A Kidush Hashem! Seriously?

“The fathers were at the Asifa, the mothers went to the screenings and our kids stayed home logged on to the internet!” Anonymous Blogger

I may not be much of a Talmid Chochom but I can sense the difference between a Kidush Hashem and a Chilul Hashem and as much as the chareidi press tries to manipulate us and tell us the Aisifa that took place last week was a tremendous Kidush Hashem, it was anything but. Here's why.

I’m not referring to the ill-advised speeches or the waste of money involved or the 101 other questions one can ask.. I'm also not overly concerned with the terrible news coverage in the non-Jewish media, who you can argue don't like Jews; nor the secular Jewish media, who you may say hate all religious Jews. That there was a group of Jews holding signs outside screaming about the abuse within the orthodox community is sickening to me, but you can shove it off, claiming they are all "rabbi-haters and they had some kind of alternative motive". Instead I'm referring to the leitzonus and lack of respect for those sitting on the dais. How do you explain our own community ridiculing our own leaders?

While the photos in the chareidi press showed a crowd listening intensely to speeches, those that attended know this was not the case. Photos from individuals showed a crowd mostly on their blackberries, androids and iphones. Yes, the same ones the rabbis were speaking against. But that is just the beginning.

Through social media, I witnessed a non-stop supply of twitter jokes, mostly coming out of the stadium (Link for Twitter #asifa). I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about. Everyone, that is, except for those sitting on the dais. Before and after the Asifa, blogs were posted highlighting the funniest one liners. And yes, I'm just as guilty as the rest. But if this event was about the worst thing Klal Yisroel has ever had to deal with and the internet is the cause for so many of our kids going off the derech, would we laugh about it? Think, if this Asifa was about the daily fatalities of texting and driving, would anyone have tweeted even one joke? If this is the biggest challenge our generation faces, how can we turn it into a peanut gallery? I can't remember a time where an event that our leaders organized was ridiculed non-stop by the larger religious Jewish population. So why was this different?

The defenders will try to blame it on the lack of respect for our current gedolim. There are others who will blame the new-age mock-everything attitude, and still others who will blame the people who posted the jokes. Its the old blame game. We blame, because we don't want to look ourselves in the mirror and see the laughing stock we have become. But I think the blame lies within and here is my proof.

The same day as the Asifa a much larger part of Klal Yisrael was celebrating the victory of the Six Day War. There were events taking place all over Eretz Yisroel and America, and search as you may over twitter, facebook and blogs you will not find a single joke from within the Jewish nation. Instead you will hear incredible stories of Jewish bravery. You will hear stories about how one Jew returned to the battlefield to save another. You will hear about Jews who risked their lives to prevent revealing information to the enemy. You will hear how a small people that had nothing, overpowered six nations that wanted to kill every last one of us, just like the stories we read in Tanach. And mostly you will hear stories of the nisim veniflaos that took place. Not simply hashgacha pratis stories, but tales of individuals who overcame odds in ways never known to take place in battlefields, either before or after.

Many people credit the Six Day War with the surge of the baal teshuva movement. Others credit it with the return of Jewish spirit to Russians Jewry and the rise of the Refuseniks. Either way it was the ultimate Kiddush Hashem. And yet we don't mention this in our Yeshivos and Bais Yaakov schools, instead, on the anniversary of this day, a Torah leader has the gall to mock these heroes. Did he risk his life to save another Jew? Did he fight like the Jews did in the time of Yehoshua and Moshe or is he living happily off the work of others? Did he thank the ones who built the huge screens so that he can be seen at the Asifa or did he mock the technology that brought it about. We stick up for the Chareidim who act like animals but we mock the Jews who aren't as religious as we are. We created an olam hafuch and we are all responsible for it.

I believe we mock because we can't deal with the realities. I believe we scorn because the truth is too painful to bear. I believe we laugh because we lost respect for our current leadership.

This idea of renting a huge stadium to declare some kind of new psak is unheard of in modern times. On Shavuot night, I came accross the following Rashi and it struck me head on. Rashi brings the following reason the first luchos were broken. Shemot - Exodus - Chapter 34, ואיש לא יעלה עמך: הראשונות על ידי שהיו בתשואות וקולות וקהלה, שלטה בהן עין רעה, אין לך מדה יפה מן הצניעות: Since the first ones [i.e., tablets] were accompanied by loud noises, sounds, and with a multitude, the evil eye affected them. [Our conclusion is that] there is nothing better than modesty. It is for this reasons Rashi Says the second luchos were given without any fanfare. If Jews want to daven we go to the Bais Medrash, If we want to make a Siyum we rent out a large hall or even a stadium. But for an event like this, rashi says we must do it b’tzina. Citifield is not modesty. What happened to the Halachos of Ayin Harah? Who are we trying to impress?

I believe those involved with this Asifa are impressed with the attendance and they call that a Kidush Hashem. Yes, 60,000 Jews were there, but am I the only one that noticed they were all of one type. Saying that all of klal yisroel was at this event is another way of saying the rest of Klal Yisroel is not part of us. Was that the underlying message of the Asifa?

Since when did religious Judaism became a number game? G-d warns us about praising numbers. He loves us because we are “m’at mikol haamim” not because we can produce offsprings. Having a large family is a bracha from Hashem, but not something to show off. Does a parent that has 10 children boast about it, or is he/she concerned with the one that might not be doing so well. If we orthodox Jews play the number game we will lose big time. Like someone commented on Rabbi Eliyahu Finks blog, If the only good thing anyone can say about this Asifa is that "so many showed up, overflow crowd at stadium, hookups all across the country and world, etc.... “. If that's the case, and the measurement of success is how many showed up, then the Super Bowl is the holiest thing to ever grace this world!"

Lastly, For those that think this Asifa had an impact, let me tell you a little secret. My blog and all the others, (the thing this Asifa was really all about), the supposed Loshon Harah and Motzei Shemra that takes place, well my hits went up more than double since the Asifa (Yes, including Lakewood). These same results are found on all other kosher blogs. I implemented a new gadget on my blog that shows real time viewers and you can see this for yourself. How does this fit with what was said at the Asifa? "If one does not follow the Psak of the Gedolim as they make edicts, they lose their portion in Olam HaBah". The Psak that was given at the Asifa was the same old ban that was in place before. So this means even a larger contingent of lakewood is to now lose their world to come. How does this make any sense?!

But there is hope, because not every gadol attended. I don't need to mention the true leaders who refused to go despite immense pressure. We know who they are because they were missing from the dais. We know who they are because we never see their names mocked on twitter. We know who they are because they are quoted positively on blogs. We know who they are because they are respected both online and offline. We know who they are because they are respected at every Jew’s shabbos table. But most importantly, we know who they are because they stand up for the truth. They speak up when they should and they tell it like it is. They may be just a few or they may even be the silent majority, but they are true leaders. Anybody who went to Yeshiva knows that the rabayim that are truly respected, are respected both in class and out, and vice versa.

Like one respected rabbi I know said, “The best response to the Asifa is to pretend it didn't happen.” But I have a hard time doing that. I have kids to answer to and I have teenagers to whom I must explain what's going on. How do we expect our children to grow up religious, when their leaders are not respected. And so in my humble opinion the Asifa was a HUGE Chillul Hashem. What do you think?

This post is a followup to my previous post: My 101 Questions for the Ichud Asifa


All these questions will be answered in my future post:

How 60,000 ultra-orthodox Jews were conned by a few manipulative Askanim, and the Chareidi Press!

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