[Avodah] Ehrlachkeit, not Frumkeit

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 10:51:17PM -0400, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: I don't know this idiom, it was not part of the culture I grew up  in.  In 
: normal, everyday Yiddish and Orthodox English, "frum" means  Torah-observant 
: and "ehrlech" means "honest, having integrity, having  principles."...

...
: The wry apercu attributed to R' Kotler -- "Frum is der galach" -- is meant  
: as a criticism of those frum Jews who are not ehrlich.  It is also a  
: not-so-subtle dig at certain priests and other outwardly-pious non-Jews whose  
Given the essay by RSW I linked to and discussed, aside from my childhood
memories of Litvisher ancestors, clearly indicate "frum" was an insult
and their -- and thus RAK's -- mileu.

still laud ehrlachkeit -- and we came to define ourselves by how we're
unique, rather than what's most important. (Which is now causing a shift
in priorities.)ccording to RSW, frumkeit isn't about outward piety,
but piety that's about an instinct to be a pious person than about the
values about which one is supposed to be pious in their pursuit.

My blog entry was partly about where this shift came from -- how did a
word that in the Lithuanian Yeshiva was considered deragory come to mean
something entirely different in today's modern Yiddish and Yinglish?
On Areivim, repeated in that blog entry, I suggested it's because C and
R still laud ehrlachkeit -- and we came to define ourselves by how we're
unique, rather than what's most important. (Which is now causing a shift
in priorities.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Strength does not come from winning. Your
micha at aishdas.org        struggles develop your strength When you go
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Fax: (270) 514-1507      that is strength.        - Arnold Schwarzenegger