Thinking...Thinking...Thinking...There!

So, the more I think about this idea of simply writing off the Chareidi movement as a non-Torah movement, the more I like it, as much as anyone can like an idea of writing off a portion of Klal Yisrael. However, the Chareidi movement has brought this on itself. They have indeed removed themselves from the Tzibur and, while doing so, have declared all other Torah Judaism to be not kosher. By doing so, by declaring that other sections of Orthodoxy that keep Torah, Mitzovs, and Halacha, they have declared themselves a non-Torah movement.

There is a posuk in Yirmiyahu that asks how could Hashem have brought such destruction onto the Jewish people. This posuk is generally regarded to be asking specifically about the destruction of both Batei Mikdash. Hashem answers - "Al asher azvu Torasi" - because they abandoned my Torah. Ok, says the Medrash. We understand that answer for the destruction of the first Bais HaMikdash, when Avoda Zara, Shfichus Damim, and Gilui Arayos (idol worship, murder, and immoral sexual behavior) were rampant. The people had indeed abandoned the Torah in a time when prophets roamed the land trying to teach the word of Hashem. There was Gilui Panim at the time - God's presence was felt and noticeable. The punishment was for sins that were also un-hidden, out in the open. Nobody bothered to hide what he or she was doing.

Along came the second Bais Hamikdash. The Medrash asks: But everyone was Torah observant at the time! No one had abandoned the Torah. Answers the Medrash - Hashem destroyed the Bais Hamikdash because people stopped saying Bircas HaTorah. Asks the Medrash, What do you mean? Of course everyone said Bircas HaTorah! Yes, the Medrash replies. But no one meant it. Torah study had become an exercise in academics, not something people were learning and internalizing as a way of life, a way of treating other people, as well as a guide for one's relationship with God. For this, says the Medrash, the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed. It was a time of Hester Paniim, a time when Hashem's presence wasn't as tangible in the physical world, and the reasons for the destruction of the second Bais Hamikdash were not as clear as well; some research had to be done to find the reason.

Sound familiar? This is what is going on in the Yeshivish/Chareidi world. And when I called a rabbi to whom I was very close on this one Shabbos morning in bright, sunny Los Angeles, he glared at me and told me I was a Choteh Plili, a criminal sinner for saying such things about the Yeshiva world. We never spoke again.

But it's true. There is no internalization any longer. It's just an exercise in academics, as it was two thousand years ago. That's why not one rabbi rose in defense of Bar-Kamtza. Torah was no longer internalized, as it is no longer internalized today in the Yeshiva/Chareidi world. And perhaps this is the reason for them heaping on the Chumras. Perhaps it is their way of looking for meaning in practices that, when not internalized, have no meaning.

So, as a knee-jerk reaction, the Chareidi world makes Pasul the entire rest of Orthodox Judaism. I say again: Great! Since the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of people like that, we need to do is ignore them and be the best Torah Jews we can be, which means internalizing our Torah, not just using it as an academic tool. We need to move on past the Chareidi world and start worrying about ourselves and fixing the damage the Chareidi/Yeshivish world has inflicted on us. Once this healing starts and the repairs begin, maybe they'll decide to rejoin the Jewish Nation instead of separating themselves from the Tzibur.