Interesting post from the Boroparker!
The Chareidi community has been afflicted with an abundance of gatherings, protests, assemblies and rallies in the past few weeks. I think that it’s time to hold a prayer vigil to pray for the cessation of all vigils. It bothers me to no end why I can’t comprehend the thought process behind this all. What are they trying to achieve? Why are they doing this? Am I missing something or are they simply dumb and possibly arrogant?
I think that these gatherings are not a means to a goal, rather a goal in and of itself. I came to this conclusion as I was walking today in the streets of Boro Park and noticed the absence of even the slightest change in women’s apparel from the pre ‘Tznius Asifa’ era. How could it be that the organizers proclaimed a massive success while the facts on the street clearly show otherwise, I wondered. It must be – I concluded – that the goal of the modesty gathering wasn’t to implement change at all. The goal was simply to have a successful gathering. And to that extent they succeeded beyond expectations. The hall was filled to capacity, many rabbis occupied the seats on the multi layered platform and most of all, it created a huge sensation. Obviously, that’s all that the organizers wanted to get out of this gathering, hence the celebration for the success.
The same can be said in regards to the huge prayer rallies that were held in Jerusalem, London and New York. The objective must have been to have a huge rally and nothing more. What else could have been the objective? This is why the participants were having a difficult time explaining to the media why they are there. How can you tell a reporter that tens of thousands of people got together on Wall Street so that they can feel good about themselves? Instead, many participants tried explaining how the Israeli government is persecuting them by requiring them to take equal responsibility for their country. This in turn happens to sound even more asinine than anything else.
One Chasidic caller to the Michael Savage show thought that he could easily explain how studying the Torah is the same as serving in the defense forces, but to no avail. Michael Savage takes the guys belief apart with simple rational. (I recommend that you listen to it in its entirety, pure entertainment.) I genuinely felt bad for that guy. He, and most of the people who attended the rally for that matter, believed that this was the reason for the protest. They don’t know the real and obvious reason behind the protest, to have a successful protest.
This mentality can be found in other areas of Chareidi life as well. When the Shomrim patrol unit holds a fundraiser drive they publish articles and flyers detailing the enormity of their organization. You can find data on their budget, how many walkie talkies they have, how many patrol cars and how many members. Not once have I seen any data on their effect on the crime rates in the areas that they patrol (even though they probably do have an affect). The emphasis shows that Shomrim is here to be Shomrim rather than actually reducing crime.
In similar vein, the chesed organizations boast more amount the amount of chicken and matzos that they distribute than the actual impact they have on poverty. This became such a big deal that in a certain neighborhood there are two competing organizations handing out food for the “needy” for Passover and each is trying to outdo the other with the amount of food that they distribute. This caused that the neighborhood is flooded with available free food, and many families that would be able to get by on their own get food from the organizations that are more than happy to have another recipient to boast about. I don’t feel very comfortable lamenting generosity, I’m just trying to allude to the irony that the goal of the chesed organization isn’t to help or achieve, rather to be a successful organization.
