Control
October 20, 2008
Ethics | Jewish Living
(4 comments)
By dcc
Tamar Fox at Mixed Multitudes writes about Y-Love's finding that there are "activists" in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg who are destroying advertisements because the food pictured in these billboards is "excessive and indulgent." These ultra-Orthodox food-pleasure police are defacing property of surrounding businesses because they think photographs of food that is just too tasty will distract people and lead them into a life of crime, mischief and non-Jewish activity. Stop me anytime now, but isn't vandalism criminal, mischievous and non-Jewish?
Outside of the somewhat backwards tactics of resistance, why can't the ultra-Orthodox practice restraint and control?
I suppose this gets at the core of my misunderstanding with a large segment of this particular part of our community. As a Reform Jew I must make choices every day about who I am, what I believe and what I will do to represent the Jewish community. A vast majority of the ultra-Orthodox community never makes a choice when it comes to these aspects of life. I have to control my impulses and desires every day. I must not steal from my neighbor, I need to conserve energy, I cannot forget my heritage and so on. Why then do these radical segments of society need to build up such ridiculous rules that make it impossible for individuals to be responsible for their own actions?
If a person is keeping kosher for any reason, let it be by choice or the feeling that they are commanded by God, why would a picture push them to not keep kosher? If a picture of food is too excessive or indulgent, wouldn't a pious, righteous Jew not partake in such food? Why must it be assumed that a woman is so sexually interesting that a man could not see her while praying and still be able to devout his energy to the prayer? I will respect the differences in opinion that say it is tradition to do such things, but if Judaism is a religion of actions (and inaction in some cases) why can't we be trusted to act (or not act)?
These culinary-control-czars not only make Judaism inaccessible to a vast majority of modern day Jews, they cause those within their own segment of the community to become numb to the idea of choice and responsibility.
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Bulls eye! Their right to practice their religion doesn't give them a license to vandalize the property of others, or to dictate how others can live.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel this month attacked a car driven on the Sabbath. The driver wasn't ultra-Orthodox, or Modern Orthodox, or even Jewish at all. He was a Muslim. As a result of the intolerance, people were injured, homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, and relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis damaged.