Orthodox Judaism flourishes more with oppression and poverty than with freedom and wealth

In response to some critical comments about RaP's latest post. There is no question that spirituality is greater when Jews are in an environment of anti-Semitism and are poor and unemployed and therefore Torah is their only option for activity.  The rabbis of the 17th and 18th century were fully aware of this and that is why they resisted emancipation from the ghetto and equal rights. The problem is this goes against modern western thought that assumes that freedom and democracy are inherently good.

In general the Rabbis  preferred the isolation and victim hood that had been imposed on the Jews since the Black Death in the 1300's rather than the freedom and opportunities that existed before this. Of course too much oppression such as Nazi Germany or Communist Russia - is also a problem. Rav S. R. Hirsch was one of the few rabbis of the 18oo's who welcomed emancipation and free access to the world. I think few of us would voluntarily turn back the clock and want to live in a  17th century European ghetto. However that doesn't mean it didn't have benefits and even advantages to our present situation.

This is part of the fight that is going on between the Chareidim and Lapid over the benefits of secular education and sharing the burden. It is interesting to note that the most difficult issue for Mendelssohn to deal with was the separation of Church and State. Emancipation requires that no once can tell you how to think while Torah requires imposing sanctions for deviant religious thoughts and actions deemed offensive by religious authority - even though they are not judged as such by secular society.. How could he advocate participation in a society which requires relinquishing the sanctions that the religious community requires to be imposed on those who fail to conform. Mendelssohn was encouraged to convert to Christianity in order to resolve this problem

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 Berachos (32a): R. Eleazar also said: Moses spoke insolently towards heaven, as it says, And Moses prayed unto the Lord. Read not el [unto] the Lord, but ‘al [upon] the Lord, for so in the school of R. Eliezer alefs were pronounced like ‘ayins and ‘ayins like alefs. The school of R. Jannai learnt it from here: And Di-Zahab. What is ‘ And Di-Zahab’? They said in the school of R. Jannai: Thus spoke Moses before the Holy One, blessed be He: Sovereign of the Universe, the silver and gold [zahab] which Thou didst shower on Israel until they said, Enough [dai], that it was which led to their making the Calf. They said in the school of R. Jannai: A lion does not roar over a basket of straw but over a basket of flesh. R. Oshaia said: It is like the case of a man who had a lean but large-limbed cow. He gave it lupines to eat and it commenced to kick him. He said to it: What led you to kick me except the lupines that I fed you with? R. Hiyya b. Abba said: It is like the case of a man who had a son; he bathed him and anointed him and gave him plenty to eat and drink and hung a purse round his neck and set him down at the door of a bawdy house. How could the boy help sinning? R. Aha the son of R. Huna said in the name of R. Shesheth: This bears out the popular saying: A full stomach is a bad sort, as It says, When they were fed they became full, they were filled and their heart was exalted; therefore they have forgotten Me. R. Nahman learnt it from here: Then thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord. The Rabbis from here: And they shall have eaten their fill and waxen fat, and turned unto other gods. Or, if you prefer, I can say from here. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan. Whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, in the end gave Moses right? Because it says, And multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim taught that each neshama is asked before it is born in a human being whether it wants to be rich or poor.[Nidah (16b)].  The students said that they didn't understand this because so many people are poor and they obviously don't want to be! The Chofetz Chaim replied that from this we see that the neshama is well aware that the test of being poor is less than that of being rich and that is why it is chosen.

 Dayan Gruenfeld (Introduction to Hirsch, Judaism Eternal vol I pp 26-27). If anything had been forced on the Jew, it was not his adher­ence to, but his exclusion from, general culture and education. When at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Jews  again found their way into the world of science and general  education they came in reality back to their own. For the  estrangement was not organic but superimposed. It had by no  means arisen from the essential character of Judaism. Just the contrary was true, as the golden eras of Jewish history in  Babylonia and Spain had shown. In those eras the highest Talmudic and general scientific efficiency were combined. Apart from the enormous support which the study of Torah, Mish­nah, and Talmud receives from secular knowledge, the whole task of the Jew as a servant of God in this world depends on his insight into the natural historical and social conditions around him.

Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler (Kol HaMaser interview 2010): The difficulties of Jewish life in that period [of the first immigrants on the Lower East Side] are perhaps best appreciated by examining what followed the initial “settling in.” Once upon a time, I gave a lecture in my shul in which I said that we fell victim to the three A’s –“affluence,” “acceptance,” and “assimilation” – but, unlike the AAA, these A’s did not protect us. Nowadays, after being in Yeshiva all these years and watching what is happening, I have added an I for “irreverence.” There is nothing that is (sacred), nothing that is out of bounds for discussion.

Chabad.org Chabad historiographical tradition espouses a similar attitude towards libertarian France. Accordingly, autocratic oppression under the Russian Tsars was deemed preferable to the comforts to be gained under the government of a more liberal regime. This sentiment is succinctly expressed in a statement attributed to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad school: “If Bonaparte will be victorious, Jewish wealth will increase, and the prestige of the Jewish people will be raised; but their hearts will become separated and distanced from their Father in Heaven. But if Alexander will be victorious, although Israel’s poverty will increase and their prestige will be lowered, their hearts will be joined, bound and unified with their Father in Heaven.”6