One of the latest examples is labeling the dislike of Orthodox Jews, in particular the Haredi Jews, as anti-Semitism.
Something similar happened to my recently post “Haredi Jews: the supremacy of rabbis, not of God” at http://www.intellectualjudaismjewishidentityincontemporaryjudeochristian.world/2018/01/haredi-jews-supremacy-of-rabbis-not-of.html
However, this post, like many publications of other Jews which looks like anti-Haredi, is not in the “dislike” category – rather it is an attempt to find out what spiritually unite me, and all intellectual Jews like me, with them the Haredi Jews – we have to find it if we believe we all belong to the Jewish Nation.
Of course, we know the concept of One God unites us. However, we know as well that we configure our lives differently along the lines of this concept – the Jews with their numerous spiritual communities and the Christians with their diversified churches. The spiritual challenge is to find out the fundamental spiritual basis that makes all Jews the Jewish nation – a spiritual nation, not just a nation of same anti-Semitic suffering.
That is what I was doing again after reading recently that Haredi Orthodox Rabbis Issue Ruling Forbidding Smartwatches.
Prominent Haredi Orthodox rabbis have issued a ruling forbidding the use of smartwatches, the Israeli newspaper Kikar Hashabbat reported.
“The severity of the destruction brought about by smartphones is already known…and the great rabbis of our generation have already warned us about the magnitude of the issue,” the rabbis wrote in their ruling.
“Recently, different types of these devices have been upgraded, which in their appearance and name seem to be other permissible devices, such as the so-called ‘smart watch’, but they are tricks of one’s desire which imagines that they are supposedly not stated in the prohibition.”
The rabbis added that the use of the smartwatches is “causing the public to sin in a very serious manner and place the entire future of a generation in enormous danger.” Both adults and children were forbidden from using the devices, “even if they don’t contain a sim card or some kind of blockage,” the ruling concludes.
For me and the majority of Jewish Nation (as well as for the Christian majority), a smart watch is a tool to get to the internet and learn about the God’s world, how various unique Jewish and Christian individuals configure their lives, how close are their life configurations to what I consider to be a Torah/Bible guided configuration, and what might be mutual fundamentals that make us the Jews, the Christians and the Judeo-Christian universe.
Haredi Jews consider this learning opportunity as a sort of sin against God. Why? I do not see any reason why God (in any scientifically possible shape and form) may want a group of Jews to be restricted from the knowledge of His world. If it is so, Haredi rabbis may have their owm reason. What it might be? Might it be to strengthen their own superiority over their community?
Nothing wrong with it if the Haredi community is afraid of direct one-on-one communications with God and prefer to do it through the rabbis.
What is wrong is the Haredi rabbis’ belief that only they know how to communicate with God to be truly Jewish. And what is wrong is the Haredi rabbis’ rejection of any discussions with the rest of Jewish nation, the majority of Jews, to define the mutual spiritual foundation between them and the rest of us. Should it trouble many of us? Yes, I think so. Not because Haredi rabbis reject our way of being Jewish but rather because they reject the very concept of God who made each of us in His image and likeness.