Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2024 8:42 pm
All my Jewish friends are paranoid about Chabad.
You can't hide behind your Jewish friends any longer and do the paranoia for you.
The Israeli ones think it is a cult, and they resent the Chabadniks being exempt from military service but legislating that the secular and reform Jews do all the fighting.
Religious orthodoxies in general have a difficult time with bare bone territorial issues. Usually jumping around between completely ignoring (if not rejecting) "wordly and materialistic values" and then discovering that the moment you need a place to live and it is under threat, territory is back at the top of any agenda.
In the Israeli case my arm chair position is that serving in the army should not be forced on anyone who objects. However, since Israel in the foreseeable futere still needs the IDF to survive... not serving in the army should also limit your ability to vote in politics.
The Brooklyn crowd just shuts up very loudly when Chabad is mentioned.
In general I like knuckle head know it alls, especially when they sometimes make me rethink, manage to reframe things in novel ways.
Rebbe Manis Friedman for instance. He claims that love destroys most marriages.
I like the thought.