Now, even though Nathan reveals in his parable that he believes Tefilah is useless (surprise, surprise), I think we can modify his parable to make it historically accurate.
1. The irreligious workers, after many fruitless searches, had not yet found the power saw or materials.
2. Meanwhile, they repeatedly tried interrupting the religious man's prayers.
3. Furthermore, the religious man had several sons and daughters. The irreligious workers constantly tried to influence them to abandon the religion, and constantly tried to seduce the daughters. Unfortunately, they were successful with some of the children.
4. Eventually, in the merit of the religious man's prayers, they found the power saw and materials.
5. Once they found the materials, they asked the man to send the rest of his sons and daughters to live with them so that they could help with the labor. Meanwhile, they became even more audacious in their attempts to interrupt his prayer and get the remaining children to abandon religion. He refused, and he and his family kept praying.
6. After the boat was built, it was found that the irreligious workers had actually STOLEN many of the materials. The workers, who were ethnically Jewish, begged the judge to be able to keep the boat, on the grounds that Jews had historically been discriminated against. They originally were not going to let the useless religious man on the boat, but now, in desperation, they begged him to join in order to bolster their case.
7. He agreed, and thanked God that his prayers had been answered.
Amazing post, and hilarious to watch Natan do some more double twists to try and salvage a shita that never meant anything in the first place, with his useful idiots breathlessly cheering him on at every turn.
I'll take issue with one line: "Yes, he really believes this".
Natan does not really believe anything. He's a tragic, bitter shell of a man who espouses whatever it is that he feels at the moment would make chareidim and traditional Torah scholarship look silly. Period.
More pathetic is his cohort of followers who run after him because it makes them feel more intellectually serious. They do not appear to have noticed that his entire contrived façade of 'rationalism' is an intellectual dead end, has no anchors or even internal coherence, and that they have sold their ideological associations to one man's self serving vendetta to get back at some people who hurt him 20 years ago.
You even parody yourself. The message of that story is NOT to rely on divine intervention (or as you would put it, the torah's protection) but instead to rely on bosor v'dom. The complete opposite of the point you are trying to make! The point of the story is to MAXIMISE hishtadlus.
A group of people were stranded during a rising flood. They were all trying to figure out how to survive. But one man said, "We don't need to do anything! God will save us." And he sat down to pray.
The others said, "Look, God has already given us the means to be rescued! There's all kinds of materials lying around, there's even a partially-working power saw, we could build a boat!"
But the praying man refused to help. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
So the others worked to build a boat. It was hard work. But the praying man refused to help. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
Building a boat with the partially-working power saw was a little dangerous, and nobody was thrilled about using it. They agreed to take turns doing it. But the praying man refused to take a turn. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
Finally, as the flood waters rose ever higher, the boat was ready. The others got into it. And the praying man said, "Hold on, I'm coming with you!"
The others said, "But didn't you say that you were relying on God to save you?"
The praying man replied, "I sure did! And He did! He sent you schlubs!"
The others had some harsh things to say, but the praying man rebuked them harshly for disrespecting religion.
You seem very focused on promoting “Charedism” as Hashem’s ideal sect, as if Hashem cares that you call yourself a Charedi. Rather than saying that Charedim are the best, you should focus more on qualities that are actually important, such as the desire to become close with Hashem, the desire to understand His Will, the desire to observe His laws, and to act how Hashem wants you to act, etc. There are plenty of people who have these qualities and don’t identify as Charedi. “Eved Hashem” or “Yarei Shamayim,” for example, are more descriptive and accurate terms for what you’re trying to convey.
Well presented Rabbi HGL. Only the neturei karta stuff looks a bit out of place. I know Zionists are mentioned and that Slifkin doesn't want chareidim relying on them, but I don't get the comparison of kissing up to terrorists. (Does that have to do with his families purim-costume-theme this year?)
HGL, you've done it again. Thanks for the incredible post!
Update!
Nathan responded with his own parable, here
https://irrationalistmodoxism.substack.com/p/the-parable-of-the-drowning-man/comment/13680028
Now, even though Nathan reveals in his parable that he believes Tefilah is useless (surprise, surprise), I think we can modify his parable to make it historically accurate.
1. The irreligious workers, after many fruitless searches, had not yet found the power saw or materials.
2. Meanwhile, they repeatedly tried interrupting the religious man's prayers.
3. Furthermore, the religious man had several sons and daughters. The irreligious workers constantly tried to influence them to abandon the religion, and constantly tried to seduce the daughters. Unfortunately, they were successful with some of the children.
4. Eventually, in the merit of the religious man's prayers, they found the power saw and materials.
5. Once they found the materials, they asked the man to send the rest of his sons and daughters to live with them so that they could help with the labor. Meanwhile, they became even more audacious in their attempts to interrupt his prayer and get the remaining children to abandon religion. He refused, and he and his family kept praying.
6. After the boat was built, it was found that the irreligious workers had actually STOLEN many of the materials. The workers, who were ethnically Jewish, begged the judge to be able to keep the boat, on the grounds that Jews had historically been discriminated against. They originally were not going to let the useless religious man on the boat, but now, in desperation, they begged him to join in order to bolster their case.
7. He agreed, and thanked God that his prayers had been answered.
Amazing post, and hilarious to watch Natan do some more double twists to try and salvage a shita that never meant anything in the first place, with his useful idiots breathlessly cheering him on at every turn.
I'll take issue with one line: "Yes, he really believes this".
Natan does not really believe anything. He's a tragic, bitter shell of a man who espouses whatever it is that he feels at the moment would make chareidim and traditional Torah scholarship look silly. Period.
More pathetic is his cohort of followers who run after him because it makes them feel more intellectually serious. They do not appear to have noticed that his entire contrived façade of 'rationalism' is an intellectual dead end, has no anchors or even internal coherence, and that they have sold their ideological associations to one man's self serving vendetta to get back at some people who hurt him 20 years ago.
You even parody yourself. The message of that story is NOT to rely on divine intervention (or as you would put it, the torah's protection) but instead to rely on bosor v'dom. The complete opposite of the point you are trying to make! The point of the story is to MAXIMISE hishtadlus.
😀😃🙂🙃😊😇😀😃🙂🙃😊😇😀😃🙂🙃
"By the majority secularist population, which hates their guts"
The majority in Israel (in this generation) is not secular but masorti (i.e. traditional, not CJ ch"v).
There is also a siazable DL community
Neither hates Charedim (a small minority of extreme LWDL unfortunately does hate them, but they are not representative of the vast majority)
You got the parable wrong. Here it is:
A group of people were stranded during a rising flood. They were all trying to figure out how to survive. But one man said, "We don't need to do anything! God will save us." And he sat down to pray.
The others said, "Look, God has already given us the means to be rescued! There's all kinds of materials lying around, there's even a partially-working power saw, we could build a boat!"
But the praying man refused to help. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
So the others worked to build a boat. It was hard work. But the praying man refused to help. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
Building a boat with the partially-working power saw was a little dangerous, and nobody was thrilled about using it. They agreed to take turns doing it. But the praying man refused to take a turn. He said, "No, I want to rely on God! He will help us!"
Finally, as the flood waters rose ever higher, the boat was ready. The others got into it. And the praying man said, "Hold on, I'm coming with you!"
The others said, "But didn't you say that you were relying on God to save you?"
The praying man replied, "I sure did! And He did! He sent you schlubs!"
The others had some harsh things to say, but the praying man rebuked them harshly for disrespecting religion.
You seem very focused on promoting “Charedism” as Hashem’s ideal sect, as if Hashem cares that you call yourself a Charedi. Rather than saying that Charedim are the best, you should focus more on qualities that are actually important, such as the desire to become close with Hashem, the desire to understand His Will, the desire to observe His laws, and to act how Hashem wants you to act, etc. There are plenty of people who have these qualities and don’t identify as Charedi. “Eved Hashem” or “Yarei Shamayim,” for example, are more descriptive and accurate terms for what you’re trying to convey.
Well presented Rabbi HGL. Only the neturei karta stuff looks a bit out of place. I know Zionists are mentioned and that Slifkin doesn't want chareidim relying on them, but I don't get the comparison of kissing up to terrorists. (Does that have to do with his families purim-costume-theme this year?)