EDIT
I want to clarify something right off the bat: the article's words are not mine. I do not agree with every nuance, jot and tiddle (is that a word??) and my posting a link to it should not be construed as such. HOWEVER I think the author makes some valid, important points, if nuanced rather than said outright, that need to be taken into account in the rapidly changing, fluid world around us. Please see the comments for some good discussion on that and please add to the discussion by commenting yourself. Thanks.
I read a really insightful article that's been making its way around the J-Blogosphere, plus the Jewish news sites as well (well, not YWN, naturally, as you'll see if you read the article). I urge everyone to read it. Link to it here.
I'll leave it up to the comments section to spur discussion and thought about the points raised.
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I think that we have become so americanized that the same liberalism that we disagree with on a national level is becoming popular on a religious level. Did anyone notice that the author of this article is a "Rabbi", so whose side does he fall on? Ballei Batim? Thats not the world that I grew up in, someone with a title of "Rabbi" had earned that respect and deserved it. Are there some "Rabbis" who have done some bad things? Sure. 10 years ago, would those have things been known outside of a small or even large community? Would it be 20 minutes, 1000 text messages and 10000 stupid bloggers making sure the whole world knows every last bit of Loshon Hora, or in many cases unproven Motzi Sheim Rah, that gets circulated so fast nobody is given a chance to truly investigate or make a fair determination of the facts, and leaves everyone, Gedolim and Baalei batim, with no room to make a decision, because the court of public opinion took care of that with Twitter and Facebook, not to mention the clearly nonsensationalist YWN and VIN. If people want to write about taxes, and politics and healthcare, god bless, but how dare someone try to proclaim that Daas Ballei Batim is more valuable than our Gedolim! And to claim that he is not hiding because he is putting his name down on a forum that is only looked at by people who agree with him, because let's be honest, look at the recent posts there, and someone like me would have to be sadistic to go there ever again. What I beleive the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation needs to focus on next is reminding people that an email/text message/blog/tweet/fb status update and whatever will come next can also be considered loshon hora. I have no issue with this man taking issue with all of the things he put in there to put baalei batim in a better light than his "gedolim", but when you say a story without mentioning names, but everyone knows the names to whom you refer, to the best of my limited "baal habos" knowledge, you are still saying loshon hora. Why does that go out the window when people are trying to make a point? I guarantee you that for every publicized story we have had in the last 5 years that has made a "chilul hashem" because of its wildfire spread on this wonderful internet (that I look forward to seeing you post about in the near future), there are minimally 100 stories of the esteemed "baalei batim" who we should now be turning to for counsel. Certainly, this is the type of thing we need in order to hasten the coming of Moshiach. Perhaps we should follow the throngs of baalei batim who are getting together for swinger parties and garage parties for snorting coke and dropping acid? Seriously, a little perspective on who are the good guys and who we should try to strive to emulate. We don't like their small mindedness, we could all use a bit of a return to the time when we didn't have such access and need for all the information all the time, I truly believe the world was a better place, and it was a much easier world to grow up in as a decent person. Perhaps because I now have a son approaching double digits, I am more scared and disgusted by whats out there and how easy it would be for him to stray from the path that I so hope he stays on, and terrified by my lack of control over what will direct him to that path. But I honestly wish the internet was controlled by some of these "small minded" rabbis, and I mean the ones that have earned the title, and I would sleep better at night knowing that not everything was available on the "information highway". Good thing it's New Years Eve and I am supposedly working...thanks for giving me a way to get through a few minutes of this day.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, that is a good comment, thanks. I, too, don't agree with a large part of his underlying premise if the underlying premise is simply gadol-bashing, and I definitely agree that the net is fertile ground for L"H. However,I don't necessarily think the author is de-legitimising the entire leadership structure. BUT - and I think this to be important - the blogger/twitter/fbook etc world exists, like it or not. People's indiscretions will out more forcefully and publicly and that outing will make its way around, like it or not. It's then a matter of shifting perspective and mastering adaptation to combat the problems. New problems need new solutions - check out NNJKIDS.ORG for an example. The era of sweeping things under the rug, which for so long once worked and may have been appropriate then, is blown apart by new media, good or bad, like or dislike. Those seem to be (IMHO) the 'facts on the ground', so to speak. In fact, one COULD say that the internet can also be the most effective self-policing tool ever to exist since it's so pervasive and keep chilul hashem behavior in check...not impossible to contemplate...
ReplyDeleteI think, perhaps, that the author feels the general "daas baalei batim" is grasping that a little more easily than "daas Torah", maybe because baalei batim are more knowledgeable as a whole when it comes to new media since they are more likely to deal with it on a daily basis than is "daas Torah" who may interact with it via hearsay. Daas Torah does NOT translate as "omniscient". I think that that's the point the author is trying to make and is quite possubly a valid one, and one that perhaps needs to be made in light of the terrible chilul H"s that are occurring around us and the seeming inability to put a stop to it through traditional means. The author I think genuinely cares enough about Yahadus to write so forcefully, though it possibly could've been worded and toned better.
I also want our son to navigate the world b'deresh hayashar, but I also opine that he'll need tools to understand and process b'derech hayashar what new media means, since new media such as internet is almost organic in nature - it's so big and pervasive it just IS. I'd like him to think more along the lines of - "H"m gave the world this ability and technology and allowed it to be pervasive. Why?" than "this pervasive technology that can change the lives of millions for good can also be used l'hepech so I reject it utterly". Do we have the same thinking as the latter when it comes to relating to middos?
That's kind of what was underlying my talk at the bris, though it may not have come out 100% - I want to place emphasis on our children to use the tools they will be given in a solid chinuch grounding and THINK about what they experience before they react. But, that is just one way of looking at it and the world of ideas is not monolithic.
Though - I will admit that I don't have a son approaching double digits yet; that may color my thinking down the road, to be intellectually honest... ;-)
Whoa, my comment looks like a post in and of itself!
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to quote from one of the comments:
ReplyDelete"the issue is not if daas baalei baatim is less trustworthy than daas torah. it is and we must believe that. the issue is on what issues and assuming what knowledge of circumstance." (sic)
That (in a nutshell) is what I think is the essence of the author's intent and is a very important point to consider as media and technology race forward.
I agree with the premise of the article, and with most of the cases mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI do think the idea of following Rabbis blindly is beginning to crack - look at the recent election for governor in NJ.
Proud MO -
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thanks for posting; I have your blog on my Google Reader feed and enjoy it immensely.
Interesting to bring up the NJ election. The gubernatorial election was IMHO in part a deafening salvo from the J community in general that was sick and tired of chafing under extreme economic duress and of not having much done about it from those in leadership positions. They took matters into their own hands despite some strong calls from some rather prominent leaders in the community for Jon Corzine's election.
That's not so say there aren't people hard at work attempting to address our broken economic model. BUT these problems have existed for years and years and years and much talking has been done and kinos and asifos and conventions and blah blah blah blah blah and whatever and NOTHING has really changed.
In the political and business world, results to painful problems are necessary from those in leadership positions - if they don't or can't deliver, then they eventually step aside for someone who can or the whole enterprise goes kablooey (these are technical terms, of course). As in the NJ guberbnatorial election (hopefully).
Just saying...
Uh oh, I'm posting again when I should just be commenting...