One of My Pet Topics (and Peeves!!)

My wife, Esther, made the following comment on Cross (Loving) -Currents post by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein:

14. Why is this issue only used in reference to ideas on the “left”? Why does it not apply to people on the “right” who have started enacting ideas that are contrary to how most of the Jewish world lives? This includes setting up roles for women that are just as contrary to our mesorah as the issues you write about in this article. (Such as the requirement to be the breadwinner.) Why does the “beyond the pale” label only get applied to the left and not the right, when halacha says that veering in either direction is incorrect? I think many of us who have great respect for Rabbi Adlerstein would be interested in an explanation of this.

Comment by Esther — December 17, 2007 @ 6:50 pm

So far, Rabbi Adlerstein has ignored this comment, so I put in my own two cents:

Rabbi Adlerstein,

I’m somewhat surprised you seem to have ignored Esther’s comment to you (comment 14) and her request for an explanation as to why the “beyond the pale” label only gets applied to the left and not the right, when halacha says that veering in either direction is incorrect. Have you an answer? Yehoshua was commanded “Lo Sasur YAMIN o Smol,” and Yamin, to the right, is mentioned first, implying it’s even more wrong to be noteh to the right than to the left. Further, the Torah itself tells us not lean either way. Why is this ignored in the Chareidi world? Why are people to the left the ONLY ones considered doing the wrong thing, but not the ones to the right?

Comment by Am Kshe Oref — December 19, 2007 @ 11:09 am

I just posted this comment, so it's currently awaiting moderation. I'd like to see if he answers. You see, this seems to be the trend with the right wing. Blast whatever isn't like them (right, Toby Katz?), but ignore any comments that come at them that questions their core beliefs. To me, this means their beliefs don't stand up to close scrutiny. And theirs don't. It's obvious from their many shenanigans over the years.

In the meantime, it's a good topic to discuss here. The core of Esther's question is why is the mitzvah of "Lo Sasur Yamin O Smol" ignored. Both by the Right and by the Left. Reading this blog, you might think I'm pretty left-wing. Well, politically, yes I am (except when it comes to Israel). But religiously? I'm center. one may not think so because when I blast, I always blast the Right. But I blast the Left as well. I'm just not as outspoken about it because in their case I think, while still wrong to lean one way or another, the good there outweighs the bad. Find this hypocritical? Tough. I find it hypocritical when people on the Right, especially the far Right, either ignore questions asked of them or declare the questioners heretics, kofrim, and evil. I find it hypocritical when you can use the Rambam to determine your "Hashkafa" (I hate that word, by the way), but essentially ignore his Halacha. It is hypocritical to have a "Tznius" police but not a tax evasion or child molester prevention police. It is hypocritical for rabbis to steal money from their employees. It's hypocritical to segregate a school, separating Sephardim from Ashkenazim and telling those children they may not speak or play with the other group.

There's a whole laundry list of things the Right does that are hypocritical, primarily of which is hiding behind the Torah to justify their wrongs. The Left makes no such pretensions. And the more Right-Leaning the Right becomes, the more hypocritical their actions become. Know why? Because the Torah tells us "LO Yamin O Smol." It's not a suggestion. It's a command. I'm not saying many of the things the Left does are not against Torah. Of course they are. But I don't see them trying to justify their actions BASED on fictional, ridiculous interpretations of Torah. This is the Modus Operandi of the Right.

But the endgame is the same: It is just as wrong to lean to the Right as it is to the Left. In fact, it's probably MORE wrong because that is the word the Torah chooses to use first, knowing that it's easier to fall into the trap Rightness than into that of Leftness. It's easier to become "more" frum and judge everyone to the left of you than to just chuck it all out the door.

There is SOOOO much more to say, and I will say it, but later.