[Avodah] The Purpose of Yahadus and Crime Statistics

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 02:44:03PM +0200, R Efraim Yawitz replied to me on
Areivim:
: On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 11:14 PM,Micha Berger  wrote:
:> <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/WateringTheWeeds.pdf>

:> The context is addressing that very question for someone touched by abuse
:> themselves and is wondering whether the frequency of such things in our
:> community doesn't argue against the Torah's claims of being able to refine
:> its practitioners.

He asked:
: Is there some statistical evidence that this is more prevalent in "our"
: community?

First, I gave the context and target audience for a reason. What I
was trying to do in that piece was connect to someone whose faith in
Yahadus was shaken by abuse by a religious figure in their life --
parent, rebbe, whomever.

My point was to get the abused not to judge Yahadus by the culture
that allowed the abuser to thrive, and could very well still be making
excuses for him.

I did rewrite the thesis of that chapter in a positive tenor, as a
manifesto that appeared on Torah Musings
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/tools-and-goals>.
This particular argument was inappropriate to make in public if it is not
written to an audience already sold on the premise. Even though true,
why do I need to be the community's kateigor?


Second, I didn't say it was "more prevalent", but that one would need
statistics to see whether it was less prevalent. And that alone is a
problem. To quote more of what I wrote on Areivim:

:> The Torah is describing a uniqueness that should be self-evident
:> and obvious at first glance, without requiring a systematic study.

The Torah describes itself to be a means of producing better people.

There is a HUGE investment in time and effort (and money) to conform. So,
if a significant percentage of the O community is keeping the Torah as
Intended, shouldn't the difference in the demographics of that community
be self-evident, something to justify that investment?

How would you justify assuming the payoff is so much smaller than the
demanded investment? If the difference between those who follow sheqer --
the crime or volunteerism stats in a different religious commuunity of
a similar income profile -- aren't visibly worse, without needing formal
pollsters, than following the Emes, what exactly is Yahadus about?

Is it tenable to argue that Torah, if properly followed, is for the
person to be nif'al al pi pe'ulosav only in miniscule non-obvious ways?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The meaning of life is to find your gift.
micha at aishdas.org        The purpose of life
http://www.aishdas.org   is to give it away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Pablo Picasso