Tzarich Iyun > “Seder Sheni”: Reflections > Civic Responsibility > The Adjustment Disorder of Charedi Society

The Adjustment Disorder of Charedi Society

Charedi society, which is deeply imbued with kindness and solidarity, has been plagued by a lack of resilience over the covid-19 period. Why is this so? Contemplating the rebukes of Yeshayahu concerning over-reliance on the sacrificial order might produce a lesson no less relevant today than it was then.

Shevat 5781, February 2021

Many words could be chosen to describe recent events in the Charedi community: anarchy, breaking of boundaries, loss of control, chaos, and more. But I wish to borrow a term from the psychological field: adjustment disorder, which refers to significant difficulty in adjusting to psychological stressors.

The covid-19 pandemic presented the entire world with serious physical, psychological, and social challenges. Some countries did a better job of adapting to the new situation, while others were less successful. The Charedi community’s approach, by contrast, is considered inexplicable and infuriating both inside the community outside of it. It seems we can only choose between two conclusions: Either this is a group of gullible ostriches that decided to bury their heads in the sand while illness and death raged around them, or all claims to virtue achieved by the Charedi way of life are nothing but a hypocritical cover for a grimmer reality. This explanation holds that our full wagon has proven to be empty, and a community that teaches charity has revealed itself to be comprised of blood-sucking leeches who don’t even have basic compassion for each other.

Charedi society, notwithstanding its various challenges, is not known for high crime rates or personally-driven violence (pseudo-ideological violence is another story); on the contrary, Charedim volunteer and contribute their time and resources at much higher rates than the rest of the Israeli public. What, then, is the meaning of the tragedy we have been witnessing for almost a year?

These two explanations may satisfy hostile critics on the outside or masochistic complainers from within, but anyone thinking clearly must surely reject both. Covid-19 deniers are no more common in the Charedi community than in other parts of society, if only because there is no Charedi person who does not know people who were seriously ill with or even from the virus.

And as for the ostensible devilish callousness – we can perhaps assume that pure evil exists in the Charedi community no less than anywhere else, but we have no evidence that it is more common. Charedi society, notwithstanding its various challenges, is not known for high crime rates or personally-driven violence (pseudo-ideological violence is another story); on the contrary, Charedim volunteer and contribute their time and resources at much higher rates than the rest of the Israeli public. What, then, is the meaning of the tragedy we have been witnessing for almost a year?

 

No Exclusive Purpose

The Prophet Yirmiyahu, in one of his fiercest prophecies of rebuke, slams the People of Israel for thinking that the sacrificial service of the Mikdash is all that matters and that it will save them from their sins. “For neither did I speak with your forefathers nor did I command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning a burnt offering or a sacrifice,” God told the people – “But this thing did I command them, saying: Obey Me so that I am your God and you are My people, and you walk in all the ways that I command you, so that it may be well with you” (Yirmiyahu 7:22-23).

Rabbi Tzaddok Hacohen of Lublin, in his book Kometz Hamincha (v. 2, s. 22) explains the demand towards the Israelites as follows:

Man must not have just one purpose and aim for some specific matter, such as abstaining from desires and learning Torah. […] They adhered to this purpose alone, to offering sacrifices […] and as it is said: “their fear of Me has become a rote learning of human commands” – and this He did not command.

According to Rabbi Tzadok, the deeper mistake of the People of Israel was the viewing sacrifices as the exclusive purpose of their relationship with Hashem. Those who aim for one purpose – even if sacred and exalted, founded on an explicit Divine instruction – must necessarily end up sinning.

This very sin, committed by Israel at the time of the First Temple, seems to be repeating itself in our community. Every sub-community has fashioned “one purpose” on which they focus. And thus, every Charedi community tries to adhere to the one thing they know: The one value of a proper Charedi life as they understand it.

We teach our children that there is only one legitimate path to being a Jew. It passes through specific educational institutions and includes a very specific code of conduct. Men need to learn Torah and only Torah and need to remain in Kollel so long as their families are not starving, and women need to be their helpmeet in realizing this aim. Both need to adhere to internal Charedi codes in every particular: from dress to occupation, from children’s names to family size. When certain communities are less pressing on some of these items, they balance with a set of other binding instructions. In sum, every Charedi individual in every community is given a perfect life plan upon birth, defining the stations he must pass through to be considered a “real Charedi.”

What happens to somebody who leaves the study hall for the study of higher education in a society that expects its men to stay in Kollel? What is the fate of a woman taught to be a wife of a holy chaver (an eishes chaver) when her husband goes out to work? What can be done for a young man who simply does not fit into any sort of yeshiva framework? Reality shows that in a large and painful majority of such cases the results are grim, whether emotionally or spiritually

Such plans, despite certain advantages they possess, are inherently dangerous. Notwithstanding their purported goal of preserving the values underlying them, they can lead us to err as our forefathers did: to aim for a “specific matter” instead of aiming to do the will of Heaven. What happens to somebody who leaves the study hall for the study of higher education in a society that expects its men to stay in Kollel? What is the fate of a woman taught to be a wife of a holy chaver (an eishes chaver) when her husband decides to go to work? What can be done for a young man who simply does not fit into any sort of yeshiva framework? Reality shows that in a large and painful majority of such cases the results are grim, whether emotionally or spiritually. We always remind the workers of the superiority of the learners, and we console their wives that perhaps their children will sit all day in Kollel. As for those we like to call “wayward youth,” we generally encourage them to remain in yeshiva, by hook or by crook.

All this comes in place of a simple and fundamental truth, which we for some reason neglect: that humankind was created to worship God, and each of us must do so with the tools we are given, according to our relevant circumstances. Those who forget this supreme goal and focus on the “one purpose” – Torah study, preserving the tradition of the community, or any other value – declare that their fear of Heaven is mere “rote learning of human commands.”

The lack of Charedi resilience in dealing with covid-19 is therefore rooted in a long-standing problem: we and unskilled and unused to fit our worship of God with personal circumstances. Instead of asking ourselves in every circumstance “what does God want from me right now?” we constantly try to return to the only value we know, even if it is no longer relevant and even harmful. We are like a driver whose Waze is trying to recalculate a new route to spare him traffic and road hazards, but who insists on ignoring the app and plowing ahead on the original route. Such trips, it goes without saying, rarely go well.

When we look at those who are supposed to be in isolation (including those with a covid-19 patient at home!) yet walk around freely; at confirmed patients who “have to daven with a minyan;” at those who visit elderly relatives without taking precautions; at those who have family gatherings contrary to any law because “no-one will enforce it” – it is hard to imagine they stopped to ask themselves: “What does God want from me in the present situation?” Such individuals will be excessively diligent in preserving the “sacrificial order” that constitutes their relationship with God. But this is all they consider – the single purpose they know. Who will dare tell them anything as they continue to shout: “Heichal Hashem, Heichal Hashem, Heichal Hashem”?

 

A Summoned Life

The need to read the map around us and respond to changing conditions is not merely a Jewish insight. Obviously so. One of the best-articulated explanations of this wisdom was given by American cultural commentator David Brooks in 2010 when he coined the phrase “the summoned life.” In his article, Brooks described the “well-planned life” – a philosophy advanced by Clayton Christensen, a Business Management Professor at Harvard University, and a business consultant. According to Christensen, who often preached his principles to students, a person must outline a clear plan for his life when he is young. After defining his goals, he must devote resources to them in the form of time, energy, and talents. Dedication and stubborn adherence to these goals at any cost will ensure his life will be a success story.

Brooks, who has great respect for Christensen, suggested that despite the popularity of this “life plan,” especially in the United States (with its worship of people devoted to a cause and achieving it despite all odds), there is a no less legitimate approach, one he called “the summoned life.” This way of thinking does not view life as a “project to be completed,” but as “an unknowable landscape to be explored”:

The person leading the Summoned Life starts with a very concrete situation: I’m living in a specific year in a specific place facing specific problems and needs. At this moment in my life, I am confronted with specific job opportunities and specific options. The important questions are: What are these circumstances summoning me to do? What is needed in this place? What is the most useful social role before me?

behind the explanations referencing desperate families, apartments too small to house large families, and the critical need to maintain communal life, there is one sad truth. Many of us have not stopped to ask ourselves at any stage of the pandemic: “What is God asking of me now?” – does He wish us to go on as usual, or is my worship of God going to be different than of routine times?

For the believing Jew, the important goal is not to answer the call of the circumstances, but to worship God. As to the question of “How?” – here Brooks provides guidance that is certainly appropriate.

From the beginning of the covid-19 crisis, the general Charedi approach strove for returning to normal as soon as possible – get the Yeshiva and Kollel institutions up and running, reopen the schools, pray en masse as before, celebrate Jewish events as though there was no virus, and so on. Behind some of these efforts lay real fears, such as the need to keep children off the streets or curb spiraling dropout rates. But in the end, behind the explanations referencing desperate families, apartments too small to house large families, and the critical need to maintain communal life, there is one sad truth. Many of us have not stopped to ask ourselves at any stage of the pandemic: “What is God asking of me now?” – does He wish us to go on as usual, or is my worship of God going to be different than of routine times?

Those whose lives are called to serve God understand that challenging circumstances are not something to be ignored or rail against, but guidance to serve God another way. For instance, a Kollel student may realize he should stay home and learn with his little children, even if he misses sedarim and may even lose his place in the Kollel. A mother of children may understand that she has no choice but to work at night – as exhausting as that will be – so she can keep her children busy and occupied at home. A family may understand they had better leave their home in a Charedi city and move to a large house with a yard in the north, to help the children and youth suffering in lockdowns. All these are examples of real people, by the way, who chose to live a “summoned life.” They looked around, understood exactly where they stood, and then chose true worship of God, not worship of “for neither did I speak with your forefathers nor did I command them.”

 

Go to My Place in Shiloh

An interesting observation that occurs to many who engage in in-depth Bible study is the lack of description of any scholar (talmid chacham) whose Torah is his craft. We know from the Sages that many of the biblical heroes were immersed in Torah: Yaakov Avinu, who was a tent-dweller, and King David who awakened at midnight to study Torah, are just two well-known examples. But not only does the text fail to mention the Torah study of these tzaddikim; sometimes it entirely hides it. From a narrative standpoint, we might of course understand why emphasis was given to unsettling circumstances, harsh trials, and wars. But could the book of Bereishis not devote at least one verse to the fourteen years in which Yaakov studied in the study hall of Shem and Ever (as the Sages inform us) before reaching the house of Lavan?

Is there one single plan that could have served King David as a shepherd, a refugee from King Saul, a soldier, a king? Did Mordechai, who took time each day to “learn the fate of Esther,” not fear missing his morning seder?

The Bible, as we know, is the Jewish People’s fundamental tome to the end of time. This absence may therefore be there to guide us. In normal circumstances, a Jew who worships God in prayer and Torah is certainly worthy of all the praise he gets. But the Bible teaches us another lesson: the importance of fitting our worship of God to individual circumstances. Yaakov was certainly a righteous Tzaddik when he studied at the yeshiva of Shem and Ever, but the more useful lesson for us is that “I lived with Lavan and observed all 613 mitzvot.” Yosef Hatzaddik worshipped God in the house of Potifar, in prison, and ultimately also in his palace, as the Egyptian regent. Is it conceivable that he was supposed to do the same things in all these places? Is there one single plan that could have served King David as a shepherd, a refugee from King Saul, a soldier, a king? Did Mordechai, who took time each day to “learn the fate of Esther,” not fear missing his morning seder?

If we find these questions absurd, as we probably should, it is because we are not used to learning directly from the example of our forefathers. The Bible gives us a detailed description of the tumult in our forebears’ lives, thus providing us with an enlightening example: A committed Jew has no sacred purpose in his world aside from doing God’s will. And if God’s will be to shatter all our routines and turn our world upside down, we should realize He expects us to worship Him in a world turned topsy-turvy. Circumstances are calling for us to adjust our actions and fill the role required of us here and now. Are we listening?

The false confidence the People of Israel felt in the First Temple period, their conviction that the work of the Mikdash was sufficient, led the prophet to remind them of the Mishkan’s fate: “Go now, to my place in Shiloh […] and see what I did to it, due to the evil of my People, Israel.”

The lesson went unlearned then. Today, as we evade basic responsibility in the name of (truly) sacred values such as “the Torah world,” we would do well to absorb it.

 

3 thoughts on “The Adjustment Disorder of Charedi Society

  • Thank you🕊

    • There is a vast difference between single-mindedness and being subjected to mind control. Someone who, after much exploration, soul searching and experience chooses to dedicate himself to a particular mission is single-minded, and is to be lauded. Someone who surrenders his mind to another, or who was educated to have all decisions made for him by someone else, is not single-minded. He is a slave. To the extent that we need rabbis, it is for the individual to CHOOSE who his rabbi is, not the other way around The relationship is bottom up, not top down. At least this is how the Mishneh would have it. But then the Torah would also have us educating the child to HIS needs, and the Torah would have us working six days a week, and the Torah would have us serve in the army or else be excluded from the count. One can go on and on.

  • Highly commendable analysis but quite out of touch with what is going on in the real world. The whole world was caught unprepared by Covid. Should we really expect that the Shules would close down, weddings would cease and Levayos would be cancelled from today to tomorrow. For sure the Haredi world especially the Yishuv HaYashan is intransigient. This is the essence of their survival. The Hasam Sofer quipped “Hadash Assur Min HaTorah”. He wasn”t making a joke he was dead serious – a major part of the business of being Haredi is the business of resisting change. Funny enough the Haredi society is not by itself. From the Midwest and deep south of the US to Sweden many societies refused to wear masks and to observe social distancing etc.

    Since I married off my kids I personally live a life of non-conformism in my own bubble in the Haredi world,. But on the other hand I Daven daily in a Hungarian Hasisidische Shteeble which is rife with anti-vaxers, Etznikim and Tshalmer Zaddikim. One thing I have learned is to be non-judgemental. Tzarich Iyun is giving a voice to those who want to look around and criticize what is wrong in our society which is commendable but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We are all together on our holy ship of Yiddishkeit and HKB”H wants us stay on-board despite our many differences. Yiddishkeit is not the problem nor is “Haredi society”. Lets put aside these long monologues and work on listening to each other and our Rabbaim

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