Among secular Jews who have come to view all religion as negative, the prejudice against Orthodoxy is often no less visceral than the prevailing attitudes among many Jews about evangelical Christians. As in that case, it isn’t just that their beliefs are different. It is that many of us unfairly view them as backward and inherently illegitimate.
What is the antidote to this ugly and disturbing trend?
The obvious answer would be for those who feel threatened by the Orthodox to try talking to them, rather than merely seize upon any unflattering anecdote to justify negative stereotypes. If they did, they’d find that despite the differences, they still have more in common with their fellow Jews than they think.
Non-Orthodox Jews also resent the notion that the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism is somehow inherently “inauthentic” when compared to Orthodoxy. That is a sentiment many of the Orthodox are often happy to reinforce. But you don’t have to accept that idea to understand that the growth of Orthodoxy and of the infrastructure of Jewish life in places where it was previously lacking is a positive development. Indeed, the trend toward greater emphasis on observance, Hebrew and ritual is part of the story of all of Jewish religious movements from right to left these days.
But most of all, it is high time every segment of Jewry, from secular to Orthodox, reminded themselves that their fellow Jews aren’t the enemy.
We live in a time when anti-Semitism is spreading from the Muslim world to a Europe where Jews and Israel are viewed with growing hostility. Like the Nazis, Islamic fundamentalists don’t really care whether you go to shul on Saturday. They want to kill all of us. Concentrate on that, and your worries about whether your Orthodox neighbors have an opinion about the non-kosher chicken in your shopping cart (as Weiss relates) are put into perspective.
Like it or not, we Jews are still simply too few in numbers to allow our differences to outweigh our common heritage and destiny. If you can live next door to Christians who don’t share your religious beliefs, what’s the big deal about having a neighbor who is shomer Shabbat?
This dirty little secret of Jewish life must be confronted and answered with increased communal solidarity. If we are enjoined by our tradition to “welcome the stranger,” welcoming your fellow Jews- even if their beliefs are different from your own – shouldn’t be too much to ask.