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Are You A Baal Teshuva Poser?

February 1, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

It’s really interesting to meet cool, forward thinking people who embrace Orthodox Judaism. It goes to show you how wide HaShem’s arms are — extending out to everyone, everywhere. That’s the kind of G-d I believe in.

But I realized recently that the Baal Teshuva movement (a semi-organized effort to help secular or progressive Jews become Orthodox) may have a weird unintended consequence: it can turn you into a gigantic poser.

Far be it from me to call anyone, Jewish or not, a poser. I know myself. I’m lame. I’ve had it pointed out to me by the authority on contemporary Jewish life (aka FrumSatire) that I am, in fact, a hipster. I bemoan that title, while accepting my lot in life.

But I have noticed something about the mini tribes of Baal Teshuva 20-somethings that flock around dynamic Modern-ish Orthodox rabbis: they all start to look alike, after a while. I don’t mean this in a Black Hat way. No, I mean that in addition to following the derech (path) of the Lord, you also weirdly end up following the path of your new Frum Family. You switch your Bob Marley tee shirt for a Moshav Band shirt. Your skinny jeans turn into not-so-skinny pants. You find yourself buying one of each knock off vintage hat from Target. Throw in the tzitzits, beard, etc. and you just…well…kinda end up looking like everyone else.

It reminds me of being in high school in the south. Over the summer, a few kids I knew started going to the “youth church” where they skateboarded and listened to Christian emo and read Bibles with titles like, “Jesus Freak Manual” and “EXTREME Faith!!!!!” You kinda knew it was dorky, but at the same time, isn’t it nice to belong to something?

Looks aren’t everything. I remember a Chabad that I went to, where the rabbi said (and I’m loosely paraphrasing), “go to Crown Heights and you’ll see the entire Chabad Lubavitch community dressed exactly the same. Some people think that means that you’re not being yourself. But what does it mean to be you? Does wearing a pink shirt make up who you are? No! It’s who you are on the inside. Your personality. Who cares about what’s on the outside?”

I wonder, though, at what point in a person’s quest to find the knowledge of the Torah and embrace Orthodoxy, that it doesn’t turn into Hebrew Fashion Week. Or, put another way, is there vanity in collective modesty?

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: Are You A Baal Teshuva Poser?, baalat teshuva, Chabad, convert to judaism, darshan yeshiva, family christian store, frumsatire, jesus freak, jewish fashion, kiruv, modern orthodox, moshav, orthodox judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Apparently Punk and Chabad Don't Mix In England

April 12, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

By Patrick Aleph

Viking has tattoos and plans on getting more, including the Ten Commandments ripping from his flesh on his back. A former carnival side show performer, he has plenty of piercings, wears a studded leather jacket and a Dead Kennedys tee shirt reading, “Nazi Punks F*** Off”.

And in every way possible, he is a good Orthodox Jew.

His father was a rabbi: the chief rabbi of Birmingham, England. Every Friday, Viking has an open door Shabbat dinner in his home. His family is Orthodox, and Viking would like to stay that way.

But not if his local Chabad house has anything to do with it.

Last Purim, Viking tried to attend a Megillah reading at Chabad. He was denied entry, as he uses a wheelchair and there was no ramp. In reality, a guest of the house was bothered by Viking’s outward appearance, and he was not allowed in for someone else’s prejudice. He could have gone in and prayed, but his manner of dress disturbed someone. At that moment, Viking was denied his Judaism.

After this was reported, an uproar swarmed the internet, but ultimately it did not do any good. According to Viking, the Chabad representatives came to his home to apologize, but did not invite him to come back. This was damage control and nothing more.

Viking is used to controversy. He lives in an Orthodox community, and has had people “not [cross] the road to be away from [him]”. Ultimately, Viking says, this is related to the “physical trappings of Judaism”. He asked rhetorically, why its OK for someone in his Orthodox community to be addicted to porn, but not have tattoos and piercings? “It’s a sin against G-d, not against man”, Viking replies about his tattoos, “so why should I have to pay for that on Earth?”

Viking related his desire to pray in community with the Hanukkah celebration. “We light the menorah. Each candle is individual, but it brings one light together. So it’s like the individual people in the Jewish nation. We are all supposed to glow together. G-d gave each of us the commandment we are supposed to pray; who gave someone the permission to choose who can pray? The orthodox are trying to keep people from their own shuls [and] for every one that comes back, ten go away. That [makes the] light dim.”

According to Viking, there is a problem with the “superficial” aspects of Judaism: “who can look more religious than whom.”

But there is a time and a place for everyone in the Jewish world, including people like Viking. About the Holocaust, Viking states it’s the “wild boys” like those in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who keep the Jewish people alive. Viking speculated dreamily about how someone in Warsaw proclaimed, on “get a bunch of the wildest boys you can and let them take care of it.” He snapped to reality and said, “we [the wild Jews] are the people who save the Jewish people when the trouble comes.”

But then he gave me a sort of Talmudic Koan: “When push comes to shove, if you push us too far, will we come back?”

I hope so. But according to Viking, it will take nothing less than “a miracle”.

To join Viking in his struggle to open Orthodoxy in England, friend him on Facebook.

Filed Under: Purim, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: Chabad, convert to judaism, Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, holiday, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, Punk, punktorah, Purim, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, ten commandments, Torah

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