When Tony Met Tevye

Tony – as in Tony Soprano.

Tevye – as in, well, Tevye (did he ever have a surname? Good research project).

That was my reaction when I first learned about the ring of ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have been involved in violently coercing recalcitrant husbands into giving their ex-wives gittin (Jewish divorces). Once upon a time, when husbands did not give their wives gittin, they could expect that their businesses might be picketed, or that they would be ostracized by the community. But now the ante has been upped to kidnappings, beatings, and even the use of electric cattle prods. “You put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know,” Rabbi Mendel Epstein of Brooklyn explained – which inspired the Daily News to dub the crew The Prodfathers. 

Why did this make national news? Because it is the Jewish equivalent of “man bites dog.” We simply don’t expect pious Jews to be acting this way. 

The pre-modern Jewish man utterly rejected physical violence and the use of coercive power. To this day, haredi men have weak handshakes. Why? Someone once figured out that gentile knights originated the firm handshake, and so it became instantly treif. According to tradition, the tefilin were to be worn on the weaker arm – to say that spiritual power is more important than physical strength. Zionism was a critique of this mindset. The Maccabiah games celebrated Jewish physical prowress, and they were named for the Maccabees — “real” men. Check out Bialik’s famous poem “City of Slaughter,” in which he castigates the yeshiva bochers in Kishinev who would not fight back against the anti-Semitic hoardes who had raped their women. They could only crawl out of the cellars to ask their rabbis if their wives, having been raped, would now be permitted to them.

No, said Bialik — we must fight back against anti-Semitism, physically if necessary. But that is hardly the same thing as violence coercion of recalcitrant husbands — simply to prop up a system which is itself coercive against women. 

But I see a hand raising in the back of the audience: “This is simply harediphobic Orthodox bashing!”

Actually, one of the most interesting dimensions of contemporary Judaism has been the eagerness on the part of the non-Orthodox to learn from the ultra-Orthodox and “their” texts. I’m thinking here of the sages whose work Art Green has recently made widely available to us through Jewish Lights — Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from Around the Maggid's Table “>http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2013/10/rabbi-brothers-singing-sounds-of.html#.UmfUDhb3A6U

Yes, their singing and guitar playing is exquisite.

But when it comes to violent rabbis, there are real sounds of silence emanating from the ultra-Orthodox world.

There are modern and moderate Orthodox rabbis who have correctly and courageously spoken out: Rabbi Asher Lopatin, the new president of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah, Rabbi Seth Farber, and others. 

May their voices go viral as well.