Magical Thinking, Jewish Oompa Loompas

I've been slipping in my posts the provocative phrase 'Oompa-Loompa' and while it could be interpreted as an anti-cloned-midget slur, I'm using a metaphor to describe a type of religious thinking found (at least) in the orthodox Jewish community. I've heard examples from other religions, certainly, but I don't have the same first hand experiences there.

As I explain here (a month in the future) the Loompas are: "people who want to follow religious practices that make them completely interchangeable with others of their kind. Hence, a chareidi wannabe - someone who doesn't learn enough Torah to know how to follow chumras - is often an oompa loompa."

Midrashic & Magical Thinking

One hallmark of the Loompas is what I call "Midrashic Thinking" (as it applies to Jews) - which may just be a version of a phrase I've heard called "magical thinking." Magical is in contrast to 'postivistic' or 'scientific' or 'rational' or 'evidence based.'

The major difference between Midrashic Thought and Scientific Thought is between authority vs. experimentation. For the Midrashic mind, if a recognized authority says that something is true, then the truth is reliable only so far as, or as much as, the authority is trusted. To a scientific mindset, authority only goes so far; even the claims of the most eminent scientist must be checked/refuted/verified.

The Valis Case

One story which brought this home is the case of Yisroel Valis - the chassidic father accused killed his infant son. His defenders came from all sides of the Charedi spectrum, including Gadol HaDor haRav Eliyashiv who cleared Valis of wrongdoing because Valis' wife says that her husband couldn't have done it. He's such a good guy, ya know.

Anyway, the methodology these gedolim used to determine guilt/innocence was rudimentary. Naturally, were Valis not to have been arrested by the secular authorities it's possible that Rav Eliyashiv would have found him guilty, as long as it could have avoided prying eyes. Oh, and I just googled and found that Valis was convicted of the crime.

Another Source of Loompa Thought

I've noticed this trend of thought because as an anthropologist/philosopher, I get a morbid pleasure reading these examples of parochial-magical thinking. Ask anyone, I confront brazen criminality and irrational thought with laughter. I don't know why, just yet; maybe it's because it's audacious or absurd (and I love abusrd humor, e.g. Monty Python).

So one my favorite sources of Oompa-Loompa Magical Thought is a parsha sheet called "The Pleasant Ridge Newsletter" by Rabbi Leibie Sternberg from Monsey. I checked the author out recently because I needed to know if he was writing the newsletter as a joke or not. Not a joke. He's a teacher for Gateways, this Aish ha-Torah wannabe organization out of Gateshead.

You can get the newsletter, a pdf, here. And I recommend reading it, and not just for the humor (unlike the Blumenkratz Chumra-of-the-Year Club). The rest of the parsha sheet is often equally disquieting, but R'Sternberg will usually bring great snippets of Aggadata or Halacha that actually makes it a must read for me. Seriously.

Ma'ase Rav

Every week he has a Rabbi story under the rubric of "A Lesson Can Be Learned From." There are no sources given for where he finds these and so I have no idea how some of this information arrived in his computer. Crazy enough, the presumed/proposed "lessons" aren't made explicit - the reader is left to puzzle out what we're possibly supposed to learn.

Naturally, the answer to that puzzle - from the Midrashic/Magical mind - is that every action of a Gadol b'Torah is a lesson: a 'Maase Rav' (lit: 'the behavior/action of a [great] rabbi'). And as a frum dude, I'm not disputing that religious point - Gedolim are to be respected and their actions are like Torah.

But. I will only follow a "Ma'ase Rav" that is accurately reported, and since they almost never are (except in a valid sefer), I cannot advocate learning from these or any stories. Because the author of the "Ma'ase" cannot be trusted, again except in special cases, to know what the Gadol meant. As such, the "Ma'ase" can be seen as the authority of the reporter and not the original subject.

Two cases to illustrate: when Rav Moshe Dovid Tendler reports that his famous shver, Rav Moshe Feinstein, said something or did something, the tale/reportage is at the authority of Rav Tendler not Rav Moshe. I saw this in action with the battle between Rav Tendler and Rav Breitowitz about brain-death.

Another, less universally accepted, case is about Rav Schachter's book about Rav Soloveitchik, "Nefesh ha-Rav." It's a great book, a must read, but almost everyone I know considers it more a reflection of what Rav Schachter perceived than bona-fide nevuah of the Rav.

A Lesson Can Be Learned From?

So, logic and halakaha should state that these stories are unreliable, especially without sources, or at least as reliable as their putative collator. As such, the clear lack of the lesson to actually be learned means the readers are left to their own abilities to figure out the lesson.

This is not so bad for some of the stories - specifically those of many generations past, e.g. the hero is the Besht or Rav Levi Yitzchak, or even Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. These are usually decent "maasa rav"s - a lesson truly can be learned from them.

But those stories are rare. More often, the stories are from newer generations, often from obscure Chassidim - or the happy anti-Zionist Satmar, and the results are often dangerous for Torah. Even were the 'lesson' made explicit, the behavior of the rabbis in the story and other explicit/implicit details can often encourage downright wicked 'lessons.'

Scary Example 1

Here's the story from Truma 5766 (the Hebrew in the original didn't come out so I put transliterations in brackets):

A Lesson Can Be Learned From:
There was once a young boy whose excess energy often landed him in trouble with his Rebbi and parents. As neither of them seemed able to control him, they resorted to discipline, which just drove him away. When his father slapped him in front of his friends one day, the boy ran off and joined a cult, throwing away Yiddishkeit entirely. After a while, the parents managed to get him back home but he proceeded to embarrass them consistently with one scandal after another. As a prank, he removed the Parsha from the Shul's mezuzah one night, and chuckled to himself as he watched everyone continue to kiss it. In particular, there was a simple tailor whose integrity, piety and fine character had led some people to believe he was a [tzadik nistar] - a hidden Tzadik. The boy watched him as he left his home, kissing his own mezuzah, but upon entering the Shul he did not. The prankster asked him why he didn’t kiss the Shul's mezuzah. The tailor told him that he didn’t know why himself, but as he came near to the Shul, his arm became extremely heavy and he was unable to lift it. The young boy was very disturbed by this and slowly, he began once more to believe that the world ran according to Hashem’s [cheshbon] (plan). This led him eventually to complete his [teshuva], which at long last brought some happiness back into his family.

Lesson?!?: So, as we do in my family when I read one of these charming heart-warming stories at the Shabbas Tisch, let's review. What is the lesson to be learned?

(1) That God does immediate and trivial miracles for tzadikim (as seen with the tailor)?

(2) Discipline does not work in raising children, it is better to depend on miracles?

(3) Slapping your child will drive them to leave Yiddishkeit? [not such a bad message]

(4) That this boy, after being brought back from the cult, wants nothing more than to mock Jewish practice. For no reason, of course [not related to a probably abusive father]

(5) His teshuva was only possible through a miracle?

OK, so I can't determine the lesson. Here's some reasons why I'm stymied:

(1) Where is the Torah or Halakha in this story? What siman in Shulchan Arukh or what verse in Tanakh is being explained or cited?

(2) This isn't even a Ma'ase Rav! It's a baba-maysa at best.

(3) How does the narrator know any of this? Is he that boy? The tailor? God? The mezuzah?

You can see my frustration. I will bring more of these later to illustrate more frustration.

Top pic was self made of a bunch of Oompacher Chassidim in the Givat Wonka neighborhood of Bnei Brak. Second pic [Valis] from here, thrid from the Wiki, fourth from here. Backpost finished 2009-12-13.