Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Volf? Part II
Those Who Fail At History Are Doomed to Take Remedial Classes
This is the second essay in a series of essays and exposés answering the recent attacks on the Yeshiva system by the New York Times and the New York State Senate. Read the first part here.
"We have a long collective memory, after all." To truly understand the Haredi community's visceral reaction to the various calls for modernization, reformation, or reconstruction of the yeshiva system, it's crucial to grasp the very long (and very sordid) tradition behind them. Things, after all, seldom happen in a vacuum.
Many may approach this issue as if it only came to be in modern-day New York, specifically in Haredi yeshivot, but the ideological root of those demands is far older and pernicious. Most of its proponents are probably unaware of the loaded past of what they are advocating. So, before discussing the first accusation of the Times and New York State, let us take a tour through recent history.
When Christopher Columbus and his band of merry men landed in the Americas on October 12, 1492, he did not stumble unto an empty shoreline. They encountered a bustling continent filled with various Native American tribes. Fast forward a few hundred years, and those Natives who had not died from either exposure to new diseases or the various conflicts that erupted were now mostly confined to reservations and isolated from the rest of society. Yet, their clinging to a beloved traditional lifestyle conflicted with the progressive minds of their epoch.
"How should we deal with the Red Man?" pondered the White one. Much was written about this subject then, leading to many debates in the public square. "He has never even heard of The Good News, much less taken on our land's much more advanced mores and customs! If we deprive him of a basic education, how will he survive in this new modern world we are building? Every injun needs basic English, Arithmetics, and Bible Studies!" And thus, the Residential School system was created. A system so successful that angry Canadians still burn down churches over mere allegations of newly uncovered atrocities to this day.
The forced Westernization of Natives in the American Indian boarding schools was more successful but not quite humane, though maybe lesser in its organized barbarity than its Canadian counterpart (emphasis on less organized). We should not forget the African slave either, who had dared not know the King’s English or Algebra in his home country prior to his capture, and nor had he heard of the White Man's Gospel. He, too, had to be civilized and brought into the modern world, even if kicking and screaming.
These two groups were not the only ones who suffered greatly and saw essential parts of their history and culture disappear through forced assimilation in the name of progress. All over the world, the colonial schools of the French, British, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish Empires were doing their best to beat the pesky indigenousness out of the ungrateful inhabitants of their colonies to bring them to the up to speed with Western civilization and its values, instead of letting them wallow in their cherished backward ways. This is something that even the NYT agrees about, considering they have written many opinion pieces and articles about the need to 'decolonize education,' after all.
It would be silly to think that these acts, which amount to, at the very least, attempted cultural genocide, were only the domain of Europeans. Almost all Empires or dominant forces throughout history, all the way back to Nineveh, tried to impose their culture on the masses under their control. They all understood that cultural hegemony was more likely to lead their empires to stability and long-term glory than multiculturalism and the proverbial melting pot. Both the Arabic language and the Islamic religion originated from the Arabian peninsula. Yet, today, Islam is the state religion of more than 26 countries, and Arabic is the official language in 25. In fact, Arab-Islamic imperialism was so successful that almost all indigenous groups still extant are utterly foreign to those outside of the MENA! Who immediately thinks of Berbers, Kurds, or Armenians when discussing the region? Or at all?
Like those groups, Jews suffered a similar fate in almost every country we resided in. Often in a very similar fashion. For example, in many ways, the American reservation system was not dissimilar to the Pale of Settlement or various Jewish ghettos of Europe. Indeed, before the term was culturally appropriated away from us, a "ghetto" only ever referred to these portions of a city or land where Jews were mandated by law to reside in and often work from. Starting in the late 18th century, Jews worldwide would soon become victims of similarly mandated Residential and Boarding schools. Tragically, this was usually through the cooperation of handfuls of Jews hellbent on forcing their brethren to assimilate into the alien culture surrounding them.
A New World, or the Alte Velt?
It is also a sad pattern in history that any minority population dominated by a much stronger culture will see a rise from within its ranks of people espousing assimilation. Those in favor will do their best to bring their fellow natives to embrace the dominant culture for various reasons, ranging from economic or social advantages to mere relief from persecution. Famously, Theodor Herzl proposed that the entire Jewish people convert away from Judaism to stop the rising tides of antisemitism. After further reflection on the matter, he concluded that while conversion would be unviable and most likely would not put a stop to antisemitism, by embracing something akin to 19th-century European nationalism, Jews would finally be freed from the shackles of antisemitism. If you can’t beat them, copy them!
For Jews, none of this began during the Age of Imperialism. We have long suffered from the selfsame spirit, not just in Europe but in almost any culture we resided in. The archetype of this Jew, the Erev Rav, followed our nation out of Egypt and into the Land of Israel. Throughout the ages, they took many forms, most famously the Hellenizers of Chanukah. Still, they existed in Babylon and Persia before that, in Rome afterward, and in almost every country we resided in from then on.
As Native Americans were herded into Residential and Boarding schools half a world away, a small but influential group of Jews named the 'Maskilim' decided to petition non-Jewish powers throughout Europe to force Haredi Jews, especially those pesky Hassidim, to join the modern world as well. They wanted to impose the same kind of system on any traditional Jew in the hope we would assimilate into our host countries and become Germans, Austrians, or Russians, instead of proud Jews.
The experience of Ashkenazi Jewry in Europe under the Maskilim was not unique; Jews living in North Africa and the Middle East were going through a very similar crisis at the time. French Maskilim, under the banner of the 'Alliance Israelite Universelle,' appointed themselves as the civilizers of the unwashed masses of predominantly North-African and Middle-Eastern Jewry still clinging to their traditions and lifestyle. If the French were colonizing and civilizing their Arabs neighbors, wasn't it the duty of the French Jew to civilize the 'Arab' Jew?
And they all sang the same refrain: "How can you make a living if you don't know Russian/French! How can you function in the modern world if you don't know the glorious history of the Tsars/Revolution? Have you even read Pushkin/Proust?! We must ensure they have government-authorized and regulated "Rabbis" in charge to teach what will make them proper Russian/French citizens!". They failed to convince the masses and were reviled by them more often than not, but that did not stop the Maskilim or the Alliance from trying by any and all means, especially non-Jewish government coercion, to rip them away from their traditions. Sadly enough, even violent means were not off the table.
In Russia, the Maskilim eventually became the Yevsektsiya, the 'Jewish Section' of the Communist Party. Their goal was also to bring the stubborn Jew into modernity. Where the Tsar's cantonist decrees had failed, the guns of the communists would succeed! And they mostly did prevail, at least for a time. They harmed entire generations and denied them not only access to traditional Jewish education but any Jewish education to the point we still feel the repercussions of their actions to this day. After all, it's was the glorious Soviet future! What need was there for such pesky things as ethnicity? If there's no need for Judaism, there's no need for the Jew to exist! After their mission was accomplished as best they could hope to, they were quickly discarded by Stalin, a bullet to the head here, and 25 years of hard labor in Siberia there, until none were left. They went to their graves thinking they fulfilled their life's purpose, finally liberating the world from the pesky traditional Jew… yet today, we are thriving more than at any point in our history since the destruction of the 2nd Temple.
This begs the question: we've been accused of being unable to function in the modern world for centuries; how could it be we are still around, and those who harangued us to assimilate and integrate said modern world have all disappeared?
A benevolent tyranny is still a tyranny.
Today, the world is fully cognizant of the evils embodied in the Residential and Boarding School systems. If a politician, or political party, was to suggest that Indigenous private schools should be forced to be Westernized, to be modernized, that the students should be made to acclimate and assimilate to the world around them, there would be a furious backlash from the media, most definitely spearheaded by the Times itself. Yet, regarding Haredim, all options are on the table. No consideration is given to our culture, no respect for our traditions, and no heedfulness paid to our concerns or views on the matter.
We made our views quite clear, as well. Hundreds of thousands of letters written, our religious leaders spoke out, our political representatives as well, we lobbied, we called, we asked, we pleaded, all to no avail. Not only were we unsuccessful, but we were never given the time of day by Albany. Ultimately, all we ask is the ability to raise our children according to our conscience and our way of life, and we assure you that we most certainly want to make sure they will have the tools necessary to function in the world. We do not need the help of bureaucrats who don't know the first thing about us to do that. It's clear that the world has seen enough self-appointed white saviors, and it's time to move on.
This was the morning after."WAR!" is declared on us, the Der Blatt newspaper wrote after the State resolution passed. The truth is that, from our perspective, what the State Government did is not a declaration of war. It's merely yet another front opening in a conflict that has been ongoing for hundreds of years now.
And we don't plan on surrendering any time soon.
The next installment will focus on Haredim and the Modern World. For real, this time.