A difficult balancing act
The take-away from this Tablet article:
"Ben Sheetrit has become the newest focal point of one of Israeli society’s oldest and most bitter struggles, the ever-growing rift between an increasingly stringent Orthodoxy and a combative secular majority wary of religious extremism. Caught in the middle of this culture war is a large swath of religious Jews who feel at home in both worlds and who want to live a traditional, observant life without subscribing to the strictest of rabbinic interpretations. To these Israelis, Ben Sheetrit is a heroine."
Inquiring minds want to know, so here are the lyrics to the song that Ophir Ben Sheetrit sang on "The Voice."
"Ben Sheetrit has become the newest focal point of one of Israeli society’s oldest and most bitter struggles, the ever-growing rift between an increasingly stringent Orthodoxy and a combative secular majority wary of religious extremism. Caught in the middle of this culture war is a large swath of religious Jews who feel at home in both worlds and who want to live a traditional, observant life without subscribing to the strictest of rabbinic interpretations. To these Israelis, Ben Sheetrit is a heroine."
Inquiring minds want to know, so here are the lyrics to the song that Ophir Ben Sheetrit sang on "The Voice."
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:21 PM
3 Comments:
The seculars are making a mistake. She is not a heroine if she's genuinely Orthodox. If the show has its championships on a Shabbos and she refuses to show up will they still cheer her?
This may be about a struggle within Orthodoxy but the seculars have no horse in this race.
I disagree. The secular Jewish population has a huge stake in this. This is a dispute as to whether the Orthodox world can be part of the Jewish world 6 days a week, 21 hours a day (excepting 3 hours for meals), or if the Orthodox world continues this weird path of forming a Jewish splinter group.
In the traditional Israeli communities around me, there are Kosher and non Kosher families, Shabbat observant and non Shabbat observant families, and they can all send to the same pre-schools, attend events together, etc. The food is Kosher (non kosher families bring in Kosher caterers for birthday parties, etc), the events are on Sunday, etc.
In the American Jewish community that I am more integrated with, there is almost zero interaction between the Orthodox Jews and the non-Orthodox Jews. They attend different Shuls, send to different schools, and are members of different social groups.
The former is WAY healthier of a society.
She is a symbol of an integrated Jewish community, and the Chareidi world is trying to destroy that. A Shomer Shabbat Jew that participates in a weekday reality show, but wouldn't compete on Shabbat is part of society. Sandy Kaufax is famous for refusing to pitch on Yom Kippur. That sense of Jewish pride is slipping from the non-Orthodox world as they increasingly associate Judaism with rock throwing miscreants.
Garnel said, "The seculars are making a mistake. She is not a heroine if she's genuinely Orthodox."
Let me repeat part of the quote that I published: "Caught in the middle of this culture war is a large swath of religious Jews who feel at home in both worlds and who want to live a traditional, observant life without subscribing to the strictest of rabbinic interpretations." That quote isn't about "seculars," so I don't understand your point.
Miami Al said, "A Shomer Shabbat Jew that participates in a weekday reality show, but wouldn't compete on Shabbat is part of society."
Miami Al gets it. The quote deals with those Orthodox Jews who are trying to dictate what constitutes an Orthodox Jew to other Orthodox Jews.
Regarding "seculars," though, Miami Al still "gets it." As he said, "She is a symbol of an integrated Jewish community, and the Chareidi world is trying to destroy that." I think that was the point of Lieb Liebowitz's article.
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