[Avodah] Ultra-Orthodox suffering in COVID-19 pandemic due to sins of community

Akiva Miller akivagmiller at gmail.com
Tue May 12 03:12:33 PDT 2020


.
I translated part of what R' Gerson Edelstein had recently said:

> Those who have not yet done teshuva, they are shogeg, they
> are tinok shenishbu, they are not guilty. They didn't receive
> chinuch, they are not guilty, they are shogeg. But a chareidi,
> his sin is not shogeg. The sins of someone who is not charedi
> is shogeg, but the sin of someone who is charedi is not shogeg.
> ...

and then I commented:

> I leave it to the reader to consider whether (in Rav Edelstein's
> opinion) everyone would fall into one of those two groups, or
> whether there might be other group(s) too.

But I've changed my mind. I'm NOT going to simply "leave it to the reader".
I want to speak my mind and open a new discussion.

When I first wrote those words, "whether there might be other group(s)
too", I was referring to a middle ground between "charedim" and "tinok
shenishbu" [I prefer to use RGE's words where feasible], which some might
call "dati" or "Modern Orthodox" or some other label.

And then it occurred to me that maybe RGE really does see only two groups.
But if so, it is quite presumptuous of us to presume where HE would place
the line between those groups, i.e., which of the groups he'd put US in.

Avoiding sinas chinam means that I try not to hate others.
It should also mean that I will not presume *others* to hate *me*.

When many of us hear the word "charedi", we feel that they are excluding
us, or maybe we choose to feel excluded because of what we understand that
word to mean. Fine. You have a right to use these labels however you like.
But don't presume that you use a label the same way that someone else uses
that label. It could well be that the person who spoke that word had no
intentions of "ultra", and merely meant it in contrast to those who "have
not yet done teshuva ... are tinok shenishbu ... didn't receive chinuch."

I would have preferred it if RGE had used the phrase "shomrei mitzvos". I
admit that I feel excluded by his use of the term "chareidi". I admit that
my first reaction was to think that he considers the Modern Orthodox to be
"tinok shenishbu".

But this reveals the sinas chinam in my heart, because I jumped to the
conclusion that he is deliberately trying to exclude me. It could very well
be that he is simply using a word that is common in his circles. It could
very well be that he'd be the first to agree that the datiim and charedim
are equally "not shogeg".

DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about Rav Edelstein. I am basing these posts
solely on the one paragraph reported in this thread. It could be that he is
on record as considering datiim "more shogeg" than charedim. If so, then
please consider what I've said, when you hear someone *else* using these
terms.

Akiva Miller
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20200512/42f33e02/attachment.html>


More information about the Avodah mailing list