levi Yitzchok. I couldn't agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteOnly the arrival of the true Mashiach will solve today's complex problems.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Wein has spoken wisely and should be congratulated for sticking his neck out. Hopefully he will not be the next American Haredi rabbi to be "banned" by myopic fanatics with agendas who derailed Rabbi Noson Kaminetsky (for writing "The Making of a Gadaol"), and maligned Rabbi Noson Slifkin (for writing books about the Torah and Zoology) or like Rav A.Y. Kook was attacked by fanatics in the 1920s and 1930s for his forward-thinking approach of what today is called "KIRUV" by fostering better relations between secular and religious in Eretz Yisroel. In those days the fanatics considered any sort of "reaching out" to secular Jews as a form of "heresy" while today the Haredim regard KIRUV work and success as the highest and brightest feather in their caps.
This is yet another example of "West meets East" -- meaning, how the influx and growing Aliyah of West(Rav Wein is a qualified US attorney) and most Haredim and Orthodox Olim from Western countries are professionals, such as doctors, accountants and high tech professionals who are strictly Haredi. This type of person and mentality threatens the "status quo" of the Haredi Jews in Israel who are opposed to secular education and the professions in shape whose roots of fighting Haskala and Modernity go straight back to the debunked ancient feudal societies and monarchies of Eastern Europe.
So Rabbi Wein has accurately hit on a raw nerve that needs to be addressed. It's worth re-reading and digesting what he has to say.
Rabbi Wein is a full-fledged member of the American Haredi world. He has founded several Haredi yeshivas in America, starting with assisting his brother in law Rav Levin found the Telz Yeshiva of Chicago, IL and founding his own successful yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, NY as well as writing for the vaunted Haredi publishing house ArtScroll in close partnership with its chief editor Rabbi Noson Sherman.
The frum world is flourishing and will survive based on one simple fact: population growth in numbers as frum families grow exponentially come what may.
One day soon the Orthodox, Haredi and Hasidic Jews will be in the majority in Israel and will have to face the realities of running a modern state. About 20 years ago British Chief Rabbi Jacobovits spoke about this and stated that it's time for the frum world to prepare to take over the running of the state and all of Jewish society. The question is will they be able to live up to the challenge, or will Israel revert to becoming just another Ayatola-run and Saudi-type absolutist intolerant theocracy that will lead to immense social dislocation and even, chas vesholom, civil war between the Jews on a scale not seen since the period prior to the destruction of the Second Bais HaMikdosh 2,000 years ago when fanatics on all sides brought about the total churban and near annihilation of the Jewish people, not to mention the 2,000 year golus none of which they can afford or could survive in today's wild circumtances.
"Recipients and Publicity said...
ReplyDeleteOnly the arrival of the true Mashiach will solve today's complex problems."
In your opinion.
But many of us will not accept that kind of fatalist thinking. Because it leaves all our problems in tact, to be solved by some magical fix that may or may not appear in our lifetime. That is not the proper way to live, and there is really no Torah backing for the point of view that we need to sit back and 'let' all our problems be solved in an instant by some savior-figure, and until he comes, we do nothing and continue to suffer and continue in our stupid and self-destructive ways because hey, it's too hard to fix. This is a really damaging attitude IMO.