Monday, June 29, 2009

A yated writer on why people go OTD

Once again after reading the Yated, I have found a letter which I feel is worth sharing (for educational purposes, of course). Apparently, one of the letter writers is irritated by the concept of people seeking therapy for their "at risk" children, because, according to him, if people only followed in the way of Hashem, nobody would go OTD.

Here is a piece of the letter:

***
Our Chachonim discussed these topics. They said that boys can lose their yiras Shomayim by not wearing yarmulkas. They spoke about timtum halev, which comes from the wrong things going into one's mouth.

When a boy is small as his yarmulka falls off, how quickly do we run to put it back? Do we realize that this can spell difference between whether he will still be in yeshiva at age 17? When we allow our daughters to eat cholov stam chocolate bar, do we realize the ramifications down the line and where this can lead? When our toddlers have fever and we give them Tylenol gelcaps with treif in it, why do we wonder that so many of our youth are falling by wayside?

These things are not opinions or thoughts. These are facts, built into Creation since the first six days.
***

The letter continued a little bit. But not by much.

Aside from the fact that this guy clearly doesn't know the difference between a chumra and a halacha as well as doesn't know the fact that he doesn't realize toddlers aren't given gel caps for safety reasons; He also clearly doesn't realize that this world is filled with very few absolute truths and the "truths" he described are certainly not built into Creation. The OTD rate is high, and while we can speculate as to why this is, to refer to these things as "facts" is just mind-boggling.

I don't understand this concept of a scare tactic. If anything I'd say its ignorant people like this guy who turn people off the path. He clearly has no understanding of what a halacha is, as well is completely ignorant of the history of the Jews. It wasn't until recently that Jews had 100 different hechshers on a single item. And it wasn't until recently that the frummy community was able to boast about a huge BT rate. And lo and behold, many BT's have no reservations admitting they ate actual treif, not just a "linient" version of something kosher.

If anything, this day and age no one would be going off the derech because now we have X-ray lights to check our lettuce!

7 comments:

Ookamikun said...

Let's see. Wearing a kippa is a minchag which was not even followed at the time of gemorra by the rabbonim themselves. Everyone wearing a kippa instead of some generic head covering, is not even 100 years old. The reason the boy is not in yeshiva is because he sees his parents and teachers for the hypocrites that they are.

Where does eating cholov stam lead? Probably same place as eating Heinz ketchup.

As FS said, no one in their right mind, except maybe for this guy, would give a toddler gelcaps. Medicine, and some hold vitamins, doesn't need to be kosher. Furthermore, if he would learn what he preaches, he'd know that if you see a small child eating bugs, you don't need to stop him. I wonder if this idiot would make his kids fast.

Here's a fact, the guy is an uneducated moron who probably never opened a sefer in his life.

OTD said...

I agree with a lot of this post, but I just wanted to point out: Why do people go OTD? Obviously, it's a complicated question, and you know that, but for a lot of them, it's much easier to just call OTDers names, and come up with black and white reasons for things than to be honest.

smb said...

I think what these youth really need is space, love, and time. If they are given this, then they might eventually come around.

I also think that what we each need is a good role model to look up to and talk to.

frumskeptic said...

OTD- "Obviously, it's a complicated question, and you know that, but for a lot of them, it's much easier to just call OTDers names"

Course, if they were to actually delve into why people go otd, they'd eventually have to recognize that frumness isn't meant for everyone, and where would that lead them?

Its way easier to just complain that they're messed up, instead of recognizing many actually have legit reasons for being the way they are.

Frum and Rational said...

Besides the fact that a baby can't have gelcaps, how would it know that it's treif? how would the baby know that, say, a cheeseburger is treif? This argument is based on some mystical connections which are certainly not universally agreed upon, and yet the writer claims that it's indisputable fact. I have been eating non-CY milk, chocolate etc. my whole life, and I don't feel myself going otd from it.

OTD said...

>Course, if they were to actually delve into why people go otd, they'd eventually have to recognize that frumness isn't meant for everyone, and where would that lead them?

Perhaps. But my point is just that they think about it, regardless of what conclusion they come to. Why they're frum in the first place, and why people might leave it. Maybe they'll even conclude that frumness isn't for anyone? :)

G*3 said...

> If anything, this day and age no one would be going off the derech because now we have X-ray lights to check our lettuce!

That in itself might be why some people go OTD.