December 29, 2010
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2 comments
In my view: Banning bans
Last week we were informed that we can no longer visit Vosizneias.com whose tag line is “The Voice of the Orthodox Jewish Community” and is a website devoted to bringing news, albeit in a somewhat sanitized version, to the ultra-Orthodox community. This widely advertised ban which was approved and signed by over 30 Rabbis was collective and directed at all of us. All good Jews were instructed to stop reading this news site. Some investigative news sources tied this specific ban directly to a news article which appeared on the site that linked members of the community to illegal activities that resulted in a criminal investigation. Therefore, because of legitimate news reports that certain individuals wish to keep buried the wide readership who get their news from this source are now being told that this news service is a non-kosher resource. Then just a few days later we were notified that we may not listen to radio, even Haredi radio stations, by another group of Rabbis who endorsed this ban. This prohibition is a larger problem then the prior bans we have heard against selected musicians and music stations that may have played secular music or music played on guitars. This ban is against listening to the radio, any radio, at all. It seems to me that these latest two sanctions are, at least for me, a new way of viewing the philosophy of bans in their entirety. I do not mean because the prohibitions impact me directly, at best their impact is very secondary. I mean that many of the people who use Vosizneias and listen to appropriate Jewish radio programs are caught in a conflict between what they are led to believe is reasonable and fair and part of normative religious practice and what they are now told is illegitimate to do if they are to be a member of the tribe.
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Dr. Salomon wrote:
"The struggle between religion and modernity is universal and ongoing. It is not unique to our religion and certainly not limited to the early 21st century. It does seem, however, that the world is suffering from an increasing amount of fundamentalism and that too is certainly not unique to any one religion. In our religion though, the problem is that those who believe that increasing the chumras — those stringencies that are represented by such bans, is a realistic and acceptable way to heighten religious awareness, practice and spiritual conviction — are unfortunately misdirected. "
According to Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Judaism is not a religion! In his commentary on Shemos 6:7 RSRH writes
"li l'ahm. These two short words are the first statement of Israel’s
destiny. They express the quality that makes Judaism so unique. It is
entirely inappropriate to refer to Judaism as “the Jewish religion”; it is
thoughtless to define Judaism as a religion, to classify it with the other
religions, and then to be amazed that this “religion” includes so many
elements that transcend the conventional bounds of “religion.” li l'ahm:
Israel is to be a people unto God.
This statement alone already makes it clear that Judaism, as established
by God, is not a religion at all. True, Judaism also embraces
elements generally characterized as “religion,” but the term “Judaism”
is completely different and infinitely broader. In “religion,” God has
only temples, churches, priestly orders, congregations, etc. Nations, peoples,
are subject only to kings and governments; they are founded on
the concept of statehood, not on religion and God. In Judaism, however,
God founded not a church, but a nation; a whole national life is to be
fashioned by Him. Israel will be His people, not just a congregation of
believers."
Orthodox Judaism went through a paradigm shift when the sphere of influence changed from the community shul rabbi to the yeshiva rabbi. A pulpit rabbi needs to interact with a diverse congregation as well as the outside world. The yeshiva rabbi selects their students and tries to mold them into a mirror image of themselves. They strive to maintain absolute control over the lives of their communities and the best way to foster this is to shut out the outside world little by little. Stop reading, listening or watching anything that doesn't reinforce the rabbinic message and only interact with approved people who are exactly like yourselves.
And yes, I am frum, my children studied in Israel for 2-3 years before coming home and attending college and so forth. Our shabbat table is filled with torah along with politics, science, world affairs, literature and social issues. And we don't always agree but respect the differences and try to learn from each other. We always encouraged our children to be well rounded and were never afraid that knowledge would pull them away from yiddishkeit. And it didn't.
Jews were known throughout the ages a the people of the book, admired and respected for our knowledge and drive for education. Sad that today we are told to stop reading.