Here’s the online version of my article about Footsteps, an organisation in New York that helps Hasidic defectors, which came out in this week’s Jewish Chronicle (London):
http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/30208/new-yorks-chasidic-rebels-learn-be-secular
And now for some rather histrionic reactions to this story on two different Jewish websites, the former aimed at an orthodox readership….(click on the following links and scroll to the bottom of each to see all the comments):
http://matzav.com/report-new-yorks-chassidic-rebels-learn-to-be-secular
Interesting to see how people who choose to move away from their strictly orthodox Jewish communities to become secular/modern orthodox (m-o) invoke such fear and loathing among those who choose to remain in those communities.
Obviously, that’s not to say that Jews going in the opposite direction (i.e. secular/m-o Jews who become Hasidic) fare any better from the communities they leave behind. Apparently Jews of every persuasion are just as capable of this hostility towards the Other.
Tags: Footsteps, Hasidic, hasidic rebels, modern orthodox, strictly orthodox
My favourite line so far from one of the many representatives of God on matzav.com who critiqued Footsteps and people who leave the fold (see link above):
“I have one message for all of you who left; Hashem is waiting for you.”