When tragedies happen, we reflect.  I wish I was referring to the tragedy of Corona Virus, but that’s as they say, a halber tzura.  Instead, I am referring to the bizarre manner in which many of our Jewish brethren ignored warnings and signs about the dangers of this virus.  Certain strongholds of religious Jews have been violating in small degrees, and sometimes large, the social distancing safety practices. Shuls stayed open, weddings and engagement parties took place in disregard of either medical recommendations or actual law.  Some Rabbonim, and even gedolei Torah, were at first were skeptical and scoffed at the restrictions. They considered the spiritual dangers of closing minyanim and batei medrash as the real danger. With time, the magnitude of this pandemic has caused most rabbanim from almost all sects to change their mind.  But the chilulei Hashem have already occurred. 

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The reasons for why certain segments of the frum community were slow to catch on, or even down right contemptuous of medical advice are worth analyzing because there are lessons to learn for the future.  Corona Virus is a disrupter and a game-changer. We can use these experiences, like all life experiences, as a mirror to become wiser about who we are and what we should do. Some of these reasons are about our inherent strengths as a community, though they have been distorted and misused.  This is similar to so-called mental health dysfunctions. They stem from the mind’s effort to stabilize and protect against painful or disturbing thoughts, memories or experiences. It is only that the very strengths are maladaptively used. Even depression represents the organism’s instinct to “play dead” against an overwhelming and frightening enemy, conserving energy and hopefully evading detection by a predatory threat.  A depressed person experiences life as so dangerous and so hopeless that involuntarily, and instinctively, he goes into “play dead mode”. Deep down, it is a misapplied survival instinct. The Jewish community as well has powerful survival instincts that are being continually misapplied, and now is a good time to wake up from the collective trance and illusions we have been maintaining to survive. We need to stop surviving and to start living. 

Lack of Regard for Secular Social Norms

In order for many frum Jews to hold strong against the tide of popular and secular sentiment, we have had to learn how to be “stiff necked”, as the Scripture describes us.  It took guts for our ancestor Abraham to smash his father’s idols, it took courage for Jews to defy the demands of every alien culture around us over the millenia, and it still takes fortitude to wear a yarmulke in the street or to choose to dress modestly.  But somewhere in the middle of all this, aspects of modern secular culture became ridiculed instead of respected. Unlike our ancestors, we live amongst mostly decent law abiding people, and regardless of their faith, they have basic attributes of honor, kindness and sincerity.  We need to get the memo. Even though we may have elevated aspirations of holiness and sanctity, and wish to earn the title of chosen people, it should not come at the expense of common courtesy and respect for all people whom we coexist with. We cannot let our differentness allow us to rationalize ignoring society’s expectations and norms when they do not materially violate halacha or codes of conduct.

Mistrust of Secular Authority

Jews have spent millenia outwitting secular authority.  Often in history, the government’s rules were capricious and discriminatory.  It is deep in our blood to learn how to circumvent laws and to assume that they are merely nuisances or worse.  How many of our parents or great grandparents escaped Nazis or other hostiles by escaping through forgery and other means?  Banks and doctors were arms of the cruel government and not to be trusted. We Jews have long memories about our oppressors.  Just listen to the Haggadah or the Megillah and you will find out how long we bear grudges. Yet, in the 21st Century most of us live in a democratic society, where the rules are made “by the people and for the people”.  It is time to believe a doctor or government official when they tell us something.      

Rule Fatigue

Another aspect of this disobedience comes from rule fatigue.  613 commandments and endless codes of law, telling us every detail of life, including which shoelace to tie first makes us resentful and passive aggressive toward one more rule.  Yes, it is true and I sympathize, but we must be good citizens and respect not just secular rules but also secular customs and courtesies.  

Magical Thinking

One coping strategy to deal with modern science’s many and considerable challenges to a religion that is thousands of years old is to deny our own sense data.  Of course, as people of faith, we have the ability, right and obligation to believe our traditions even though they are difficult to prove. That is not the problem.  The problem is the fear of losing faith that causes some to completely shut down their analytical and critical thinking. The same healthy psychological mechanism that allows us to justifiably believe in our mesorah of Torah Mi-Sinai allows some of us also to believe things which are utter nonsense and not at all required for a faith community.  I am not going to get into a daas Torah discussion here, nor am I going to get into a deep exploration of science versus Judaism. I, and others, have many blogposts where that is explored. What I am saying is that the Torah does not expect us to shut down our intellect. We can and should ask questions, even of our rabbis and authorities. Yes, we have traditions and we will follow them, but we do not have to accept things uncritically and they should be explained and make enough sense to us.  There were gedolei Torah who told people to stay put during the Holocaust. There were Gedolei Torah that thought modern zionism was a passing fad. There were Gedolei Torah who initially did not take sexual abuse as a serious scourge and danger, and there were Gedolei Torah who thought Corona Virus was a bunch of hysteria. Magical thinking and blind obedience is a bad idea. Let us be respectful of traditions and our rabbanim but also allow ourselves to question and challenge that which seems dangerous, harmful or misguided.

The Rambam’s Radical Reason for the Destruction of the Temple

There is a remarkable responsum from the Rambam about not believing in Astrology (Ma’amar Chozim Be-Kochavim). In this letter, he makes an incredible assertion:

The real reason the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed is because the Jews started to believe in astrology, which led them to rely on foolish baseless predictions instead of studying tactics of war. (The Romans were famous in the ancient world for their unique military strategy, so the Jews really did lose to a tactically superior foe.)

Rambam says a person believes something for only three reasons: (1) It is logically proven; (2) It is perceived through the five senses; (3) It comes through a reliable tradition from either our sacred texts or a tradition from a righteous teacher.  Additionally, Rambam says a person must clarify in his own intellect each category and know how and why he knows something. This speaks of the importance of critical thinking and not to jumble beliefs and ideas together. According to the Rambam, this lack of critical thinking allowed our ancestors to believe in nonsense, and more importantly caused them to neglect basic rational efforts to develop protective strategies.  Does this sound familiar to you?

The time has come for us to mature as a people and join the 21st Century.  Yes, we should believe and be loyal to our traditions but we also need to realize that there is a whole world of good and smart people to learn from. Human reasoning and science has its place in our development as good human beings and citizens.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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