Another friend writes from New York, “The concern I will share today is most definitely not a new one, but it is an issue that comes up every year, and we have yet to find an answer to this dilemma. Why in the world is Pesach food so expensive? The prices of Pesach food products are outrageous. These kosher-for-Passover items, from ketchup, to mayonnaise, to cakes, candies and dairy products are all so much more expensive than these foodstuffs are during the year. Is there any good reason that a box of a handful of chocolate leaves costs the kosher consumer over 7 dollars? Is there a good reason why a bottle of kosher l’Pesach ketchup cost over a dollar more than it does during the year? Why do I have to pay close to ten dollars for a box of sorry tasting kosher l’Pesach sponge cake? Why do we continue to allow food companies to fleece us – yes, fleece us – every year Pesach time?”

Oh, I could add to the stories from the Chicago area. A small package of cream cheese costs $6, a three pound kosher brisket 20% more, Houston, I think we have a problem here. Kosher slaughter houses are kosher for Passover all year round; they are not four star restaurants one could order a prime rib at. When the kosher companies like Streits, Manishegetz, and others charge such exorbitant sums, one must wonder for when kashrut businesses steal from the public, ask yourself an important but obvious question: Why should I rely upon their hechser (Kosher approval), if they are so darn unethical? Dear friends, the Kosher Emperor has no clothes. Another good friend of mine in New York told me that her family once spent $15,000 a week at a Passover certified hotel–where the food was rotten! I went to a once formerly 5 star restaurant where the food was fit for a Doggie Diner.

Frankly, I think Jews should boycott all the companies that sell kosher and use some common sense instead and try to observe Passover the best way they know how. Heresy? Not really. We offer contrarian wisdom here, but I believe if Ashkenazi Jews could get over their halachic hangup with rice and beans, they could probably teach a most valuable lesson to the rabbinic supervisors and their companies that they would never forget.

A year ago in the heart of Harediville, New York, an edict signed by 30 prominent rabbis, declared, “One must be extra careful in circumstances where a monetary loss will be incurred. . . . Now before Passover, especially when the economy is so bad, we are reminding people of the Jewish law concerning monopolies . . .  particularly at Passover when there is so much need.” Yet, this year, we hear nothing at all. Once again the rabbis are asleep at the wheel.

When I read about the endless tales in the news about rabbinic corruption in the American Kashrut industry, I wonder whether these culprits realize they are reinforcing every negative caricature about Jews in the proverbial anti-Semitic book. Don’t they care?

This kind of price gouging truly undermines the holiday of Pesach–by virtue of impoverishing those who care to seriously observe it. How can anyone look forward to this holiday knowing they are about to get ripped off? “Tradition!” you say? What a pity. We must do better.

Ramat Shlomo, East Jerusalem. Lower right corner: replica of 770 Eastern Parkway, the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. (AP/ Ha’aretz.)

The picture surprised me. At first I thought somebody thus superimposed it into the background, but this was not the case. Aside from looking completely out of place, I am amazed the Israeli government would even allow a building that was not made up of limestone. One must wonder why the Chabad architects would choose a style that sets it apart from all the rest? The answer is only too obvious, Chabad loves being “different.”

For those of you who don’t know, there is another facsimile of the 770 Headquarters in Kfar Chabad. Something tells me they are planning to franchise the model. McDonald’s and Pizza Hut may have some competition in the next decade or so.

I’m a member

And I approve this message.

===========================

Yochanan composed another great melody I think everyone will enjoy.

Apologies to the Animals:

Notes:

[1] The recurring phrase “Rising Son,” is a pun and parody of the Chabad belief that Rabbi Schneersohn is going to literally “rise from the grave,” and claim to be the King Messiah.

Quite typically, truth invariably triumphs over the players who are involved within its web of intrigue. With theatrical performances, the  irony is always obvious to the audience, but never to the characters in the play. In terms of my own personal theology, I believe that God speaks to us through the ironic. What man proposes, God disposes–it is God, Who has the last “laugh.” God is the ultimate comic. Our following story is an excellent example as to how the ironic sometimes functions in our spiritual lives.

Who needs Hollywood, when you have Skype and Youtube?

(Rav Batzri trying to converse with Mr. Dybbuk via Skype connection in Brazil)

See our previous post on Kabbalist David Batzri, Exorcist Extraordinaire

Welcome back to the world of 14th century Judaism.

Well, Rav Batzri may require the help of the Ghostbusters or a Catholic priest, or even Jack Bauer to get rid of this troublesome spirit. By all accounts, the dybbuk [1] proved to be too much of a match for the famous Israeli Kabbalist, who built a reputation on defeating the evil spirits that threaten Israel and the world. At the ceremony, Rav Batrzi urged the demented spirit to leave the body via the mouth, but evidently such an extraction was considered to be too dangerous and dangerous it was. Reports say that the dybbuk started coming up through the throat, as his voice changed and he started choking, when Rav Batzri screamed at it to go back down and not come out that way, but only through his big toe.

What a strange way to exit the human body!

Well, the dybbuk had other plans, and so he decided to take up residence elsewhere in the body–to parts unknown. Perhaps Rav Batzri should have mapquested the directions to the confused dybbuk so that he might leave his host’s body in the most expeditious manner.  Fearing the dybbuk’s revenge, Rav Batzri decided to go to the Haredi Beth Din of Jerusalem, and seek help from Rav Moshe Sternbach, who is better known as a Talmudic and Halachic scholar than he is an exorcist.

Upon the request of VIN News, the word got circulated that Rav Sternbach, Rosh Av Bait Din (Chief Justice of the rabbinical court) of the Eidah, released a p’sak (halachic decree) from the bait din placing the dybbuk in a state of cherem (“excommunication”), thus formally forbidding it from causing any harm to Rav Batzri. Now in practical terms, once a dybbuk is placed in cherem, nobody will be permitted to interact with the dybbuk; nor will the dybbuk be permitted to be part of a minyan, nor can he serve as a witness in a Jewish court. For all intensive  purposes, the Haredi community will consider the dybbuk as if he were “dead.” But wait a minute, isn’t the dybbuk already dead? Secondly, if the dybbuk refused Rav Batzri, why would it care what Rav Sternbach has to say?

But wait, the story gets even more interesting . . .

Latest word: Rav Sternbach categorically denies his role in the entire story.  Actually, he claims that the “possessed” person was really mentally-ill.  He also expressed dismay that thousands of people believed that this was a dybuk and were involved with Rav Batzri’s ceremony.

Gee, what a surprise. As one critical Haredi astutely observes, “Perhaps these gadolim (Torah giants”) are just as clueless and fanatical as their thousands of followers. Thousands watched some cyber operation by gadolim to remove a “dybuk” through WiFi by screaming and blowing a Sheep’s horn! Give me a break from this insanity please! Exorcisms are still performed in the most backwards tribes in Africa and poorest countries in South America. But now we have Gadolim who do this too in 2010!”

Somehow, I do not think the Brazilian man was the only one missing a few screws. I hope Rav Sternbach quietly recommends some medication and psychiatric care for Rav Batzri.  We wish him a speedy recovery. By the way, the Shofar blast is bad enough to drive its listeners batty.

One suspects that like the indefatigable fighter Rocky Balboa, Rav Batzri will be back in the ring for another round with the dybbuk.

We wish him luck.

Video of dybbuk exorcism performed in Dimona, Israel in April, 1999 by Rabbi David Batzri

http://www.vosizneias.com/46538/2010/01/09/jerusalem-rav-sternbuch-brazil-dibuk-story-noting-more-than-mental-illness

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Notes:

[1] Wikipedia defines the dybbuk as spirits “who are believed to have escaped from Gehenna  (a Hebrew term loosely analogous to the concept of Hell) or to have been turned away from Gehenna for serious transgressions, such as suicide, for which the soul is denied entry. The word “dybbuk” is derived from the Hebrew דיבוק, meaning “attachment”; the dybbuk attaches itself to the body of a living person and inhabits the flesh. According to belief, a soul that has been unable to fulfill its function during its lifetime is given another opportunity to do so in dybbuk form. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being helped.”

Debating Evolution in Israel

The United States is not the only place where creationists attempt to redesign the science curriculum in textbooks. Israel’s chief scientist in Israel’s ministry of education, Gavriel Avital, “sparked a furor” by questioning the reliability of evolution and global warming, leading to calls for his dismissal, according to Haaretz (Feb. 21, 2010).

Avital asserts, “If textbooks state explicitly that human beings’ origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions. There are many people who don’t believe the evolutionary account is correct,” he was quoted as saying. “There are those for whom evolution is a religion and are unwilling to hear about anything else. Part of my responsibility, in light of my position with the Education Ministry, is to examine textbooks and curricula.”

Of course all thus sounds quite familiar to those of us who are debating the merits and demerits of the Intelligent Design theories in this country. Frankly, I personally see nothing wrong with raising the issues that science confronts today. For those who argue that Intelligent Design is bogus science, wouldn’t it be interesting for students to at least participate in a scientific debate  and understand why it is bogus science? If science is to be relevant to students, then it should take on the issues that confront its accepted wisdom.

I wonder: how many students really understand why the geocentric view of the solar system is scientifically incorrect? Physicists have long argued whether light functions more like a wave or like a particle? The history of science is fascinating. Why shouldn’t students see how scientific views of universe evolves?

Now, with respect to the Anthropic Principle, this is a theory in modern physics that does have very interesting theological and philosophical implications. Why should this theory be banned from discussion? Are we so insecure in our beliefs that we are afraid to entertain the great questions that have puzzled many of the world’s greatest philosophers, scientists, and thinkers since the time of Aristotle? What ever happened to the love of learning?

In Israel, as with the United States, religious communities have an invested interest in controlling the curriculum; they desire to introduce religion any way they can.

Now, as some teachers have informed me, there is only so much time to teach a science course to a class. This is probably true with states like New York, where there are Regents exams. Maybe a course in the Philosophy of Science might be an area where discussions of this sort can be generated.

Questions on Global Warming

With respect to the global warming issue is also an important issue to debate in the classrooms as well. Al Gore has made a very good living acting as the apostle for global warming prognostications. Hackers recently broke into the data-bank  of the University of East Anglia’s Hadley Climatic Research Centre downloaded 1079 e-mails and 72 documents of various types and published them to an anonymous FTP server. These files appear to contain highly sensitive information that, if genuine, could prove extremely embarrassing to the authors of the e-mails involved. Those authors include some of the most celebrated names among proponents of the theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). …

It seems that the emails show how scientists manipulated data to bolster their argument that global warming is genuine and is being caused by human actions.

One paper reported:

* Call for public inquiry into global warming ‘manipulation’
* 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved
* Kofi Annan: 300,000 people die every year from climate change. Really?

The Environmental Infallibility of Al Gore

Politics and science do not belong in the classroom either; it is as offensive to me as religion and science–especially when educators use agendas to close off discussion. Al Gore still refuses to submit his work to peer-reviewed studies.

Of course, not too many global-warming advocates raise the possibility that the sun may have more to do with global warming than we realize. The sun is by far the single most powerful driving force on our climate, and the fact is we do not understand how it affects us. NASA says that the Martian South Pole’s ice cap has been shrinking for three summers … Even the planet Jupiter appears to be warming up as well.

When Al Gore says that the sun is not to blame for recent global warming: mankind and fossil fuels are–we must believe him. Right.  Maybe greedy corporations are not just destroying the environment on this planet, but they are also affecting other planets as well, right, Mr. Gore? So Al Gore must be correct when he said, “The scientific data is in. There is no more debate”–at least not for him.

Oh well …

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Kudos go to Yochanan Lavie for his latest composition:

Apologies to the Monkees:

Here we come, crawling
Down the street.
We get the angriest looks from
Ev’ry rabbi we meet.

Chorus:
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkeys
And people say we monkey around.
But we’re too busy evolving
To put anybody down.

We go wherever we need to,
do what we’re adapted to do
We don’t have time to get restless,
To fight fundamentalist Jews.

chorus

We’re just tryin’ to be fittest,
Come and watch us make tools all day,
We’re your closest relations,
In the animal kingdom, oy vey!

Any time, Or anywhere,
Just look at your apposable thumbs
Darwin is in the air

chorus

(break)

One of my favorite literary critics, the 20th century Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin, defined the carnivalesque as a literary mode that subverts and liberates the  assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor, chaos, and paradox.

The carnivalesque vision is utopian in that it exposes the hierarchical distinctions of our social order as arbitrary, relative–a matter of social convention.  Hans Christian Andersen’s famous short story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, illustrates the carnivalesque spirit that ridicules monarchs who believe that their social position makes them inherently superior to the common person is altogether ridiculous–even illusory.

The experience of the carnival–with all the social niceties, hierarchies within a given social order, perceptions of truth, the concepts of reverence or piety and etiquettes–are profaned and overturned by normally suppressed voices and energies. A fool may suddenly appear wise, kings may transform into beggars, worlds of opposites co-mingle as if reality itself has turned upside down upon its head.

Many of Bahktin’s ideas can be seen in the story of how Esther and Mordechai thwarted a genocide that was being planned against the Jewish people.

In the book of Esther, the king’s penchant for partying, immediately displays to the reader a surreal world where the beautiful Queen Vashti is suddenly treated as  though she were a common stripper at a bachelor party.

Vashti’s transformation as a well-respected woman to someone who is banished from the kingdom is contrasted by an equally far-fetched scenario–Esther’s ascent to the royal throne. No sooner does Esther become queen, a deadly threat  emerges that threatens the people of Esther–Haman.

Haman’s rise to power is mysterious and rapid. No sooner had the Jews started to feel comfortable in their new Persian home, then suddenly–they are about to be annihilated by a foe who hates them for merely being religiously different.

As with Vashti and Esther, Haman’s ending is equally unpredictable as it is topsy-turvy. The man who obviously aspires to become king, ends up getting hung or impaled because of his hubris. Normalcy returns to the kingdom and the Jews live to see another day–and then some.

Even God undergoes a carnivalesque transformation in Esther. Far from being the revealed Deity of the Exodus, God is invisible throughout the Esther narrative. Yet, it is when God is most hidden, His Presence can still be felt through the downfall of the Jews’ archetypal enemy–Haman.

The biblical writer of Esther wished to convey the precariousness of  Jewish survival; the fact that the Jewish people survive its enemies  is providential; ultimately, the villains of history get their just deserts.

Any good Christian bible reader knows that cross-dressing is forbidden in the Torah. Men are forbidden to dress as women, since the proscription reads, “neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment, neither may a man wear a woman’s garment ” (Deut. 22:5).

The law aims to maintain gender distinctions, while preventing potentially licentious behavior.  Cross-dressing during Purim is nothing new in Halachic literature; pious Jews have been cross-dressing on this holiday for several centuries.

In the 16th century, somebody asked Rabbi Moshe Iserseles (a.k.a., “Rema”), whether cross-dressing on Purim was permitted or not. Rema cites two opinions, one says, “Yea!” while the other says, “Nay!” (and the cross-dresser says, “Hurray!”). Rema rules that it is permitted to follow the more lenient opinion. [1]

Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1838-1933), author of the Mishnah Berurah,  cites several halachic authorities who recommend that the custom of Purim cross-dressing be abolished and prohibit this practice. [2]  R. Kagan notes, “Likewise, as far as I can see, the vast majority  of later rabbis who discuss this issue in their Responsa is to prohibit the practice, citing other earlier authorities who call it wicked.”[3]

Based on Jungian psychology,  the Haredi cross-dressing reflects the men’s unconscious desire to consciously integrate its feminine side, which he terms the anima.

In a sexually repressed and rigid society where the anima is not integrated with the animus, people will inevitably but unconsciously try to unite feminine and masculine aspects of their personalities together. While cross-dressing may look like innocent fun, the Purim celebration really “masks” (pardon the pun) a much different kind of psychological dynamic that may not be too obvious to the non-discerning eye.

In broad terms, the entire psychological process of the individual, men need to get in touch with their anima development by becoming aware of his  feelings and emotions. By doing so, men will gradually become more receptive to experiencing broader spirituality that will enable them to get in touch with the intuitive processes, creativity and imagination.  Ultimately, he will show more psychic sensitivity towards himself and others.

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Notes:

[1] O.H. 696:8.

[2] Cf. Shach an dCTaz on YD 182.

[3] MB on O.H. 696:8.

By the way, “Simcha Monica” roughly means, “Monica is happy.” I am not sure whether this name was given during the time of the Clinton and Monica Lewinski scandal, I suspect not. Actually, the real reason Monica is happy has nothing to do with Bill Clinton.  Historically, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the ORIGINAL  Monica  (331 – 387 CE ), Monica was both the Algerian Christian saint and  mother of Augustine of Hippo, the greatest Christian theologian of Late Antiquity. Augustine, ex-lover and whore-monger, loved extolling his mother’s virtues in his Confessions.

If my sense of humor seems off-colored, it’s because God speaks to me in the language of humor and irony.  Let us return to our topic at hand. At first blush, it seemed there might be some scriptural support for this unusual practice among the Chabad rabbis. Consider two verses: “Give heed to all that I have told you. Never mention the name of any other god; it shall not be heard from your lips” (Exod. 23:13) and “There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god” (Psa. 81:10).

So I started thinking, it seems that the Chabad rabbis are rather inconsistent because the names found in the Gregorian calendar are actually based on the names of pagan deities of antiquity. If  no other gods or goddesses are to be  mentioned, how can Chabad rabbis refer to the name of actual deities whenever they use a secular calendar or at least refer to it in their daily conversation?

Here are some examples:

May derives from the Roman fertility goddess named Maia.

April is traditionally identified with Venus. April  may possibly derive from Aprilis, the Etruscan Apru, which is also a diminutive of Aphrodite–the Greek goddess of beauty and fertility. The Latin verb aperire, “to open,”  and is related to the Greek name for spring  ἁνοιξις (opening),  the time of the year when spring begins bloom with flowers and trees.

June alludes to Juno, the Roman goddess who served as protector and special counselor of the state.

Indeed, several other examples can be mentioned, but I believe we have made our point perfectly clear. If the Chabad rabbis used Hebrew names for the months, that would make a lot more sense. Then again, even the Hebrew calendar refers to the Sumerian and Babylonian deity known as Tammuz, who is mentioned in biblical times (cf. Eze. 8:14).

Who exactly was Tammuz? He was the chief Sumerian deity, also known as Dumazi–the god of fertility, of vegetation and agriculture, of death and resurrection, and the patron of shepherds. Dumzai was both the son and consort of Ashtar (Inanna). In the Sumerian mythic pantheon, Tammuz represented the annual vegetation cycle of death during the heat of summer and the rebirth of life with the coming of the fall and spring rains, as mythically recounted in the Akkadian poem, “Inanna’s Descent into the Netherworld.”

When our ancestors went to Babylon, they adopted the Babylonian names of the months during the 70 year exile in Babylon, which also  included Tammuz!  The 17th of Tammuz is a special fast day in Jewish tradition. I suspect that the ancient Jews either viewed Tammuz nuch like we now view the days of the week.  If it didn’t historically bother our people in times of antiquity, then why should it bother us whether S. Monica is Santa Monica?

Then again, we have  the days of the week. Each day is dedicated to the pagan goddesses and gods of antiquity. For example:

• Sunday. Latin: dies solis - “Sun Day.” Sunday celebrates the sun god, Ra, Helios, Apollo, Ogmios, Mithrias, or the sun goddess, Phoebe.  In the year 321 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine ruled that the first day of the week, ‘the venerable day of the sun’, should be a day of rest.  The name was later changed to dies Dominica, “Lord’s Day” in ecclesiastical tradition.
• Monday. Latin: lunae dies - “Moon Day.” Monday was named in honor of the Assyrian goddess, Selene, Luna and Mani. In old English, mon(an)daeg meant “day of the moon.”
• Tuesday. Latin: dies Martis – “Day of Mars.”  In Greek mythology Ares was the god of war (renamed “Mars” by the Romans). In English, “Tuesday” comes from Tiu (Twia), the English/Germanic god of war and the sky (identified with the Nordic god called Tyr).
• Wednesday. Latin: dies Mercurii – “Day of Mercury.” In Greek mythology Hermes was the god of trade and commerce (renamed “Mercury” by the Romans). In English, the name “Wednesday” derives from the Scandinavian god Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology. Woden is the chief Anglo-Saxon/Teutonic god, the leader of the Wild Hunt.
• Thursday. Latin: dies Iovis – “Day of Jupiter.” In Greek mythology Zeus was the god of the sky (renamed “Jupiter” by the Romans). The English word “Thursday” comes from the Middle English Thorsday, refering to “Thor” (the Nordic counterpart to Jupiter).
• Friday. Latin: dies Veneris – “Day of Venus.” In Greek mythology Aphrodite was the goddess of love/fertility (renamed “Venus” by the Romans). The name “Friday” comes from Freya (Fria), the name of the Norse god Odin’s wife and Teutonic goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.
• Saturday. Latin: dies Saturni – “Day of Saturn.” In Greek mythology Cronus was the god of the harvest (renamed “Saturn” by the Romans) who ruled until dethroned by his son Zeus.

So, I wonder: If the Chabad rabbis want to pick on just the Christian saints that they don’t recognize, I am OK with their choice. However, for consistency, I think they should make it a conscious point to use the Hebrew designations of the months, with the notable exception of Tammuz. By the same token, they shouldn’t use the weekday names either for the reasons mentioned above.

On a more serious note, I suspect the Chabad movement feels disdain toward Christianity in general and toward Catholic saints in particular. For the greater part of its history, the Catholic Church has not been friendly toward the Jews. In some respects, Chabad rabbis are like many atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers who refuse to say “Christmas,” because they do not believe in Christ. Instead, they refer to Christmas as, “Xmas.”

Now what about the consistency issue? I don’t expect Chabad to start using Hebrew language or Hebonics to avoid mentioning the names of the gods and goddesses of antiquity. Is it logical? No, not really. But again, who ever said religion is supposed to be “rational”? The evidence indicates that religion is anything but logical!

Inquiring minds await for an answer from our Chabad friends. Please, feel free to reply.

From the rabbinic savants who introduced separate sidewalks, segregated buses, and separate shopping hours for men and women in Israel, their rabbis are now encouraging Haredi airline passengers to hang a new type of mechitza – a halachic barrier to separate the sexes – around the top of their airplane seats, to shield their eyes from immodest clad female neighbors and in-flight movies. [1] From what I have read in the newspapers, there is a considerable marketing campaign to encourage the Haredi community to purchase the new and improved–Traveler Mechitza.

The designer of this new device, says that the Velcro and nylon mechitzah goes around the head and is mostly in front of the passenger’s face, protruding only a little to the sides. Look out Calvin Klein, there’s a new fashion designer in town!

By the way, I think I just found my new Purim costume!

I can just see the folks of Hamastan or the Taliban saying to themselves, “Why didn’t we think of that first?” Some psychologists might refer to it as either “Haredi envy,” or “Taliban envy,” as both of these fanatical groups compete in the never-ending game of, “I Am More Frum Than You!” One friend of mine wrote, “That’s why I call them the Tallitban. It’s exactly the same monstrous pathology. This reminds me of a saying I once heard from  one of my favorite religious teachers, “Mystics recognize each other. Fundamentalists see only themselves and sin.”

Personally, I think the Haredim are obsessed with sex, 24/7. Maybe the rest of the human race is also obsessed with sex, but the majority of our planet doesn’t seem to have a problem with at least admitting it–unlike the Haredim or the Taliban. Frankly, I am surprised the Haredim are not demanding separate planes with Haredi stewards (Oops, I almost said “stewardesses’) walking down the aisles praying.

We must wonder why did it take over 2000 years for our great rabbis to come up with a new device to keep the sexes apart?

Most modern psychologists and therapists probably are not deeply in love with Freudian psychology, but I have a pretty healthy respect for Freud’s view of religion as an obsessional type of neurosis. Unlike Jung, Frankl, Rodgers, Fromm, and others who saw religions as serving a potentially positive function in society and in the life of the individual, Freud only concerned himself with the pathological aspects of religion that constricts rather than liberates the human spirit from its shackles.

Freud wrote back in 1907 in his book, “Religion as Obsessional Neurosis” that the religious people he observed, all suffered from an overwhelming feeling of guilt:

We may say that the sufferer from compulsions and prohibitions behaves as if he were dominated by a sense of guilt, of which, however, he knows nothing so that we must call it an unconscious consciousness of guilt, in spite of the apparent contradiction in terms. This sense of guilt has its source in certain early mental events, but it is constantly being revived by renewed temptations which arise whenever there is a contemporary provocation. Moreover, it occasions a lurking sense of expectant anxiety, an expectation of misfortune, which is linked, through the idea of punishment, with the internal perception of the temptation. . . [3]

Compulsively religious people are always afraid of losing control of their inhibitions. They fear not just the external world around them, they also fear that their internal world might implode within them.  Obsessive and compulsive behavior creates the illusion that they are in control of both their action  internal and external world.

I came across a citation from Victor Frankl’s “The Unheard Cry for Meaning,” where he writes about his travels through Mexico back in 1975, when he once decided to visit a Benedictine monastery. After having a discussion with the monastic  supervisor about the issues of neurosis and and how one may extricate oneself from its grip, the head of the monastery decided to let the monks undergo therapy with Frankl. Surprisingly, after Frankl finished, about 80% of the monks decided to leave the monastery!  By addressing the real underlying issues that religiously compulsive people have about themselves, they have a much greater chance of living a healthier and more honest–not to mention psychologically well-adjusted–way of life.

Lastly, Abraham Maslow’s insights develop Freud’s concept of religion as neurosis even further. Religion becomes neurotic whenever it frustrates our basic human needs, thus  short-circuiting the possibility of self-actualization. His exposition explains the religious and social phenomena  we are witnessing in the Haredi world with its endless penchant for obsessive-compulsive behavior–all of which is masked under the guises of Halachah:

The neurosis in which the search for safety takes its dearest form  is in the compulsive-obsessive in Compulsive-obsessives try frantically to order and stabilize the world so that no unmanageable, unexpected or unfamiliar dangers will ever appear; They hedge themselves about with all sorts of ceremonials, rules and formulas so that every possible contingency may be provided for and so that no new contingencies may appear.

They are much like the brain injured cases, described by Goldstein, who manage to maintain their equilibrium by avoiding everything unfamiliar and strange and by ordering their restricted world in such a neat, disciplined, orderly fashion that everything in the world can be counted upon. They try to arrange the world so that anything unexpected (dangers) cannot possibly occur.

If, through no fault of their own, something unexpected does occur, they go into a panic reaction as if this unexpected occurrence constituted a grave danger. What we can see only as a none-too-strong preference in the healthy person, e. g., preference for the familiar, becomes a life-and-death, a necessity in abnormal cases.

Perhaps the Israeli government should make this Freudian approach widely available to the Haredi community by sending an army of social workers and therapists to help these people realize their human potential.

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Notes:

[1] Jerusalem Post, Feb.19, 2010.

[2] Abraham Maslow,  “A Theory of Human Motivation,”  Psychological Review, Vol. 50, NO. 4, pp. 370-396.

[3] Sigmund Freud and Peter Gay, “The Freud Reader” (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995), 433.