Sunday, October 09, 2005

More On Shtreimel

continued from my previous post


For the life of me I can't understand why the vast of majority of the commentators on Shtreimels blog are patting him on the back and telling him what a good boy he is. Don't they realize that at the the moment he is off his rockers. Yes I agree with you that he is under immense pressure but that in itself does not make his current position any less crazy. Do you all really believe that overnight he can become a fundamentalist again after having spent the last two year being an arch skeptic? Do you think that one can switch these things on and off? Do you not realize that his approach can only lead to serious mental illness?

A blogger called ConArtistic has commented on my last post and he has also responded to me on Shtreimels blog. It is there that he is clearer in what he is trying to say so I
quote him from there;

'Mr. Schreiber, there is nothing “irrational” with someone who makes a decision to fake allegiance to religion for his own benefit.'

My response to that is it does not sound to me that Shtreimel is 'faking allegiance to religion for his own benefit'. Yes if that whats he is doing that would be fine. But that's not what he is doing.
In fact that's exactly what he has been doing till now. He is trying to get away from 'faking religion'. He hates living a double life. He wants the real thing. He wants to to believe in it. Shtreimel is forcing himself to believe something in order to run away from the problems that he has. That I am afraid is a sure way to a complete breakdown. It will not solve any problems. His children once again won't have a real father, although I admit that his children will not be
discouraged to keep in contact with him.

Shtreimel is proving to us that he belongs to a cult (Chasidei Satmer). He is living proof that the system that that particular cult has put in place to ensure members keep within the fold works. It works only too well. Shtreimel has tried to break away but the cult is too strong for him. Shtreimel has been defeated by forces far stronger then he can withstand.

3 Comments:

Blogger Benshak - בנש"ק said...

I would like to take a moment to disagree with you.

Shtreimel situation was – as he made so clear in his posts – unbearable to him because it involved faking and cheating on himself.

His choices were two. One, he fries out, leaves his family and joins the real word. Two, he becomes a baal tshuvah. Shtreimel chose the second option.

Personally, I doubt that Shtreimel can accomplish this feat. The main requirement in Orthodox theocracy is believing. Without the thirteen ani ma’amin’s one is a kofer according to the Rambam. However, Shtreimel based his choice on the gemoreh that says that one should act shlo lishmo, which will lead to lishmo. Alternatively, I would quote “habo litoheir mesayin oisoi” (pardon my Yiddish spelling).

It is his unfortunate fate to be stuck in something you correctly called a cult. In a place where any idea – not necessarily a ‘new’ idea - is taboo, one might have a hard time adjusting. But as Shtreimel said, that was his choice. I think we should respect it.

3:48 PM  
Blogger Tamara said...

I have to side with YS on this one. I stopped reading Shtreimel's blog awhile ago because 1)it was so heart rending and sad and 2)his life was a train wreck waiting to happen.

He needs more help than any of us can give him. Unfortunately, those closest to him are not only the ones least able to help, they are his problem.

G-d help him.

11:55 AM  
Blogger Shlomo Leib Aronovitz said...

http://shlomoaronovitz.blogspot.com/2005/11/reb-shtreimel.html

12:15 PM  

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