Wendy Shalit has an interesting article in the NY Times about fiction which centers around Orthodox Jews.
The Observant Reader
The main point is that many non-Orthodox Jews seem to write about the Orthodox as a bunch of insufferable hypocritices, an attitude which unfairly leeches into society at large.
I think my vision of the Orthodox is much like that of Ms. Shalit. Her first book, ''A Return to Modesty" while not about Orthodox Judaism in particular, seems to have gotten very good reader reviews on Amazon.
2 comments:
Not 'unfairly'. It's an observation that is sadly accurate, made from experience living in and around religious and extremist Orthodox communities.
When I worked at a movie theater in the 80's, guess which group of people were the only ones I had to throw out for groping women they didn't know in the dark? Hasidim. Who were the only ones I had to call the police on for public nudity, self-abuse and lewd behavior? Hasidim. Habitual smoking in theaters, prompting complaints I had to handle? More than 90% of the time: Hasidim. They were absolute miscreants. Yet they looked down their noses at other Jews who "didn't hold themselves to a high enough standard."
Hypocrites, all. I worked in that theater for 3 years. These were not isolated incidents. Theaters in the chain throughout the 5 boroughs kept track of such incidents. The offenders in overwhelming numbers were Hasidim.
When the religious Orthodox and Hasidim lead by their strict religious adherence and become exemplary forces in the world, I'll applaud. Until that time, they should practice what they preach, and it's neither unfair, nor inappropriate to point out when they self-righteously pass judgement on others but are incapable of policing themselves.
The point of the article is not to deny that there are Orthodox miscreants, just to deny that they are as prevalent as it seems given the ouevre of modern novelists.
However, you seem to make the argument that not only are they all miscreants, but they are almost infinitely more (insert negative term here) than the non-religious.
I'll just say that I haven't had close enough contact with the orthodox community to make an informed comment, but I prefer to believe that not all religious folk are hypocrites seeking to molest others in dark spaces.
I assume that the problems that you experienced at work were caused by men. What of the orthodox women? Idiots or saints?
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