Navonim - The Ramblings of Garnel Ironheart

Navonim - The Ramblings of Garnel Ironheart
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Sunday 13 December 2009

The Wrong Approach

There are ways of dealing with problems in one's community, and then there are ways.
For the Chareid community, there is always a way but not one that makes sense to anyone outside their collective:
In a harsh document obtained by Ynet Thursday, the rabbis denounce the websites – the majority of which are daily news publications unsanctioned by the ultra-Orthodox establishment – on grounds that they "pursue all manners of news and gossip that defame our public" and "spread slander, lies and impurities to thousands."...
The rabbis further stated that it is the ultra-Orthodox websites "which impeach a public tempted to (surf) the vilest of places, which have already caused so many in Israel to breach Torah laws about things best kept private."
I'm not terribly surprised at this recent announcement.  For too many self-styled representatives of the Chareidi community, any criticism of their views, beliefs or lifestyle is automatically treated as the gravest sin that one can commit.  Having announced their religious and spritual perfection to the world, they have no choice but to react this way.  After all, any admission would be a dent in that perfection which is a sina qua non they have established for themselves.
Fortunately the genie is out of the bottle.  There are too many in the Chareidi community who seem to be sick and tired of the crap these askanim keep dredging up.  No number of harsh kol korehs will change the situation which is a good thing.  No community can afford to think that it is immune to the need for change over time.  Complacency and rigidness breed corruption that ultimately lead to self-destruction.  Hopefully the very websites being touted as such a terrible danger will be the effective implements of change to help the Chareidi community through its issues.

2 comments:

Devorah said...

Do you think it's a resistance to change, or is it an outcry against lashon hara and discrimination? I'm not sure.

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

I don't think it's a resistance to change or an outcry against loshon horo. I think it's a "There's nothing wrong with us! We're perfect!" attitude being confronted with evidence to the contrary and being unable to handle it.