Tikkun Olam

There is a serious problem unfolding within religious Judaism, which seem very apparent to non-observant Jews, but which many observant Jews are afraid to address. It boils down to the rapid movement towards a Sharia-like fundamentalism prevalent in the Ultra-Orthodox and even in some more modern Orthodox Jewish communities. Non - observant Jews cry out against what is happening, because they see these fringe and not-so-fringe groups of Ultra-Orthodox as representing all Jews, or maybe it's more correct to say all observant Jews.  And they use these terrible behaviors--and I do believe they are terrible--to reinforce their secular way of life, and to reinforce their rejection of the Jewish religion as "fanatic." Here are two articles addressing these issues, both published in the Forward, the authors of which express views 180 degrees opposed to each other.  There are elements of truth in both, but I personally believe that the problematic issues are not being addre...

 (nablopomo day 2)  Why is it so hard for people to be honest about what they see?  Why are we Jews afraid to admit that there is a serious, serious problem with Hareidi* Judaism? We experienced this ourselves, in our own family, when our daughter (Rambo) first went to Israel in 2004.  She was fifteen years old, and had completed her first year in high school here in the States. For her next three years of high school, she was in Israel, on the Na'aleh program, first attending high school at Kvutzat Yavneh .  One of their first class trips to Jerusalem took them to the Me'ah She'arim neighborhood, an old  ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in the north-central part of the city.  The class was small, consisting of 7 or 8 girls and 3 boys.  Although it was a modern-religious school, they knew where they were going and were dressed modestly, wearing long skirts and long or three-quarter length sleeves, and walked through the neighborhood quietly ...