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| Renowned Atheist, Christopher Hitchens |
Modern Orthodox Believers 114 (44%)
Modern Orthodox Non Believers 41 (16%)
Charedi Believers 71 (27%)
Charedi Non Believers 29 (11%)
Total respondents
255 (100%)
Out of a possibly several thousand readers only 255 people
responded. Of those – the lion’s share came from Modern Orthodox Jews who
comprised 155 of the votes. 100 were Charedim.
Assuming people were
honest, I believe that this percentage of about 60% MO to 40% Charedi probably reflects
the percentage of each that reads my blog. This may surprise some people since
my views reflect a Centrist (MO) point of view. And that therefore the vast majority
of comments seem to come from the MO world… in percentages far greater than
60%.
That surprises me too. Pleasantly. Because it means that
Charedim value the Centrist point of view enough to want to know what it is even
if they don’t always agree with it. And in some cases they may actually agree.
It’s nice to know that the voice of Centrism is being heard
in some Charedi circles. Even if the actual number is negligible as a percentage of the whole.
Surprisingly the poll shows that Modern Orthodox Jews have a
lower percentage of non believers than Charedim. 41 out of 155 people is about 26%.
That means that about one out of every 4 Modern Orthodox Jews either doubt
God’s existence, and/or do not believe that
the Torah narrative about the events at Sinai (TMS) actually happened. That is
a shockingly large percentage. Far greater than I would have imagined.
More shocking is the Charedi breakdown. Out of 100 Charedim
fully 29 of them are non believers as I described them above. That is 29%,
almost 1 out of every three!
Obviously this cannot not represent reality. It is
impossible for me to believe the percentage is that high. What accounts for that percentage in my poll?
The only answer I can think of is that non believers were more motivated to
respond than believers. By a lot. Which is one reason this poll unscientific. There
is no way to control what motivates some people to respond more than others.
But let us grant that those numbers are indeed grossly
inaccurate. I still think it shows that there are a lot more non believers in
both the MO and Charedi world than anyone would have suspected. By a lot. I don’t
know what the real percentages are. But we ought to find out with an actual
scientific poll.
The question arises as to why that may very well be the
case. It might be understandable that there are MO skeptics since their exposure
to the outside world is virtually unfettered. On the other hand they are probably
better prepared to handle that exposure than their Charedi counterparts.
The Charedi world on the other hand is generally insulated from outside
influences. They discourage or outright reject exposure to the outside world. They
teach the most literal interpretation of the Torah they can. Most Charedim will for
instance say that the world was created literally 5775 years ago and completely
reject non literal interpretations of the creation story.
But how many secretly question what they have been taught?
How many Charedim are in the closet about their true beliefs? When did they become
non believers? And why? How many Yeshiva type Charedim are there? How many Chasidim are there? How do they
deal with their wives and children? …their parents and in-laws? Their teachers
and rabbis? Their friends and colleagues?
How many Charedim are there at the Agudah convention that
listen to the speeches of Charedi rabbinic and lay leaders while in their
hearts they do not buy into their belief system at all? Is the guy next to you in
Shul on Shabbos swaying to silent prayer
with a Talis over his head and his eyes closed in perceived concentration - really
a believer? Or is he just faking it?
These are questions that I believe the Charedi world should
research.
If this problem is – as I suspect - greater than most people believe
in both the MO and Charedi world, what can be done about it? If we are losing Jews to skepticism, we must develop a way to deal with it.
In my view there ought to be a complete overhaul of
the Orthodox Jewish educational system. Not just in how to transmit ethical behavior as I
mentioned yesterday, but in how to transmit religiously acceptable answers to the inevitable
questions that arise in a world opened up. Because if things stay as they are this
problem will only get worse.
Warning
Please do not treat this post as a forum for debate about the validity Orthodox Judaism. That is not the purpose of this post. Any
attempt to do so will be deleted. The purpose of this post is to identify a
problem and suggest that it is an issue that religious leaders ought to take
note of.
