Welcome to America!
from Jewschool by Kol Ra'ash Gadol
OK, well not so much, really. Apparently the Bobov sect has been commanded by a rabbinical court to hold elections to decide who their next rebbe will be. Interestingly, single yeshiva students are not permitted to vote (and I’m assuming, although the article doesn’t state explicitly, that women also do not vote).Quoted in Ha’aretz, one person said, “Something like this has never happened in the history of the Hasidic movement, that a Hasidic rabbinic leader would be elected by a vote - our forefathers never dreamed of such a thing.”
A rather curious statement, actually, since although there were not , in the past, a voter’s registry with a list of those eligible to vote; the requirement for voters to present valid identification; and fierce campaigning, originally chassidic sects formed simply because some person formed a group of followers around themself and became acknowledged as leader. It was only after chassidism became more institutionalized and formal that dynasties formed, handed down father to son. So, perhaps in a certain sense this is a very American way of returning to an older tradition.
May the best man win.VS.Full story
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4 comments:
It really isn't the American way of voting if certain minorities (or in women's case, majorities) can't vote. I'm not a very religious person, but if the Hassidic movement is aiming to be viewed as 'modernized' or 'Americanized,' it's time they incorperated single men and all women into the vote as well. It's quite scary to think that the religious and spiritual representative of an entire sect of Judaism will be chosen by less than 50% of the members. If that's the case, maybe women should just re-take their historical place in Judaism as baby-makers. As the rest of the world moves forward, Judaism, as usual, is hesitant, and stays right where it has always been.
Restricting the vote for the new rebbe of the Bobov sect to married men not only debases everything that America and democracy stands for, but rather restricts the opinions on what the new rebbe will stand for to solely issues that affect married couples, and more specifically, married men. The fact that people who do not fall into this category are just as loyal followers of the Bobov sect as the married men themselves diminish their status as followers, and the new rebbe will not have nearly as much influence upon them, because they will not have any prior connection to him.
The decision of the Bobov Chasidic sect to vote on a new Rebbe is a great example of Judaism's ability to evolve. One of the reasons the Jewish religion has been able to survive and overcome over 5000 years of hardship is it's ability to change with the needs of the time. It would be impossible to maintain the stability of the Jewish family if polygamy was still around. Likewise, democracy has found its way into the Jewish religion. Contrary to many people who believe that Judiasm is stuck in the middle ages, here is proof of Jusdaism changing and adjusting to modern day.
Since the Hasidic movement is clearly changing in order to be more like the American voting system, they need to take into account all aspects of the American system. By allowing the community to vote, but excluding certain individuals, they are not advancing at all into modern day society because they are not including the whole community. They seem to be going more backwards rather than forwards.
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