What can the OTD sector do to bolster its ranks and promote its cause?
The OTD sector is burgeoning. In the last ten years it has
grown from a no-name isolated and anomalous condition to a widespread and
well-known and documented phenomenon. Young people, having been born and raised
is a resurgent Ultra-orthodoxy of the 80’s and 90’s are discovering that they’ve
been duped and they’re leaving in massive numbers. This doesn’t just reflect
the growing numbers of Haredi ranks due to high birth control. Rather, it’s a
movement. Like other social and religious movements such as Jewish Reform, Protestantism
and the labor movement of the interwar era, the OTD movement is triggered by
socio-religious events and conditions within the microcosm of haredi Jewry and
the host culture it resides in.
The following is a subjective treatise. It assumes that this
movement is good, not just for its adherents but for the Haredi sector from
which it derives its numbers, that is to say: it is good for SOME folks within
the haredi, whose ranks are bound to swell in the years to come.
So, back to the question: what can be done to further the
cause?
a) Education (primary and secondary).
In my opinion, by far the most significant and effective way
to go about “proselytizing” is by simply promoting a better all-around
education for haredi youth. Haredi culture thrives in darkness. It is a virtual
continuation of Dark Age mentality of the Middle Ages: a theistic mindset,
emphasis and dogma and deeds, dismissal of science and secular pursuits,
xenophobia, superstition, etc… Education opens up eyes. Not everyone will ask
the same sort of questions. Some will not ask questions at all; they will
merely study to pass exams. But there will be some critical thinkers asking
obvious questions about the inconsistencies and fundamentalism of their
communities. Many of them will ultimately decide that the haredi lifestyle is
ill-suited for themselves and will quit.
I’m not talking about religious education. Yes, of course
the haredi youth get a religious education and a very good one at that. But
that’s ALL they get. It’s like a biologist who decides to study ONLY the mitochondria
of cells, not the ribosomes or the nucleus or the membrane, let alone any other
branch of biology. The haredi focus on Torah study is likewise zeroing in on a
very particular subgenre of law/legal history: that of the ancient Semites and
their pharisaic and rabbinic successors. The tunnel-vision therein is absurd in
the extreme.
Needless to say, it isn’t just the OTD movement that
benefits from the “enlightened” individuals who choose to leave
Ultra-orthodoxy. The departees themselves will benefit. By living a wholesome,
normal life, by enabling a tertiary education and a professional and fulfilling
career path, the departees render themselves more adaptive individuals, fitter
and more likely to pass on their genes, as well as just enjoying life more.
b) better organization.
“Organization” stems from the word organ. An organ is a
complex entity that has many components, all of which work in concert to achieve
a common goal. As it stands now, the OTD sector is extremely fragmented and
disorganized. Not only is there no central body to even attempt to represent
their social and religious interests, but there is no way to easy way for one
to benefit from shared insight and wisdom –from economies of scale. Individuals
who leave often are so disgusted with their radical past that they refuse to
look back, even to possibly help another fellow out who is in the same boat
with them –the boat that’s sinking. Little do they consider that there is advantage
in numbers.
To further illustrate what I mean by lack of organization,
there are presently about half dozen social entities founded by or promoting
OTD individuals or interests, including Yafed, Unchained at Last, Gotta Givem
Hope, Unpious, HasidicNews.com (myself, currently suspended), Failed Messiah, and
more. None of those entities coordinate activities with each other even though
this should be as common sensible as sliced bread. After all, can an
organization helping women who are seeking divorce not find insight by working
with an organization helping to promote education or more critical news
reporting or gay rights?
Another civic realm where greater coordination would be most
desirable and probably effective is politics. The Haredim were very keen to
exploit Johnson’s Great Society gravy train for their purposes, channeling
millions of Federal dollars in financial aid to their communities in the name
of civil rights, equal opportunity and the correction of historical wrongs
against a group which suddenly secured for itself the designation “underprivileged
class” (as if it’s merely a random, unjustified misfortune that Hasidim can’t
get good jobs and are struggling economically).
We, the OTD sector, are the true underprivileged class. We
did NOT choose to be born and raised in extremist loony communities who do not
harbor any semblance of civic duty and participation in the larger affairs of
its nation and humanity at large. We ought to be asking for our civil rights,
our rights for equal opportunity, our rights not be penalized in college
application procedures just because out parents and communities chose not to
send us to High School. Hell, we demand affirmative action. We ask for remedial
action to be taken. We want a head start so that we can effectively compete in
college and beyond against those who grew up normal.
c) Ideology.
There are many reasons people leave Haredi society and all
of them are just. When someone dodges a car careening towards them thereby
saving their life, there is no wrong motive. However, the fight against the
oppression of the Haredi ghetto subculture is not just about physical
conditions; it’s also about the spirit -- about ideology. Simply put, we need
to engage in propaganda (without the loaded negative connotation it has
assumed), a.k.a. “public relations”. We need to put our best foot forward with
cogent arguments why haredi society is doomed to failure, why it’s maladaptive,
why it ought to reform itself and be more tolerant even for those choosing to
remain in its midst.
There are many levels to argue for the permissiveness of
turning on a light switch on Shabbat. One could argue that it’s not “work”,
electricity is not fire, rabbinic law is not binding, God’s law is subject to
change, God’s law is not binding unless I choose to it to be (a.k.a. I’m not
afraid of God). One could even assert that there is no God. All of these arguments
have merit and are worth discussing. But when one has no argument at all, or
when it appears that the reason one leaving haredi society is to participate in
the rather draker sides of humanity such as drugs, promiscuous sex, excessive
drinking and ostentatious display of wealth or “coolness”, then we are setting
the wrong model for potential departees.
