Rabbi Avi Shafran
Confessions of a Jewish fundamentalist
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
WITH all the understandable concern these days about fundamentalism, the
American public might want to better understand one group of religious
reactionaries that have long been lurking in our midst: Jewish ones, that
is, like me.
FUNDAMENTALS
FUNNY CLOTHES
STRANGE DOINGS
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
What makes us Jewish fundamentalists particularly unusual, and suspicious,
is that our goal is neither material success nor world domination but rather
the performance of good deeds and the study of Torah - which includes the
Jewish Bible, the Talmud, and thousands of later works based on them. While
we hardly lack for doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians and
businesspeople of most every conceivable sort, the study of Torah is
considered the most fortunate "profession" in the Haredi world. What's
more, Haredi families sacrifice much in the way of financial security for
the sake of Torah study and the Jewish education of their sons and
daughters. Which, of course, helps explain such subversive tendencies as
our enthusiasm for school vouchers.
SUBVERSIVE BEHAVIOR
And, like all good fundamentalists, we don't just disapprove; we react - by
attempting to shelter ourselves and our children as best we can from things
like the commercialization of sexuality and the idealization of materialism.
We even go so far - hey, fundamentalists aren't passive sorts - as to
support legislation that is consonant with our beliefs.
HOLY WAR!
SPREADING THE WORD
"Haredim", as we rigorously observant Orthodox Jews are called, are
fundamentalists of the first order. The fundamentals we affirm without
compromise are those of the Jewish faith: That there is a G-d. That He
revealed Himself at Sinai. And that an ultimate reward and punishment
awaits all human beings - though we tend to dwell more on the particulars of
good and bad than those of Heaven and Hell.
Like all fundamentalists, we Haredim dress strange: our men and boys wear
hats or yarmulkes (turbans are rare); our married women keep their hair
covered, though we're not into veils. Our clothing is modest in a way that
tends to stand out, especially on summer days. And, like many chic
dressers, many of our men favor black.
From the moment we wake up until we go to bed, our lives are governed by
myriad religious rules. We pray three times daily, eat only strictly kosher
food (much of it, interestingly, Chinese), meticulously avoid a long list of
actions on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and celebrate Jewish holidays as
they have been observed for three thousand years. I could try to explain
the citrons, palm fronds and bitter herbs but it would take too long.
Most reactionary of all, we tend to shun television, movies and much of what
passes for music and popular culture these days. We even reject the
contention that witnessing thousands of murders and immoral acts is a
harmless part of coming of age.
True to the fundamentalist credo, we Haredim embrace holy war. But while
some others see their jihads or crusades as involving violence and the
vanquishing of others, our battle is exclusively with what our tradition
teaches is the evil that lurks within our hearts. Swords and bombs and
germs and such are generally ineffectual in that struggle, and so we opt
instead for more useful stratagems like studying ethical works and engaging
in deep introspection.
Like other fundamentalists, we Haredim try to spread the faith - but only to
other Jews who may lack traditional Jewish educations. We don't evangelize
to members of other faiths, nor do we see them as unsaved. Indeed, we
consider a Christian or Muslim who observes certain basic moral precepts to
fully merit a share in the World-to-Come.
So as a plethora of pundits proclaim that the Western World's battle today
is against all religious fundamentalism, the citizenry might do well to
reflect on what some of the world's loudest fundamentalists themselves seem
to regard as a pernicious threat: their Jewish
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