Posted on 03/04/2007 8:59:00 AM PST by US admirer
As a member of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community, David wore a long black coat and a black hat covering his Jewish skullcap.
He spent 10 hours a day studying the Torah, the Jewish holy book, and the Talmud, rabbinical discussions on Jewish law, ethics and customs.
David says that he used to want to be a rabbi - but that was then.
Now, David, 24, wears blue jeans and loose-fitting T-shirts. He no longer believes in religion, saying that he is completely secular.
He is currently at university and hopes to become an engineer.
David - who does not want use his full name - is one of hundreds of young Israelis who leave their ultra-orthodox communities to join the secular world, according to Daat Emet, an organisation that works on the issue.
People who leave the ultra-orthodox community are considered unbelievers who have lost their way in life. The community is very closed and senior religious officials rarely comment on this phenomenon.
For many who do choose to leave, the journey is one mired with difficulties and full of pain.
I see the ultra-orthodox as fundamentalists... and now I'm leading an enlightened life David
But it also symbolises the division between Israel's ultra-religious communities and its secular population.
The ultra-orthodox community represents about 8% of the population. Its members adhere to strict interpretation of Jewish law and are shut off from mainstream society.
David grew up as the second eldest in a family of eight in an ultra-Orthodox community located in Jerusalem.
His education was exclusively religious studies from the age of 13 onwards. He was bright, but had only a basic knowledge of maths and other subjects.
Military service
"It was like a wall blocking us from the rest of the world," he says.
But one evening he attended a lecture that questioned the beliefs of the ultra-Orthodox community.
"I wanted to prove that they were wrong," says David, explaining why he attended the lecture.
"I was angry that they would say such things. But I left that night thinking they might be right."
For the next four months, he wrestled with his beliefs - particularly with Talmudic law.
He asked his rabbis a series of questions about biology and the natural world but they went unanswered.
From this point on, his whole faith started quickly unravelling.
David then decided to perform Israeli military service. The ultra-Orthodox community are exempt from this service.
Family separation
"It was a hard step," he says. "But I knew that I couldn't continue living in the community when I didn't believe in the religion. I would be cheating myself."
When David's mother saw a letter from the army she instantly knew that her son had lost his faith.
His family moved quickly to ostracise him.
"My mother told me that I had to leave the family because I would be a bad influence on my brothers and sisters," he says, recalling the incident five years ago.
His father has not spoken to him since that day. And David has only sporadic contact with his mother and his siblings.
He joined the army and served the obligatory three years.
But during leave, he had nowhere to go. An organisation which supports young people leaving religious communities provided David with a surrogate family.
It was difficult. "I left the community without any tools to start my new life," he says.
But David appears happy with his new life and says he has no regrets.
"I see the ultra-Orthodox as fundamentalists," he says. "And now I'm leading an enlightened life."
"Ultraorthodox brigades have recently been created and have begun to see service. Quite successfully."
Includig one my nephew is in --- dentist's son from Athens, Texas.
Tells me shooting terrorsits is a lot easier than shooting white tail deer; they're slower and not nearly as smart.
(He's mobile artillery, really. But he does range in on them. Really cool picture of him in his "tank" (really not a tank, but for our purposes it is), helmet off, gun in mid-fire flasgh, facing Lebanon, "Texas AT&M" stiched on his kippa. I couldn't have been prouder.)
There is a difference between respect for others right to have a position you cannot reconcile YOURSELF to and total ostracism of your own family members because of those differences.
There is no indication from the story that "David" sought to change the views of his parents or preach to them to come to his view. He seems to have respected their right to continue the orthodox view he left. They should have done the same for him. Nothing was advanced or changed by that ostracism, other than many years of hurt feelings.
I have a Jehovah's Witness sister. She could not be further from everyone else in the family on religious matters. We (all her seven siblings and our families) continue to have good relations with her. I am glad we do.
Congratulations. That's great news.
One of my goals for this summer is to learn how to hunt.
If truly new to the hunt, I would start off as a bird hunter --- quail or dove because:
1. Easy to clean (deer are awful, and, if observant Jew, you pretty much have to go do it yourself to get it butchered correctly);
2. Don't have to get up too early or get wet like you do with ducks; and
3. You use a shotgun with light load & pellets, so if you make a mistake, it's generally not fatal.
4. it's social/team hunting, so someone can talk you through it.
Good advice. I think I'll take it.
It surely was painful to all involved.
What you've written is wisdom for all parents, of all convictions and beliefs.
"What you've written is wisdom for all parents, of all convictions and beliefs."
"What you've written is wisdom for all parents, of all convictions and beliefs."
Thank you so much for your kind words.
I cannot take credit. What I wrote is not my own wisdom, but wisdom of others or lessons gained through hard experience. To some extent, it is my own story, too. I went away from my strong Jewish background when I was in my late teens for about 10 years, during which time I jumped in to the secular "culture" with both feet. There was some pretty strong disapproval from some family members, but nothing like total rejection. More than anything, though, that brought me back was the unconditional love of one of my brothers. It is still amazing to me, that knowing full well that in his heart he could not possibly approve of what I was doing, he never showed it for a moment in all that time. To me, he is a great man, a hero and a most wonderful brother. And it is his wisdom that I speak of, not mine.
Hey, by the way, I just noticed. Happy 5th FReeper birthday.
Thank you!
I actually started lurking her during the 2000 Florida Election fiasco. The humor here at that time, both written and graphic, was absolutely the best. In those years, there were 80,000 hits a day to FR; I think it's dropped.
But it is a wonderful, mostly mature thinking and posting community.
I'm glad I joined up.
"But it is a wonderful, mostly mature thinking and posting community."
Yes it is. I've learned so much from the people who post here. One of the things that sets conservatives/-ism apart from liberals/-ism is rational thinking and logical analysis based on facts. You get that here, for the most part.
Many happy returns.
...to depend on ger b'emsa's like me to help keep Orthodox Judaism alive?
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