Orthopraxy is "correct practice", which is what this form of Othodoxy should REALLY be named! It seems that "normal" Orthodoxy has been hijacked by the "mehadrin" (which I think means "glorifiers", those who go beyond the necessary to "glorify" God), and they don't know when to STOP. Case in point: about a year into my new life, I began to realize more and more things were being rated "treif" (and not just FOOD, either). I was attending a weekly Torah session for women, most of us newly Orthodox, and we all had the usual questions about being properly "frum", but I became increasingly worried when every week ANOTHER product/practice/book, etc. was ruled as treif. As I said, the "chumra of the week" approach was catching a lot of these women off-guard (who among us HADN'T done/consumed something on that list the previous week?), and many of them were extremely distraught at somehow "failing" to be a "Torah-True" Jew. When I turned to a trusted rabbi with the question of "where does it all end?", he laughed and replied that it DOESN'T. Well, I had no intention of becoming so "machmir" that I'd be paranoid about everything until some big rabbi (they were called the "Gedolai Torah") or some rabbinical organization ruled whatever-it-was kosher. Worse yet, many of the newspapers and books published for this Torah-True bunch advocated that one have NO opinions except those deemed "kosher" by the Gedolai Torah! Feeling trapped, I asked the rebbetzin if I could maybe scale back my observance somewhat---only to be told that, as I had become frum, to do so would be tantamount to treason. So, I panicked. Thankfully, we moved, but now we're in a place where there's almost NO reasonably well-informed Jewish community.
At the height of my religious frenzy I sported a sheitl, long sleeves, skirt---the works. I still miss the predominantly Jewish areas we lived in back in Brooklyn, but I don't miss the feeling of always being "watched" for signs of "apikorsus" (heresy---leanings toward Conservative, Reform, or even MODERN Orthodoxy!). Frankly, I also hated always being introduced to others as a "geress" ("gyoret"?), as if my Orthodox conversion somehow made ME a little "treif". Of course, you have to realize that halacha says a convert does NOT have a "Jewish" soul (which REALLY ticks me off, considering what I had to go through to convert), but the source of this idea seems to have come from either the Tanya (written by one of the Lubavitcher rebbeim) or the Kuzari (I think that's the title). If I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to correct me, but it seems to me that this Torah-True Orthodoxy is fast becoming a most NASTY ethno-centric bunch indeed.
1 comment:
Going from non-Jewish to crazy-Jewish must have been quite a sea change. You seem to have been a member in good standing of the chumrah-of-the-week club.
It has not escaped the notice of many of us non-Orthodox Jews, and many Orthodox Jews, as well, that Orthodoxy seems to be getting more and more extreme in its demands concerning observance and obedience of the rabbanim/rabbis. I have a few posts on my blog, http://onthefringe_jewishblog.blogspot.com/, relating to what I see as the increasing unwillingness of some elements of the Orthodox community to deal with the modern world. Check out my post "A Wig and a Prayer" (about the current sheitel controversy). While you're there, have a look at "No fan of 'monkey' business"--the original post, post #2, & post #3--about some words from a well-known rabbi that might be considered poorly chosen, given that this is the 21st century.
On the plus side, there are still a few sane Orthodox Jews out there. I recommend that you have a look at http://outofstepjew.blogspot.com/.
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