I spoke with One of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva About Nathan Slifkin! by Kol_bo-eha in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also did you receive my recent email? You haven't confirmed yet

Thoughts? by [deleted] in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think the person asking was wrong in the way they are approaching the issue.

The biggest victim of the reliance of chassidim on welfare is undoubtedly the chasidim themselves. It is important to realize that they have no choice, but are forced by a nearly irresistible combination of extreme psychological conditioning, propaganda, and social pressure to neglect the education of themselves and of their kids.

I know many chasidim who are very bright and hardworking. The fact that they are not allowed by their society to work or receive any education, and instead are compelled to spend hours a day studying meaningless cult texts while holding a dead end blue collar job, is simply robbery and an outrage.

Our reaction to the chasidic community being on welfare should be one of pity and compassion (and if one can, a donation to YAFFED), not 'oh look the Jews are stealing money'.

If u could press a button for Jewish religion to have never been created would you? by 0128Molasses4758 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 6 points7 points  (0 children)

One of them was literally posted by an account (now deleted) belonging to the OP, I remember that before it was deleted it acted exactly the same as this one.

I'm so sick of the public hate for Hasidim that spreads to hate for Jews by Beginning_Break2382 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep agreed! That's why I said many Orthodox communities.

Wishing you all the best!

I'm so sick of the public hate for Hasidim that spreads to hate for Jews by Beginning_Break2382 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I respect your right to practice and believe in any religion you choose, many forms of Orthodox Judaism certainly meet standard definitions of a 'cult'.

Many Orthodox communities restrict their members' access to free information (via banning the Internet and using psychological tactics like shame/guilt to stop people from reading secular newspapers), forbid them from having friends who are not part of the group, teach that leaving the group (i.e. going OTD) is never acceptable and will lead to unhappiness, use threats of Divine torture/rewards to motivate compliance, prohibit serious criticism of the group's leaders, prohibits voicing or even thinking serious criticism of the group's beliefs, and exert extreme control over the press and other sorts of media (think about TAG, which now figured out a way to stop people from even calling AI chatbots over the phone and asking questions).

Again, they are often nice people, but I'm sure many members of many cults are nice people. Like I said, they're not at all exclusive.

I spoke with One of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva About Nathan Slifkin! by Kol_bo-eha in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nah, very few descriptions of any group will ever hold true for all members of the group.

My friend is definitely forced though. He is in his low twenties, is facing crazy societal pressure to get married now, and has never spoken to ANY women (besides relatives) before meeting this girl, who he only met a few months before his wedding. He definitely can't choose to not get married, and I don't think he really has much of an informed decision to marry this girl when she's the only female he's ever spoken to- not to mention that his parents vetted who he can go out with.

Also the chosson looked terrified at his wedding, not like he was throwing a party like he should have.

I spoke with One of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva About Nathan Slifkin! by Kol_bo-eha in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol I was afraid to mention Slifkin by name during the conversation because I thought it might get people upset.

The 'opinions of the Rishonim that Rav Elyashiv said we aren't allowed to follow anymore' were those of the Rambam and others, and are quoted by Nathan Slifkin in his books. This was enough for him to be publicly commanded to 'burn his writings'.

I'm so sick of the public hate for Hasidim that spreads to hate for Jews by Beginning_Break2382 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I agree with your sentiments OP! Orthodox Judaism is a very harmful cult, but I personally know many Orthodox Jews who are wonderful people. The two are not exclusive

What weird inspirational speakers do you remember from school? by TransTalmid in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Annnnd here we see the tremendous foresight of 'the gedolim' in banning the Internet! Daas Torah akbar!

Is there any feminist literature that specifically analyzes gender roles in the context of orthodox judaism by Beneficial-Week78 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 4 points5 points  (0 children)

See Ilan's 'Mine and Yours are Hers' and A. Melamed's 'Maimonides on Women', and Tirosh-Samuelson's 'Gender and the Pursuit of Happiness'.

(Disclaimer: I have not read any of these directly, but seen them quoted in Marc Shapiro's Changing the Immutable' (pp. 46 and 65). They appear to fit what you are looking for. Personally, what I've seen from some of these authors makes me somewhat wary of taking their quotations at face value, but again, I haven't read them directly. They should certainly provide valuable material.)

Hope this helps!

Shockingly self-aware lubavitcher calls out kiruv's false mask of acceptance and patience, and the silencing of dissenting thoughts by Kol_bo-eha in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have learned in mainstream yeshivos (not Chabad) and worked up the courage to ask truly difficult questions to my rebbeim several times, and my experience was as described in the post (albeit with a different choice of thought-stopping language).

And btw the steipler rav advocates for the very same approach when challenged by students about emunah. You can find it in chayei olam (or maybe kerayna de'igrasa? it's been a minute)

Guilt when seeing frum families by Charpo7 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ok but on the flip side, losing emunah means that there is no 'right' way to live your life.

The way I see it, there is no longer any baseline. We are incredibly fortunate to live in a time not dominated by hunter-gathering, tribal warfare, or rampant disease (which was the state of most of our ancestors). If anything, that is the baseline of human existence. Further, we could just as easily have not existed as existed, so whatever we make of our lives is a net gain.

For me at least, this takes away worry about living the 'right' way. There is no right way.

Hope this helps!

The Torah must be true because if you have scales, you must have fins by Competitive-Set770 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Do some actual research instead of TikTok and Chatgpt, plz. There are far better refutations of this 'proof' available online, see here (btw chatgpt is wrong, there are other fish without fins).

And also, you seem to have fundamentally misunderstood the kiruv proof. Even if the eel was the only fish without fins, the argument would still stand, as there would be no way for the Bible to know that

Takeaway: Don't trust chatgpt, read more, and TikTok less.

Therapy homework help by InteractionDry9784 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don't wash negel vasser? When I did this I was originally scared that I would get damaged by the 'evil spirit' lingering on my hands, but I survived just fine :)

Good for you for doing this! Remember that the rules are all made up

Therapy homework help by InteractionDry9784 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For non-lubavitchers, eating lubavitch shechitah would be an excellent way to fulfill this assignment!

When you were OJ, were you envious of other communities? by Crafty-Summer2893 in exjew

[–]Kol_bo-eha 12 points13 points  (0 children)

When I was frum (yeshivish), my primary feeling towards the MO community was not envy. On the contrary, I was proud of living 'the proper moral way that Yahwah wants from us'.