Welcome to my new email newsletter, where I will post excerpts from my upcoming book, "Reasonable Doubts: Orthodox Myths." I will deconstruct the claims that Frumkeit makes about itself, Jewish history, and Jewish theology, and the experience of Judaism over the centuries.
There will be two new posts every Thursday, a free version and a paid version. The free version is a heavily abridged excerpt a few paragraphs long. The paid version is the full excerpt of several pages of the book. You will be able to read the book in full as I write it, with exclusive access to material that will not otherwise be available for years. (Researching and writing these sorts of books takes a *long* time!)
This first post is available free to everyone, and allows readers to compare the free and paid versions of a post side-by side.
Free post
This post is heavily abridged, just 25% of the original. The full version has details and explanations of the points briefly touched on here. To get access to the good stuff, subscribe at the bottom of the page for just $5.99 a month.
Reasonable Doubts: Orthodox Myths
Introduction, Part 1
Orthodoxy holds itself to be the only legitimate form of Judaism, past, present, and future. It is believed that any traditionally-practicing Jew from any era in the past would recognize the practices of Orthodoxy as his own. It follows that Orthodox Judaism is the only valid form of Judaism. If Orthodoxy is the only legitimate form of Judaism, then being frum is the only proper way for a Jewish person to live. This is Orthodox Judaism's narrative about itself, and that narrative is wrong. Orthodoxy is closer to what traditional Judaism was in the 19th century than are the other modern streams of Rabbinic Judaism, but it is not identical with it. While Jews from different eras and places would recognize some of each other’s beliefs and practices, much of what is standard today would be strange to them.
The Purpose of This Book
People who go OTD routinely encounter what I call the taivos canard. They’re accused of being hedonistic cretins who ask kashas that are really teirutzim to assuage their guilt at throwing off the ol hatorah and wallowing in their taivos. This book and the others in the Reasonable Doubts series are meant to combat the taivos canard and the harm it does to people who question and/or leave frumkeit. In the following pages, I will show that it is reasonable to disbelieve in frumkeit - not necessarily that one is forced to disbelieve by the evidence, but that it is at least as reasonable as accepting frumkeit’s tenets - and that a person questioning or leaving frumkeit does not mean that there is something wrong with them.
Paid post
This is a full excerpt of the first few pages of “Reasonable Doubts: Orthodox Myths”
Reasonable Doubts: Orthodox Myths
Introduction, Part 1
"To an Orthodox Jew there is no other legitimate expression of Judaism than Orthodoxy. Which is defined as full acceptance of fundamental principles of our faith and uncompromising fealty to Halacha as interpreted by the most learned rabbis of each generation."
-Harry Maryles, blogger, Emes V'Emunah
“Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Orthodoxy holds itself to be the only legitimate form of Judaism, past, present, and future. It is a tenet of frumkeit that all Jews in all times and places who practiced Judaism the "right" way were practicing more or less as Orthodox Jews do today.
There were some differences, of course. No one really believes that Moshe Rabbeinu wore a streimel or a black hat, and everyone knows that after the churban Beis HaMikdash the Anshei Kneses HaGedolah instituted changes such as substituting tefilah for karbanos. The differences that are acknowledged, though, are believed to have been trivial changes forced by circumstance. The differences were sociological and technological, not theological and rarely ritualistic, and were circumstances to revert to how they used to be, so would practice.
It is believed that any traditionally-practicing Jew from any era in the past would recognize the practices of Orthodoxy as his own. As the Chasam Sofer declared in his clever rallying cry against the Reform Movement, "Chadash assur min haTorah," “What is new is forbidden by the Torah.” Authentic Judaism has not and must not allow any change to its practices and ideologies; practices and ideologies that were given to Moshe on Har Sinia and passed down faithfully by the baalie mesorah; practices and ideologies that great rabbonim throughout the ages fit to the circumstances in which they lived, but which have been essentially unchanged and uninfluenced by the outside world.
It follows that Orthodox Judaism is the only valid form of Judaism, because only Orthodoxy has not allowed itself to be changed by the social or philosophical zeitgeists in which Jews have found themselves. Other forms of Judaism are illegitimate because they are attempts to mold Judaism to the milieu, something that authentic Judaism does not do. Those other forms of Judaism reject ikkarim in favor of secular mores and knowledge. The only legitimate Judaism is one that looks to the timeless truths of the mesorah, one that has not, does not, and must not allow the world around it to influence its attitudes, minhagim, halacha, or hashkafa.
If Orthodoxy is the only legitimate form of Judaism, then being frum is the only proper way for a Jewish person to live. The frum way of life was handed down to us by God Himself, and so it is mandatory for every Jew to be Orthodox. Orthodoxy also sees itself as objectively the best way to live. The Orthodox community and way of life is thought to be superior to all other communities and cultures, as it is the only culture that uses the Torah, God’s guide for life, as its foundation. In many parts of the frum world the outside world is vilified, and great effort is expended to keep members of the community from being tainted by outside influences.
This is Orthodox Judaism's narrative about itself, and that narrative is wrong. Orthodoxy is closer to what traditional Judaism was in the 19th century than are the other modern streams of Rabbinic Judaism, but it is not identical with it. Nor has traditional Judaism remained more or less unchanged through the ages, insulated from the rest of the world. It has absorbed ideas and practices from the cultures it Jews have found themselves in. While Jews from different eras and places would recognize some of each other’s beliefs and practices, much of what is standard today would be strange to them.
The Purpose of This Book
People who go OTD routinely encounter what I call the taivos canard. They’re accused of being hedonistic cretins who ask kashas that are really teirutzim to assuage their guilt at throwing off the ol hatorah and wallowing in their taivos. Rav Elchonon Wasserman puts it bluntly. He says that anyone who isn't an idiot can see that God created the world, so the only way that anyone would come to deny God is if they are blinded by their desires.[i] Variations of the canard have people go OTD because they have psychiatric or emotional disorders, or because they were abused and associate the trauma of their abuse with frumkeit. According to the canard, an OTDer can choose between being an idiot, menuval, or a nebach. The alternative is for the frum world to accept that reasonable, rational people might come to the conclusion that frumkeit isn't true and/or isn't for them, and for many frum people, that’s unthinkable.
This book and the others in the Reasonable Doubts series are meant to combat the taivos canard and the harm it does to people who question and/or leave frumkeit. Too often, questioners find that their friends and family assume that they’re broken in some way. Worse, they often internalize the frum rhetoric about those who question frumkeit, and worry that there really is something wrong with them. I hope that I can provide them with some peace of mind, and show them and their loved ones that they're not crazy after all.
I have no interest in convincing frum people to go OTD. If someone is frum and it works for them, great! If you are a frum person who agrees that reasonable, rational people can disagree with your beliefs and come to legitimate, intellectually justified conclusions that are the opposite of your own, then this book is not for you. If you want to read it out of curiosity, go ahead, but be aware that you will likely encounter things in these pages that will make you uncomfortable, and which may make you question frumkeit. If you’re a frum person who thinks that people who question Judaism are broken, a frum person who has such questions yourself, or someone who has gone OTD, then this book will demonstrate to you that concluding that frumkeit isn't true and/or isn't for you is a reasonable position to take.
In the following pages, I will show that it is reasonable to disbelieve in frumkeit - not necessarily that one is forced to disbelieve by the evidence, but that it is at least as reasonable as accepting frumkeit’s tenets - and that a person questioning or leaving frumkeit does not mean that there is something wrong with them.
I realize that this book may come across as a diatribe against Orthodoxy. That’s not my intention. I have nothing against Orthodoxy qua Orthodoxy. Unfortunately, the nature of a book showing that it’s reasonable to reject Orthodoxy is that it must focus on the things Orthodoxy gets wrong.
[i] Wasserman, E. An Essay on Faith. In Kovetz Maamarim. Yeshivat Ohr Elchanan.
This looks fantastic. I do have a gripe though: “I will show that it is reasonable to disbelieve in frumkeit - not necessarily that one is forced to disbelieve by the evidence” I think this is much, much too soft of a line, radically underselling the evidence against Orthodox Judaism, to the point—with one cherry-picked line—of giving frum or questioning Jews an excuse to say “even this OTD writer implies that frumkeit is a reasonable belief”.
When is the book coming out?