I have been asked by many people why I constantly harp on the negative.
I will try to answer that question as best as I can.
Firstly, like we are seeing with the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, good news doesn't sell. A post (or a talk) about good stuff happening doesn't really draw much attention or thought.
What am I to post, "Rabbi X. gave a great drasha.”?
Secondly, if there would be nothing negative going on, I would have nothing negative to post about.
With the advent of Jewish blogging, more people now have the opportunity to let their voices be heard. None of the J-Bloggers out there would have had a voice 10 years ago.
In addition, as we saw with Rathergate, the blogosphere is showing that the average, not-wealthy connectionless Jew, still has a voice.
I am not a robot, I think for myself. I don't always think very well but at least it's my thought process that makes me act. For those J-Robots, of course there's no reason to post, or talk, about the negative issues; it's irrelevant. For me and many others out there, it's not just to post about the negative but to also let others know that they are not alone. I feel better knowing that there are Orthodox Jews out there who also feel the pain and sadness in watching what is happening to their religion. (I don’t feel happy knowing that others are in pain rather, I feel happy that others are aware of the problems and could potentially help solve them.)
So, I would love nothing better than to not post about negative issues but when our publications, mouthpieces and rabbis only talk about the good, somebody has to unsweep the carpet.
Yet, all is not lost. I am slowly starting to see a change in people's and rabbi's behaviors. They are more aware that everything they say can instantly be transported to Jews all over the world and they are also aware that there are many people in their communities that never got their robot implants in grade school.
In my mind, it is these implant-free Jews that are the true future of Orthodox Judaism, the ones that think for themselves and still remain Torah True, as opposed to those that are Jewish just by virtue of the fact that they were born Jewish.
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10 comments:
I am negative I amcynical I am pissed off I am also the grandchild of of Nazi inflicted jews I am also the product of a yeshiva that ignored me except when they beat me I am married to awoman whose grandmother graduated from Aushwitz magnum cum laude (5 and half years in that hell ,she must have missed the learning curve)I am sick and tired of being lied to by twisted, quasi-rabbonim I miss the old days of real , real everything rabbonim,food ,realationships everything.Yeah I'm negative but 2000 years of jewish history can do that to you
Punctuation, dude, punctuation. And a liiiiitttttle less cafeine.
You try posting while working, but stay tuned, I am doing a quick re-write.
Never mind, I just realized you were talking to Amshinover. And here I go and edit my blog! You see the power of the blogosphere? One comment can force an edit.
Funny I think he is talking to you.Great shtikle though.
"I feel better knowing that there are Orthodox Jews out there who also feel the pain and sadness in watching what is happening to their religion."
I think many people are extremely pained by the whole Nosson Slifkin ban episode and how it was handled.
pained not surprised
a lot of people are surprised at the extent of it, the involvement of some of the American R"Y, esp given the lack of similar ban on people such as RAKaplan. Surprise is there too.
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