Chassidic education--an insider's perspective

Having spent five years of my life in a Chassidic primary (elementary) school where I received a sub-standard education and was regularly beaten by teachers, this week’s New York Times revelation came as no surprise to me. In recent days I have read countless social media posts from commenters who are shocked at the public desecration of God’s name that they accuse these schools of having perpetrated. How, they ask, can people who are so outwardly religious – who obsess over minutiae of rituals – simultaneously practice such dishonesty and disregard for what others consider basic religious principles and human decency?

As a former student in such a school, one of the most overwhelming messages that I received from my teachers was that we were locked in an existential battle for our survival as religious Jews. In order to justify and explain the extreme insularity that we were being taught, it was made clear to us that the non-Jewish and non-religious world was constantly working for our physical and particularly our spiritual demise. Stories of pogroms and forced conscription to the Russian army were retold in ways which blurred the boundaries between past and present, the “secular” Israeli army and the Russians, the British national curriculum and the Haskalah movement, murderous anti-semites and the peaceful non-Jews among whom we lived. One episode sticks in the mind: a classmate reacting to my account of how I had watched cricket at the house of my Indian neighbour by asking in horror “weren’t you scared they were going to try and kill you?!”.

Against this backdrop and from this perspective, anyone and anything on the outside of the community is an enemy. A threat to our individual and collective existence as religious Jews. The implications being that this justified any form of dishonesty and playing the system to secure and strengthen our institutions. Since the goyim hate us and want to destroy us, we must fight with all our cunning and resources to survive. If this requires us to play dirty to preserve our tradition and secure our holy education that they cannot understand or value then so be it. In such a system, no crime is so heinous as undermining and challenging the religious institution by appealing to the secular authorities. This was made clear after I had received a particularly severe beating one day and my parents made a veiled threat to alert the police.

While the siege mentality and depiction of all outsiders as enemies was an important part of my Chassidic education, I believe that certain key elements of their mystical theology further reinforce the this approach. An intense theurgical focus on the ability of our actions to manipulate matters in the spiritual spheres is strongly promoted in Chassidic thought. While such ideas are not unique to Chassidic sources, they are greatly emphasized within these groups. In mystical sources and particularly in the common perception, spiritual value is therefore primarily associated with the inexplicable spiritual aspects of Jewish observance rather than on those commandments which emphasise honesty and helping one’s neighbour. This helps us understand why people who have been raised to view the Torah’s laws from such a perspective might be tempted to pay excessive sums for a faultless etrog – or to fly to Uman for a Rosh Hashanah blessing – even if they cannot afford to first settle their debts with the local grocery. Similarly, such people will think that they are enhancing their spirituality by misleading educational authorities in order to secure institutions which will educate more ritually committed Jews.

The Chassidic attitude to secular governments and their educational institutions is also greatly coloured by mystical teachings within Judaism which promote the idea that non-Jewish souls are inferior and less pure. While more universalist thinkers such as Rambam and Rabbi S. R. Hirsch follow the teaching of Rabbi Akiva in Avot (3:14) that “Beloved is humanity, for it was created in God's image”, Chassidic thinkers have consistently sought to emphasise the gulf between Jewish and non-Jewish souls (as I have examined here). This confidence in their superiority over outsiders adds to their instinctive reaction that “non-Jewish” rules aimed at ensuring that their institutions provide a proper education are to be opposed and fought. Devoid of such an education and lacking trust in the motives of outside authorities, such communities are less likely to tolerate other laws which are intended for their benefit such as health restrictions during a pandemic or safety regulations for mass Lag Be’omer celebrations.

Where does this leave us in terms of our Judaism today? It is not only Chassidic communities who pay lip service to the rebukes of Isaiah while continuing to practice a Judaism that prioritises ritual observance over basic honesty and righteousness. We all read the Haftarah just over a month ago from the first chapter of Isaiah which taught:

“You shall no longer bring vain meal-offerings, it is smoke of abomination to Me; New Moons and Sabbaths, calling convocations, I cannot [bear] iniquity with assembly. Your New Moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates, they are a burden to Me…Wash, cleanse yourselves, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes, cease to do evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, strengthen the robbed, perform justice for the orphan, plead the case of the widow.”

In a few weeks we will read similar verses in the Yom Kippur Haftarah which relate God’s disinterest in ritual fasting by those who are dishonest and oppress the poor. But how much do we as a wider community really take its message to heart?

This time of year is not about highlighting and bemoaning the sins and misplaced priorities of others. It is time for our religious communities as a whole to start asking ourselves difficult questions. Why is it that we are so willing to tolerate those who abuse and cheat, steal and mislead? Those who don religious garb and perform ritual observances are routinely labeled “frum thiefs” – and even encouraged and lauded for continuing such observance while in prison for fraud. When our children contrast this with how our communities reject Jews whose levels of kashrut or Shabbat observance fall below our standards – or those do not dress in accordance with communal norms – they are entitled to ask: to what extent are any of us internalising the teachings and the Judaism of our prophets?

First posted on Facebook 13 September 2022, here.