In EmunahSpeak:
Sinas Chinam 101 Rabbi Mordechai Willig explained, in the name of the
Netziv, that the sinas chinam that our rabbis have tagged as the prime reason
for the destruction of the Bayis Sheni was
not limited to those who (were
imagined to have)"wronged" a person. Rather, it extended to those
who served Hashem differently. If one would see a halachic leniency, he would
brand it heresy, and distance himself from that person. He would then
mistakenly justify attacking that person, even to the point of murder.
Rabbi
Willig went on to bring it a little closer to home by adding that The Netziv
lamented that such internal hatred within the observant community existed in
his time (the late nineteenth century) as well. Hating someone who
"wronged" us is necessarily limited. With how many people can we
fight over money or honor? But if we hate those who differ with us on matters
of halacha or hashkafa, the sinas chinam is unlimited. Unfortunately, Orthodox
individuals and communities with different halachic practices and/or ideologies
are still guilty of this type of sinas chinam, which is preventing the ge'ula.
That was the good news.
The bad news is that Netziv lived over a hundred
years ago and we have been in a free fall ever since.
If recent events in Eretz Yisroel are any
indication we may have reached bottom, which in turn brings a ray of light in
its train because it is difficult to fathom how it could get much worse.
This is how Jonathan Rosenblum
described the action in a recent column:
I watched footage of police
rescuing a chareidi man who made the mistake of wandering in his IDF uniform
into Meah Shearim on the way to visit relatives. He had to barricade himself in
a building after being surrounded by an angry mob, and required a phalanx of
policemen to get him out.
The phenomenon of chareidi
soldiers in uniform, or even out of uniform, being verbally accosted and made
to feel otherwise unwanted has spread far beyond Meah Shearim. Wallposters
against "chardakim"
(chareidim da'at kal) can be
seen in chareidi neighborhoods around the country, with religious soldiers in
uniform portrayed as missionaries. These attacks by chareidim on one another
recall nothing so much as the bitter internecine fighting in Jerusalem that
preceded the destruction of the Second Temple.
And in case you’re wondering, you read it right the
first time. Jonathan Rosenblum is not
given to hyperbole.
This term, chardakim, is a cute little addition to the balkanization of what used to be
known as Am Echad. We now have
Dati Leumi, Chareidim, Chardal, Chardakim, and Chilonim amongst other
designations.
In light of both the
Netziv’s lament and Jonathan Rosenblum’s recent observations we need to add at
least one more category, and to fill that slot I would like to put forth Chareilonim .
For generations we have
made Shabbos observance the threshold by which we bestow the designation of
Orthodox upon a Jew.
That’s not good enough
anymore.
Too many people for all too
many years have been slouching under the radar with that seal of approval. Shabbos was meant to be a
minimum threshold, but all too often as of late it is representative of a maxed
out Yiddishkeit head to toe in black and white.
The litmus test for religiosity
should be defined in terms of how one conducts oneself in relation to the
halacha as opposed to how one dresses, and the halacha takes in a lot more
territory than Shemiras Shabbos.
Query: What business do we have with Jews who have shamelessly
dislodged the laws of Loshon Hora and Richilus from their moorings in the Torah
as if they didn’t exist and who treat chilul Hashem as if it were a mitzvah
assay (positive commandment)? And what
business do we have with those who conduct themselves as mafia thugs by raising
a hand to a fellow Jew?
Enough already.
This is not what we’re supposed to be about.
So who are the Chareilonim anyway?
Just like the Chareidim
that they appear to be, the Chareilonim tend to
be strict in their Torah observance, but all too often the Torah that these Chareilonim observe is not Moshe’s, but their own.
It’s time to cut ‘em loose.
We have to walk away from
this halachic and hashkafic car wreck and close the door behind us.
In EmunahSpeak: Ahavas Chinam 101 we said that:
In EmunahSpeak: Ahavas Chinam 101 we said that:
