Tikkun Olam
It is interesting when reading "skeptics" how much they lament the loss of the positive aspects of living in an Orthodox community, the closeness, the chesed, the kids that respect their parents, etc., that none of them has ever suggested attempting to bring that to the rest of the world. There doesn't seem to be the kind of thought process that says "I know how to build a community where these positive things will exist, and I want to show you how it's done". Kind of a selfish view, unless they think that such a community can only be built with Orthodox people, I guess...
posted by e-kvetcher at 8:06 AM
2 Comments:
Have you talked to any traditional Conservative Jews lately? They might tell you how it's hard to form community when almost everyone drives to shul, and they keep Shabbat and don't drive (and so their kids have a hard time getting playdates). And so people live far apart, unlike in Orthodox Jewish communities, where everyone has to be in walking distance. One example why it works in the Orthodox world.
I was this Jew a few years back...:)
My point is that there is no reason why you could not advocate this type of lifestyle at a grander scale. A lot of what the frum jews see as Orthodox values were really present in Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Jewish and Gentile communities 100 years ago. The Orthodox community managed to retain them, whereas the general community has not. Why not try to re-introduce these structures into the general society?
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