Friday 18 October 2013

TOPIC: Power of Haredim by looking more numerous than they are. (Uniforms are Powerful Things)

Uniforms are Powerful Things

As I mentioned in a previous post, the make up of the Jewish people today does not speak well for Judaism.

If you do a google image search for the word "Jew" what you mostly see are what we call "Black Hat" Jews.  Jews that wear a uniform.  However, this image of a "Jew" is less than 300 years old.  Jews have been around for well over 2,000 years, and yet the literal image we have as Jews is really rather new.   This stereotype of a Jew however, is entirely inaccurate.  "Black Hat" Jews, are about 7% of the Total Jewish population.   Meaning, if you pick a random male Jew in the world, you have a 93% chance, that this person will not be wearing a black hat or jacket, and yet, for many people, the image of a Jew is exactly this type of person.

Ah, you might be thinking to yourself, that this is just because all the other Jews have assimilated, or don't study Torah, or aren't real Jews in the first place.    However, this is not true either.    Of those people who study in Yeshiva, only roughly 44% of them, will be wearing a black hat or jacket.      Meaning, you are more likely to see Jews with this on their head:

Than with this on their head:

Though in reality, your average Jew will likely have
 on their head:

Ok, fine cute, but what's my point?  My point is that uniforms are powerful things.  Because we see many people wearing the same clothing, or type of clothing, our prejudices, lump them all into a single group.  We also assume, that this group is monolithic in one way or another.    Most people will assume that all "black hat" Jews have the same philosophy and outlook towards Torah and Judaism.  Of course anyone who has ever worn a black hat, knows that this isn't true.   Just as nobody would make any assumptions about the people who wear "Nothing" on their head, also, we can't make any assumptions about the people who wear the black hats on their head.   

Some of you are thinking to yourself, yeah we know all this, so really what is your point?  Uniforms are powerful things.  Roughly 1500 years ago, the leaders of the Jewish community in Bavel, tried to put a Uniform onto the Jewish people.  However, rather than choosing a particular mode of dress, the leaders of Bavel decided that all Jews needed to follow the same halacha.  However, this was not always the case.  In the Jerusalem Talmud for example, we have many examples of Rabbis being perfectly accepting of the fact that some Jews in other parts of the country, were willing to behave different, than they behaved in their own area.  The most shocking example to Jews today, would likely be that given in both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, that the students of Rabbi Yose Hagalil would eat chicken cooked with animal milk.  The desire for a halachic "uniform" has waxed and wanes over the various centuries, sometimes it was very important, and other times it was not.  During the late middle ages for example, we find that Jews of Italy and Jews of Germany were perfectly happy living very distinct Jewish life styles.  On the other hand, during parts of the geonic period, we find some very nasty things said about a certain Hagadah, that until the Cairo geniza was discovered, was assumed to be a hagadah from a Kaarite Sect, but which we now know to be the Hagadah from Eretz Yisrael.


This need for Jewish Uniformity, rather than Jewish Unity, has IMO caused the current situation we have.  There were times in Jewish history where Jewish Uniformity has saved the Jewish people.  However, the Talmud Bavli is very clear, that this desire for Jewish Uniformity, is also what lead indirectly to the destruction of the beit Hamikdash. (-Talmud Bavli, Gittin 55-56)  Despite the desire we have for Jewish Uniformity in Halacha, the fact is that today Halachic Jews are very fractured*.  I believe, that if we push for a Halachic Minimalism, we can create Unity rather than Uniformity, yet still, we can benefit from the power of Uniforms.

The key to this unity, is in a grass roots effort, for everyone to learn and understand what exactly are the minimal halachic requirements.   And to then respect and accepts all the different self defined groups that will in the end be created or continued, recognizing that those Jews too, follow at least a Halachic minimal.  And not only to accept that "others" behave that way, but also to accept that if put in a less than ideal situation, you too can behave that way.   However, it is also important to recognize that his is a very hard and difficult task because, as I stated earlier.  Uniforms are powerful things.




* If asked which book is the main source of halacha today, answers will range from the Talmud,Mishne Torah, Shulchan Aruch, Mishna Bruah, Yalkut Yosef, Shulchan Aruch Harav, Kitzur shulchan Aruch hayi matim, varous halachic works from various chasidic rebbes,  the teshvuot of  "my rabbi", or,  "the Teshuvot of the Gedolim".  (And there are others, and of course, they all have contradictions witch each other in one place or another)

Friday 11 October 2013

TOPIC Pharisees “won” because the “masses” followed it: (Doesn't it bother you that Judaism isn't Agile?)

Doesn't it Bother You that Judaism isn't Agile?

On the day that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef passed away, my secular co-worker (in computer programming) asked me a simple question. He asked what I thought of the Rabbi, and asked why he was so well known and respected.  His main reason for asking this, was because of recent statements said by the Rabbi which seemed to be racist or ignorant.   I gave a fairly canned answer on the topic, my own feelings being a bit torn, to which my co-worker then very insightfully asked me,  "Doesn't it bother you that Judaism isn't Agile?", I responded with a confused look on my face, and then he explained.

In our business of creating computer software, "agile" has proven to be a very effective method, of creating profitable and popular businesses.  What exactly is agile and what isn't is debatable, but one thing that everyone agrees on, is that agile responds to the market quickly and effectively.  You create something, you test it, you respond to the results of the test.  Nothing is assumed, everything is verified.  It works very well for what it's intended to do.  By contrast, he explained, Judaism is revered by adherence to old information. We, and this is especially true with halachic minimalism, look back to the oldest texts as being the most authentic.  The closer to Moshe, the closer to the times of the Beit Hamikdash, the more trusting we are of what we read.  There are no tests, no means of verifying what brings people closer to Hashem, or brings unity to the Jewish people.

I had two responses to this question.  One is simple and practical.  The difference between agile software, and Judaism, is that agile software it trying to make money and to be popular.  It's goals are well defined. The values of the system is not questioned.  The values date back and are taken as an assumptions.  The same is true of Judaism.  Talmud Torah isn't just about learning what is authentic, it is learning how to take certain values, and to apply them to all areas of life.

The second response to this question, is this blog.  The truth is that Judaism does need to become more Agile.  The truth, is that up until about 200 years ago, Judaism was one of the most agile religions on the planet.  Actions, not beliefs is what defines a Jew.  Actions are the ultimate "test", the ultimate verification of our assumptions.  Sure, a value like celibacy might sound holy it might even make one feel good about themselves.  It might bring a person on an individual level very close to Gd.  But in the real world, it's a value that fails most tests. You can not pass on celibacy to the next generation. It is not a value that the entire population can uphold.   If you read enough Jewish books, just about every idea is floated at one point or another.  Some have stuck with the Jewish people, some have not.  

However, the Jewish community at some point, began to stop being agile.  In the Talmud we are told, that if there is a question about what is correct, go out to the people and see what they do.   At other times, we are told the gathering of the masses is  glory to Gd.  Still again, we are told that the seal of Gd is Truth.  However, there came a time, that rather than viewing people leaving Judaism, or seeing the failure of the community to uphold our values and standards, as being a clear criticism of our society, we viewed those who left as bad, wrong, or not really Jewish to begin with.

We now living in a world where over 70% of the Jewish population are unaware of the value of Shabbat. 60% see no reason for Kashrut. The Torah, which told the world to protect the strangers, orphans and widows, is seen as irrelevant for these values by the vast majority of those who subscribe to them.  In my view the reason for this situation, is because too much of what people believe to be Judaism today, are not things found in the Talmud.  You will not find any JCCs mentioned in Tanach.  There are no Kashrut organizations within the pages of the Talmud.   You will find no mention of a uniform which all Jews must ware every day of their lives in any page of the Torah.   Some of the innovations in Judaism are tested and work well, others give cause for Jews "step away."   However, by going back to the core. By looking into the Tanach and the Talmud for our values, and our values actualized in practice, we can find a common core which all Jews can be taught to try, and evaluate.   There are too many layers of chaff, and husks around the kernal of Torah Judaism today.  Too many things which do not matter, which exist only to separate one type of Jew from another type of Jew.  And do not think that any current stream, brand, or method of Judasim today is working as intended.  The most successful form of Judaism today is the one that doesn't have any cohesion, the "unaffiliated".

So yes, it does bother me that Judaism today is not agile, and I believe that going back to our roots, and looking at true halachic minimalism, will help bring Jews together in our mission to be an "Am Kadosh", as our founding was intended.

Saturday 5 October 2013

TOPIC( The need for the Zohar, The need to reject the Zohar)


Zohar, what should we do with it?

I should begin with something I have learned over the past 10 years.  For many people when you say the Zohar it means very different things.  There are those who have learned about the Zohar from the likes of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, whom have been exposed to only the good parts of the Zohar.  There are those who have learned the Zohar only through the Arizal.  There are those who have learned the Zohar only through Chassidut, and there are those who have learned the Zohar because by looking at the original.  And then there are those who only know of the Zohar because other people quote it, or speak of it highly, but have never actually seen any of the words of the Zohar themselves.  Each of these groups of people, I believe, are thinking about very different sorts of things when the Zohar is mentioned.  It is mainly those who have been introduced to the Zohar through reading the original, through more recent summaries such as R. Aryeh Kaplan, and those who have never read of word of the Zohar themselves, that I have in mind while writing this post.

Without a doubt, for better or worse,  the Zohar is the most influential book on Jewish practice since the Rambam, especially because of it's influence on the Arizal, and then the Arizal's influence on the Shulchan Aruch.

The Zohar without a doubt helped bolster Judaism during the late middle ages, when superstition and Christianity were dominant world forces.

However, since the enlightenment period, the Zohar has also been the biggest threats to Jewish life and continuity.   The Zohar was directly responsible for Shabbatai Tzvi, who's false messianism, almost completely destroyed Sephardic Jewish life, and who caused a sort of "red scare" type of environment within Ashkenazi Jewish life.

Although there has always been a sort of split, between what might be called the more  rationalist, and more mystical schools of thought , since the 15th century, the Zohar has made that split even worse.  Before the Zohar, the Talmud was the only source of Halacha within the Jewish community.  Debates might exist, over what the Talmud ruled, or how to apply the Talmud to 'modern' life, however there was no question that the Talmud was the final say.   However,  beginning during the Renaissance, parts of the Jewish community doubled down on the Zohar and declared that it, rather than the Talmud could be the final say in Jewish law and practice.

The truth of the matter however, is that many Jews are pushed away from Judaism because of what they believe to be the superstitious nature of Judaism, due to the Zohar's influence.  For many centuries, global and sometimes vicious antisemitism kept the Jewish community together, because even if Jews wanted to leave and find another path in life, they could not.

It is my contention, that we have to go back to a time where the Zohar is seen as yet another post-Talmudic philosophy, assuming it does not violate any clear halachot, which  Jews may adopt as they desire, or reject as they desire.   Ideally, the Zohar would not be used as proof for a Talmudic statement, nor a lone statement in the Zohar would be convincing to anyone regarding what proper Jewish practice should be.  That should be left to the realms of the Talmud, Mishna and Tanach.  Presumably, this will help unite the Jewish people, and bring back the 30-60% of the Jewish people, who just are unable to believe in a national culture which is dependent on the affects of 'magical practices', 'demons', and superstitious remedies.

While it is obvious that many find a religion which is devoid of magical practices, demons, and superstitious remedies, to be a religion which lacks spirituality, or is lacking in some area*, these people, we can see around us are in fact a minority.  They are a large minority, but a minority never the less, and so for their sake, the Zohar should not be expunged or declared heretical or any such thing, but rather it needs to be there for those who need it, and absent for those who find it inauthentic.


*Gd and time permitting, I hope to write about why this is not correct, and propose a means of feeling spiritual without rejecting the basic realities of cause and effect in our world. It should hopefully, also not require one to intellectualize the world, but would rather work with a person's emotions.   I would love to hear ideas from others, on how to do this.

Friday 4 October 2013

TOPIC: Sad but true statistics of the Jewish people (2013 American Jewish Survey)

At the beginning of this month, the PEW Research forum released a very detailed survey about the American Jewish community.  The reason why PEW did this survey, is because in 2000, the United Jewish Federations of America decided they did not want to do one themselves.  I do not know the reason why they did not want to do the survey, but that is irrelevant. What is interesting is many of the findings.

1.  If Judaism was a business, it would be a failure.
  • 48 % of those born to Orthodox parents remain Orthodox
  • 36% of those born to Conservative parents remain Conservative
  • 55% of those born to Reform parents remain Reform.
  • Of the current Jewish population in America, 10% are Orthodox, 18% are Conservative, and 35% are Reform.
  • 2% of the Jewish people are converts.
2.  Being Jewish, as a brand is a huge success
  • 80% of Jews say that being Jewish is important to them.
  • 96% of Jews are either Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Just Jewish, or Other.

I can only conclude one thing.  The Jewish people need to know and understand an alternative to the Judaism they have known about for the past 200 years.  We need to go back to our roots, to what I call in this blog, Halachic Minamlism.


Follow up:   Here are my rough estimates, based on some old data, about the population numbers of  various groups of Jews in both the US and Israel.  I find the numbers sobering.

There are an estimated 11.7 Million Jews between Israel and the US.  Here is how they break down. (Numbers and percentages taken from Wikipedia and the PEW research study)
Category Israel America Total
Black-hat: 480,000 342,000 . 822,000
Orthodox:780,000 228,000 1,008,000
Conservative:NA1,026,000 1,026,000
Reform: NA1,995,000 1,995,000
Traditional:1,500,000 1,539,000 3,039,000
Secular:2,520,000171,000 2,691,000
Atheist/Agnostic*: 1,184,40057,000 1,241,400
Other:620,000 399,000 1,019,000
TOTAL:6,000,0005,700,00011,700,000
             (Obviously the numbers are not exact )

*Atheist/Agnostic is counted as a subset of Secular.