What We Are Not Debating

I have been, and will continue to be, the target of accusations that I had a “bad experience� in charedi institutions, something I am certainly not seeking to deny. But what many have and will continue to suggest is that the content of my indoctrination experience was somehow unusual. It was not. The only question is whether my reaction is unusual.

The only unusual aspect of my experience itself was perhaps my tender age at joining. Many are a couple of years older. That is it.

Now whether or not people enjoy charedism long-term is a different question. I think many might not, and that even if they do, over time, they usually face many of the same problems I faced as a (barely) eighteen year old in Jerusalem, and later up north. Whether most stay happy and truly feel they are better off with their lifestyle choice is an important question. I recognize that it is a question.

But what is not a question is whether either Aish HaTorah or Ohr Somayach or any of these kiruv organizations that take direct orders from the B’nai Torah leader(s) is fundamentalist. They are.

This is not being “mean,� this is not being “bitter,� this is not being “hateful,� even if I myself am personally all three of these things. But if you think that the term “fundamentalist� is reserved for those who blow up buses or fly airplanes into very tall buildings (intentionally) you simply have no understanding of what the term fundamentalist implies.

Learn it. If you don’t like Samuel Heilman, read about it somewhere else.

But this isn’t really up for debate. And you have to stop pretending that it even matters whether “most� people in these institutions have a “positive� experience or not. To this point, on the issue of fundamentalism, it’s irrelevant.

Own it.