What Happened to Sephardic Jewry? (audio)

Tragically, Torah Judaism is plagued with the infection of superstitious, pagan, beliefs. For many (perhaps most) Ashkenazim, this may range from having distorted ideas about such esoteric subjects as "Ayin Horah" (the evil eye), a genuine rational Jewish concept but terribly misunderstood, inserting kvitlach in the kotel, and performing silly segulas that were stolen from the x-tians. Of course, there are many Ashkenazim whose views degenerate into even more obscene beliefs. This can clearly be seen in chasidic circles where the cult of worshiping Rebbes and praying to them (under the equally problematic pretext of using them as conduits) at their graves is often the norm. But as a general rule, the worst superstitious beliefs and rituals are usually found among Sephardi Jews, who by and large abandoned a legacy of intellectual Torah learning and replaced it with the superstitious rites and rituals of pagan Arabs. In the following audio, I reflect on this sad state of affairs.


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Response to a Reader

Whether or not I agree with them, I appreciate the opportunity to engage in an intelligent discussion with a reader.  In response to my latest post, "The Amuqah Idolatry", I received a comment from a reader which prompted a dialogue. In the interest of elucidating my position for other readers, I decided to include his comments (in purple) and my responses (in blue), in the form of a post.

Jesterhead45: Out of interest what is your opinion of Hitbodedut, is that something which is foreign to Judaism? - 2/11/11 

Daniel Ben Shmuel: My opinion is that I am unaware of any normative Torah source that supports this "practice." What I am aware of is the fact that contemporary expressions of "hitbodedut" often encroach into the world of paganism and primitive worship that has more in common with eastern-idolatry than Judaism. Of course I could be wrong. Perhaps you could point out some classical Torah sources (other than chasidic writings)which refer to it. - 2/12/11 

Jesterhead45 : I see where you are coming from regarding the practice of hitbodedut, though I fail to see how laying one’s cards on the table (so to speak) and speaking to G-d with complete honesty, in order to gain a clearer understanding of one's personal motives and aspirations can be considered pagan or a form of primitive worship.

Especially since one is essentially praying to G-d, talking about his or her issues to G-d and expressing one’s gratitude to G-d.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any non-chasidic sources that refer to hitbodedut though for what it’s worth I have come across a book about the practise called “In Forest Fields” by Rabbi Shalom Arush, which claims to have approbations from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef amongst other people. It would be interesting to hear non-chasidic views on the practice of hitbodedut if they exist.

Thing is, I would of thought that all Orthodox rabbis agree, or at least should agree, that the Torah is not something academic and detached but rather, a means to come close to God. That is not to say I agree with stuff like “amuqah”, it is just I fear where an overly rational anti-emotive approach to Yahadut will lead. - 2/12/11

Daniel Ben Shmuel: I appreciate you intelligent points, and your desire to have an intellectual discussion. As a result I would like to address your points in a follow-up blog post entitled "Response To A Reader." Thank you once again for providing a forum to engage in these issues, whether or not we ultimately will agree with each other. 2/13/11

My latest response: I am not denying or denigrating the right of man to call out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu at any time, and in any tongue. There is a concept of halachic tefillah which is time based, and then there is man's individual right to call out to G-d in general. (Tehillim would certainly be an expression of this, albeit on a more elevated level.) The main problem with hitbodedut is that it presupposes a false relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu that is based upon primitive thinking. Hashem is not "our friend" as these practitioners are wont to believe. Such childish notions (while understandable for a child) are anathema to yahadut, along with other infantile notions such as those who conceptualize G-d as a bearded old man with a kipah sitting on a throne in heaven. At the very least, such beliefs are heresy. 

I do indeed refer to the idea and actual practice of hitbodedut as a primitive and spiritually dangerous behavior. I don't know about R' Shalom Arush nor do I care to. I'm not Breslov, and I oppose their ideology, so naturally he has nothing to say to me on any matter. (I don't know whether or not Rav Ovadyah Yosef actually gave his sefer an approbation, nor would it matter to me either. With genuine respect and kavod to the gadol, he is not my Rebbe.) Again, I don't think that you can find any non-chasidic source for this practice. It was created by chasidim. I am not a chasid. I see contemporary expressions of hitbodedut as deviations from Judaism that are laden with pagan notions.

Forget about hitbodedut and try to emulate the practice of David Hamelech who used the majesty of the creation and the natural world to reflect on The Almighty. This is indeed a Jewish endeavor, because it solidifies in the mind of any true thinking person that there is a G-d.  As such, even an overnight stay in the forest can be a throughly Jewish expression and an intellectual endeavor, albeit one without the constraints of "dry intellectualism." But to enter the forest for the purpose of screaming out "Aba" like an escaped lunatic from an asylum is an entirely different matter. 

(As an aside, I want to emphasize that there is a danger anytime man approaches nature without the intellect. As the Rambam teaches us, this was the mistake of the people in the days of Enosh, who started to worship the stars as an  expression of honoring The Almighty (l'havdil). Instead of learning from nature and reflecting on the source of all creation, they deified nature and became idolaters. The native Americans  were another example. They accumulated a tremendous amount of real knowledge about the earth. They mastered the science of the interconnectivity of ecosystems, the behaviors of animals, tracking skills, and even patterns of weather. Furthermore, they respected the earth and didn't waste natural resources. The problem? They deified nature.)

I made no reference at all to an academic or detached Judaism, which I course oppose. For the Torah committed Jew, there is no such thing as "academic Judaism." That kind of nonsense is what we see in universities where they make it a practice to tear down the knowledge of The Almighty under the framework of "scholarly research" and "biblical criticism." Nor does a concept of detached Judaism exist for the Jew who is bidden to live every single waking hour as a Torah Jew. 

Overly rational? Anti-emotive? Again you are making false generalizations. There is no such thing as being overly rational. I am calling for Jews to extricate superstition from the Jewish camp and cast it away. A Jew must always use seichal to understand Torah concepts. This is not the pursuit of a secular philosopher. Yahadut requires man's full intellectual involvement, along with a commitment to advancing his intellectual development. Of course at the end of the day, since there are concepts we can't possibly understand (along with notions that the Torah prohibits us to ponder about) we are obligated to follow the mesorah. Our best efforts are always limited. Even Moshe Rabbenu had limitations. 

It is true that a Jew must have emotions. Strong emotions, but ones which are always guided and tempered by Torah. Torah can only be understood with the intellect. There is no such thing as mysticism. Abandoning one's seichal is akin to idolatry. In Judaism, emotions follow knowledge, not the the other way around. The practitioners of hitbodedut and shrine-hopping do the exact opposite. They construct (or deconstruct) "knowledge" based on primitive needs and emotions. And they are particularly dangerous, because their teachings are so attractive to misguided Jews. This isn't Judaism. It is merely a modern manifestation of the pagan drive within ignorant man that has always drawn him to the profane.

I hope this clarifies my position. I don't see Jewish superstitions and abberant practices as harmless folklore. I see it them as genuine diseases to the Jewish soul that distance people from The Creator. As a religious Jew, I feel obligated within the reach of my arm to tear down these false altars and convey true Jewish ideas. I've had enough of this shamanistic garbage masquerading as Torah.  Hakadosh Baruch Hu is "available" (so to speak) to those who search for Him. 

Feel free to continue the discussion. Have a good night.

The "Amuqah" Idolatry (audio)

Disclaimer: I would like to point out that in general, whenever I cite a certain Rabbi or scholar, it should not be taken as an indication that the person mentioned supports (or in the case of a deceased person, would have supported) the ideas expressed in this blog. In the interest of the reader, here are three works I cite in the following audio. They are worth reading and owning. 

• Rav Chaim Zimmerman, "Torah and Existence"
• Dr. Paul Eidelberg, A Jewish Philosophy of History (I read a quote from his accompanying essay on a section of R' Zimmerman's work, on page 273)
• Rav Nathan Kaminetsky, "Making of a Gadol"

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For some inexplicable reason, so many deluded Jews find that the Halachic imperative to pray to Hakadosh Baruch Hu lacks the attraction of visiting a shrine and praying to the dead. Or receiving a vial of holy water from a wonder worker. Or putting an amulet under a pillow to aid a woman in childbirth. Amulets. Segulot. These are the kinds of pagan (and possibly idolatrous) expressions of religiosity which call out to them. What runs through the minds of such people? I can only imagine. 

"Really? Just praying to Hashem, does that actually work?" 

The laundry lists of segulot would fill an encyclopedia. Many of them are reportedly useful for finding one's eventual partner, having children, financial success, or curing disease. All of them are nonsense, all of them contrary to Torah. They are expressions of Jewish magic. Useless and forbidden. Only with complete faith in The One, are we permitted to place our trust.

"You shall be perfectly faithful to Hashem your G-d." (Devarim, 18:13)

And then of course there is the popular superstition of visiting the purported grave of the Tanna, Yonathan Ben Uziel, at Amuqah, as a segula for finding one's "bashert." (An ancient custom we are told, which as it turns out , isn't so ancient.)  This pagan practice has even descended to the level where some undignified woman drape certain "garments" on the tomb in the hope of finding their match. While those who propagate and encourage the Amuqah myth generally condemn such practices as obscene and disrespectful, they themselves are to blame. The pagan drive (which draws them there in the first place) often leads to sexual impropriety.

I'm not of the school of thought that says that its better to let Jews keep their narishkeit. Certainly not when a particular practice involves the abrogation of biblical prohibitions. At the very least, going to Amuqah skirts the periphery of idolatry. For that matter, so does writing kvitlach to dead people. And the entire periphery has a sudden drop right into the abyss of idolatry. Praying to the dead in hopes of salvation is the definition of Avodah Zarah.

As I will point out in the accompanying audio post, the Amuqah shrine was invented in the 50's by a tour guide who wanted to make money. I don't know if this repugnant person is alive today, but one can only gasp at the Divine punishment in the afterlife, of one who creates a pagan mythology to profit from peoples pain. Most Jews who go to Amuqah or other shrines, whether they be fertility shrines, marriage shrines, or parnasa shrines, are searching for something to alleviate emotional pain. They are the tragic byproduct of a Judaism that is largely devoid of any intellectualism. "Captured babies", if you will. Their teachers and rabbanim who cultivated these superstitions are really to blame. And in the absence of true Torah wisdom, man will usually turn to soothsayers when he is desperate. 

Rational Torah committed Jews should make it their mission to denigrate superstitious practices whenever the subject comes up, even if it upsets their Shabbat dinner guests. Praying to the dead is idolatry. (I would venture to say that even the permissible practice of visiting the graves of righteous people is dangerous for many Jews, who unfortunately end up praying to the Tzadik.) Many simpletons will bring up the story of Calev, as some sort of proof for visiting graves. As if Calev, who was one of the gedolei hador, was actually praying to the dead, Heaven forbid! In the hostile environment of the sinful meraglim, Calev went to the Maachpela to derive strength from these great Jews. He reflected on the tribulations of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs, and strengthened himself in the knowledge that he and Yehoshua could persevere as the lone righteous voices in the group. When a Torah committed individual visits a grave, he reflects on the life of the gadol and then turns away (both literally and figuratively). Out of sight, and out of mind. The popular notion of a "meilitz yosher" is a dangerous and problematic concept. We Jews have no such need. We pray to The Creator. Anything else is idolatry. 

Fellow Jew, stay away from Amuqah and other forms of pagan worship. There are entire movements within "orthodoxy" who propagate a Judaism based on outlandish folklore and "Jewish mysticism." One who has any sense of yahadut knows that such practices and beliefs are merely an expression of 2000 years of living with goyim. Those who purport to be wonder-workers are all charlatans, and those who would send you to them are either delusional or worse. 

"You shall not suffer a witch to live" (Shemot 22:17)

Once again, I am not callous to the pain and suffering of misguided Jews, who cleave to a profanity masquerading as "holiness." On the contrary. I feel for them. I also care for their souls. By trying to rectify corrupt ideas, I hope to point Jews in the only proper direction. Man (Jews and gentiles) needs no conduit to Hashem. I am advocating the only authentic Torah approach. Turning to The Almighty. May Hakadosh Baruch Hu protect His chosen nation from all spiritual contagions, and from those who perpetuate them. * Click the following link to hear some fascinating views from Harav Bar Chaim, shlitah, on the general practice of visiting graves."The Superstitions of Graves"

Warning: The following video contains approximately 12 minutes of ramblings from one who knows nothing about Judaism. It is important to see an example of the pagan infection that contaminates so many Jewish souls. This ignorant fellow endangers Jews with his foolishness. The fact of the matter is that the contemporary Breslov movement offers nothing to the thinking Jew, the exception being a litany of dangerous notions which pervert the fundamentals of Torah. As a movement, it is a replete with concepts that are both foreign and forbidden to Judaism. At the core, it is a cult dedicated to the worship and veneration of a dead Rebbe. I speak not only of the "Nah, Nah, Nuts", but also the "mainstream ones" whose Judaism is premised almost exclusively on superstition, demonology, segulos, perverted ideas of "purity and holiness" (based on sexual/aggressive frustration) bizarre tikkunim, and the idol worship of praying to the dead. I think it is a fair question to ask a genuine Torah scholar whether this constitutes a form of necromancy.

Judaism & Superstition-The "Red Bendel"

It is a genuine tragedy that so many Jews are attracted to the profanity of superstition. Far too many "people of the book" read the wrong books which distort the fundamentals of Torah. Far too many "religious Jews seek out the advice of contemporary soothsayers and magicians who engage in the most obscene biblical prohibitions to profit from confused and misguided Jews. The "red bendel" is perhaps the most popular example of this obscenity. Those who adhere to such foolish and problematic practices are walking on dangerous ground which endangers their souls. Open your minds, fellow Jews. This is not authentic Judaism. It is sorcery.

Baruch Hashem, there are good Jews who are fighting to correct these distorted practices which masquerade as Judaism. Check out the following link at www. mesorah.org, "Not a Thread of Truth", which exposes the spiritual dangers inherent in the practice of wearing a red string to ward off a pagan's notion of the "evil eye." (There is such a concept as the evil eye, but it has nothing in common with the one that most Jews subscribe to. There is a rational concept that requires careful elucidation.) 

My linking to the above referenced site should not be taken as proof that the author(s) approve of or support the ideas espoused in "The Jewish Fist" blog. (More likely, they are entirely unaware that it even exists.) Nor should this be taken as an indication that I approve of everything espoused on their site. This is simply my recognition of the fact that there is great wisdom in what they are saying, and tremendous chesed in their endeavor to teach Jews and correct distorted ideas. Truth is truth, and with The Almighty's help, many Jews will benefit from their efforts. Please forward and email the link to as many people as you can. We need to spread the authentic knowledge of The Almighty to both Jews and gentiles alike, and not mimic the ways of those who worship and wallow in the profane.