East v. West
Much of what we
think of as "Orthodox Judaism" is in fact cultural, rather than religious. Think
of Yeshivish, Sefardy, Chassidish, Chabadnik, YU. All the above groups think,
dress, daven, learn and practice Judaism in very different ways. Each group no
doubt thinks their way is the most authentically 'Jewish' way, but in reality
they are all just different cultural expressions and nuances.
These cultural nuances have been significantly shaped by the surrounding non-Jewish cultures. I don't think one can really say that there is any 'authentic' Jewish culture. Even if you go back to early Israel, that was a mix of Cannaanite and other tribes. Hardly what we could call a 'Jewish' culture by today’s standards.
These cultural nuances have been significantly shaped by the surrounding non-Jewish cultures. I don't think one can really say that there is any 'authentic' Jewish culture. Even if you go back to early Israel, that was a mix of Cannaanite and other tribes. Hardly what we could call a 'Jewish' culture by today’s standards.
There are many cultural differences between the MO and UO in dress, thought patterns, attitudes towards women, State of Israel, etc.
MOs for the most part have adopted the modern Western 'high' culture, with associated skepticism in the supernatural, and trust in science. UOs tend to still have more Eastern European type attitudes towards these things. For example UO kids are educated from a young age on a diet of Rebbe tales and midrashim taken literally.
Here’s my chiddush: On most of these issues, and especially the "Science and Torah" issue, much of the MO vs. Chareidi difference of opinion is not really based on halachah or even true hashkafah. Rather, much of it is really a clash between modern (non-Jewish) Western cultural notions, versus medieval and Eastern European (non-Jewish) cultural notions.
That's interesting...your chiddush, mainly is in the interpretation of Hareidi notions. I think most people, even MOs, would have to agree that the MO worldview is mostly Western, non-Jewish. Okay, so if Hareidi ideas (about nature, mainly?) are medieval non-Jewish, it makes a person really wonder exactly *how* and *why* such ideas would persist so strongly. Is the persistence, at least, the Jewish part?
ReplyDeleteHi Daveeda. Welcome to my humble blog!
ReplyDeleteI believe the strong persistence of certain notions in chareidi communities is due to their purposeful extreme separation from other cultures. Chareidi communities attempt to "freeze-frame" what were their (non-Jewish) cultural notions from the 1950s and '60s. (This extreme separation itself has resulted in a new "Jewish" culture, but I don't think this degree of separation will last more than another generation or two in light of the internet and economic realities.)
Depending on the degree of separation from the outside world, different strains of chareidi culture have differences in the degree of persistence of Old World attitudes. Satmar, Sqver, and Israeli chareidi separation is extreme, and they are much more radically non-Western than their more Westernized Lakewood or Boro Park counterparts. Perhaps I'll write a post of examples of such differences.
Although I'm sure there's textual support for some degree of separation from non-Jews, this Satmar-type separation is new, or at least much more extreme than it used to be, and in this sense is NOT Jewish.