Sunday, January 29, 2017

Mishpacha Magazine -Trump's victory by the unconnected class also has a message for our community

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Yisrael Besser in this week's Mishpacha Magazine. It is not that it is a great chiddush or such a profound insight. The amazing thing is that it was published at all.
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The Trump victory wasn't just a crushing defeat to Democrats and a stinging denunciation of pollsters and the media. It was a resounding message to one particular class.

Newsweek quoted a Pennsylvania construction worker who explained Trump’s appeal. It was, he said, a revolt against the “connected class. The Washington types. Republican or Democrat, who don’t seem to care about people like me. It’s like we had no voice before Donald ran. No one heard us.”

If people feel disenfranchised for long enough, they will eventually find a way to speak up.

If people can’t get their kids into school because there are no spots, and space suddenly opens for the child of a wealthy person, then there’s a connected class.

If we have organizations or mosdos where a few make decisions for the many, then we have a connected class.

If access to gedolei Yisrael is controlled, with some people allowed to receive their brachah and others kept out in the cold, then we've created a connected class.

And then, because you can’t have one without the other, we've created an unconnected class too. And they are angry – perhaps with reason.

And after enough time, if enough hurt piles up, then they too can find a voice. You don’t need money or protektziya to find a voice on social media. The internet is to rage what a credit card is to debt. Visa or Amex don’t create debt, but they do allow it to spiral out of control.

Trump’s victory was a response and we’d do well to contemplate what that means. For someone to win, someone else has to lose – and that’s something we can’t afford in our camp.

The one’s who run schools or mosdos are, for the most part, remarkably selfless people, fueled by responsibility and compassion. Rabbi Mordechai Miller once received and irate letter form a gentleman whose granddaughter had been rejected by the Gateshead Teacher’s Seminary. Being a person of humility, Rabbi Miller considered apologizing, but was advised that the issues was his, but the accuser’s. He had done the correct thing.

Nevertheless Rabbi Miller kept the letter in his desk drawer, because he wanted the reminder of how much pain rejection can cause. This way, he felt, he’d be more sensitive in the future.

The unconnected class is out there and they’re angry. They've just written quite the letter. But instead of reading it, the media wonders how they managed to mail it correctly.


It’s one worth reading.

16 comments :

  1. Mishpacha and AMI magazines have always been left-wing chareidi.

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  2. Judaism, unlike America, doesn't have democracy. In a democracy, the underclass, or unconnected class, can outvote the connected/upper class, if they put together an electoral majority. In a non-democracy, like Judaism, you do not have that factor.

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  3. They can vote with their feet and their money

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  4. And what form of governance do we currently have in Judaism? There is no king, no Sanhedrin, and no shofet. So the article is on point.

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  5. please address the issue instead responding with ad hominem attacks

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  6. It wasn't an attack. Being left-wing or right-wing or centrist is just a position, neither by definition is one better than another. I was just making a general observation where they ideologically lay.

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  7. why not comment as to whether you agree or disagree with the article?

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  8. That's exactly what the Reform did a couple hundred years ago. Normative Judaism continued on, albeit in a weakened state.

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  9. actually a better example is chassidim. Reform simply lost interest or were attracted to goals that were not attainable while being religious.

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  10. The Reform claim to be religious. But that mainstream traditional Judaism wasn't responsive to their needs.

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  11. So, did we lose tremendously because of that? Was the Chillul Hasehm not great? You are , of course, familiar with the Meshech Chochamah in Parshas Bechukopsay. Well, that mashchis unfortunately affected everyone.

    You can ask the same question about Bar Kamtza. Just remember, those who did not protest the way Bar Kamtza - who was obviously not some tzadik - was treated, and what the result was.

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  12. This point was also made, a couple of times, by Avrohom Birnbaum in the Yated. (Rumor has it that he was bullied to stop writing about it....) Avrohom Birnbaum is certainly not a left-wing chareidi. He is a yeshivisha gerer chosid.

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  13. This is a complicated issue.

    There are many classes of complainers, and it's not always initially clear which kind of a complainer a person is.

    Wrong Side of the Bed Complainers
    These are people who have a policy to complain. No matter how well a leader is doing, Wrong Siders will find something to criticize. These people, who habitually wake up on the "wrong side of the bed" , are actually a danger to the community because the leader figures out that no matter what he does he'll be attacked, and so he may just tune out any and all complaints, including legitimate ones.

    Soap Box Complainers
    These people have a legitimate gripe with the leader's policies. But they are always insisting that their complaint be totally addressed. They are unable to countenance any compromise. They choose to ignore the fact that a leader has to deal with reality, as well as with opposing viewpoints. A Soap Boxer doesn't care. He just gets up on his soapbox and goes at it.

    We Want but We Don't Want to Pay Complainers
    These people want to have things, but they don't want to pay for them. This can have a deleterious effect on the community. For example, by constantly trying to get out of paying tuition for their children's education, the kids may infer that the education is worthless.

    I Just Want to Talk Complainers
    These people have real, well thought out, legitimate complaints. However, they want someone ELSE to address the complaints. They will never so much as lift a finger to actually DO anything to fix what's wrong. A leader may soon figure out that these people can be safely ignored because they will never take any action that will threaten the leader's power.

    These are just a few of the classes of complainers. There is no indication by the author of this article if any of the people who are complaining are ready to take steps to improve their lives.

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  14. The article may be relevant to contemporary Orthodoxy - in fact it is. I do not see the relevance to Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky - unless we look a little deeper.
    A number of movements over last few hundred years have changed direction from traditional Judaism, some remain orthodox while others do not.

    Chassidism, Zionism, Haskalah, Modern Orthodoxy, now open orthodoxy.
    These were the issues of the 19th and 20tch Centuries, but Agunah became more and more of a problem, and maverick MO rabbis like R' Rackman started their own mini-movements and BD.

    This is now happening in the Hareidi world - and there may be the relevance of R' Shmuel's photo. But otehr mini-movements in the Hareidi world, like oTDs, those who want to learn secular studies, go to the army etc. are the current problems or changes.

    To a great extent, the campaign against RSK has failed, and is only active amongst followers of Rav Shternbuch. The attempt to make him a pariah failed not because of the quality of his halacha, but because of his position as a Hareidi Gadol. Paradoxically, people like Rav Goren and R' Rackman, who essentially used the same kind of tactics, suffered much more in the Hareidi press.

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  15. Not quite democracy, but there is some choice amongst the people, from choosing a King to aseh l'cha rav.

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  16. The King isn't elected by the people. It is hereditary.

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