The Lakewood Paradox

Trying to dance at two weddings

Before today’s post, a request: We’ve acquired some amazing additional very rare Noah’s Arks for our “Art of the Ark” exhibit at the Biblical Museum of Natural History, which is undergoing an expansion. But we need some help transporting them carefully from where they are currently being held, in some cases to NY/NJ from where our shipper can transport them, and in some cases to Israel. Please be in touch if you can transport any of the following:

1. Small fragile ark from Chicago to Israel

2. Small non-fragile ark from Teaneck to Israel

3. Small fragile ark from anywhere in the US (it would be shipped to you) to Israel

4. Medium non-fragile ark from West Hempstead to Israel

5. Medium fragile ark from Pittsburgh to NY/NJ or Israel

6. Huge non-fragile ark from Nashua, New Hampshire to NY/NJ

7. Huge non-fragile ark from Teaneck to Israel

Thank you! And now on to today’s post.

Recently I joined a WhatsApp group that is fascinating from an anthropological perspective. CBN (I’m not sure what it stands for) is a news group based in Lakewood, though it is subscribed to by yeshivish Jews all over. It features news of interest to American yeshivish Jews, which includes news from Israel. And the dissonance is extraordinary.

Here’s a screenshot of two messages that I received in succession:

The first message adulates Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, one of the charedi “Gedolim” and thus utterly opposed to the enlistment of charedim. (In fact, several years ago, he even supported a rally in Manhattan against it.) And the next message is supportive of the Chashmonaim IDF unit for charedim, fiercely opposed by the “Gedolim.”

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t revere people as Gedolim if they are staunchly condemning things that you think are very valuable and praiseworthy.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine who mixes in yeshivish circles in New York. She noted that many American frum Jews, especially in the Five Towns and Queens, want to feel very frum (which in America is understood to mean supporting the charedi Gedolim), but also want to support Israel because that naturally also feels right and good. And since they are not forced to choose a side in any practical way, they don’t. They live with their paradoxical worldview and don’t think too much (if at all) about its inherent contradiction.

But what if they were forced to choose? My friend claimed that most would go with the “Gedolim.” Personally, I think that it depends on what the “forcing” looked like. If it was a declaration of loyalties for getting their kids shidduchim, it may well be the “Gedolim.” But if they were on vacation in Israel, and some knife-wielding terrorists approached them, and they could either run to the Gedolim to be protected by their Torah or run to some soldiers, I’m pretty sure that they would run to the soldiers.

This is illustrated by the next story that was posted by CBN: