Doublethink

When people (both laymen and scholars) want to analyze a certain mindset or behavior of an Orthodox Jew, they look to the Torah* for validation of their analysis. For example, if they are trying to understand why a mega-store like B&H in Manhattan would shut down their entire operation at 1pm on Friday plus all of Saturday, they will look to the Torah for an explanation. And they will find one (or more likely, more than one).** They will then cite the Torah’s precept, thus validating their reasoning.

The Torah does, indeed, serve as the Jew’s guidebook in a lot of ways. Which is why it makes sense theoretically to base an analysis of a Jew’s behavior on its contents. However, in actuality, this is not always a credible methodology. Orthodox Jews are part of western society and as such, cannot help but be influenced by its material and moral norms. When people who are raised Orthodox encounter a contemporary viewpoint, their minds instinctively filter it through the already inculcated viewpoints they have been raised with. If the new viewpoint contradicts their previous one, they may do one of four things: reject the new view; reject the old view; develop cognitive dissonance; or engage in doublethink.

From what I’ve observed, those most to the right of the Orthodox spectrum, hasidim particularly, often tend toward doublethink. Here’s one case in point: Most Hasidim will happily tell you that frum Jews are superior to non-frum Jews because the frum ones follow the laws of the Torah. They will point out that Jews are superior intellectually and that their smarts are due to the study of Talmud (which requires acute mental agility) and to the study and keeping of the Torah (which simultaneously sharpens one’s brain and improves one as a person). Inherent in this premise is a sort of condescension toward the non-frum Jew. Of course the non-frum cannot be as smart as the frum Jew; of course the non-frum is not whom the notable “Yiddishe kup” refers to. This is not just something the hasid says; it is something he genuinely believes.

But at the same time, if you engage him in a conversation about famous Jews, the hasid will, chest puffed out proudly, happily mention Einstein. If he is a little worldly, he will tell you that Jews have won a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes. He may also tell you that there are more Jewish doctors in proportion to their population than in any other ethnic group. All of these statistics he will attribute to the “Yiddishe kup.” And as with his contradictory belief that non-frum Jews cannot be as smart as frum Jews, he will genuinely believe this.

If the hasid deems himself superior to the non-frum Jew, he certainly trusts that he is superior to the non-Jew. Or so he will tell you. How then does he justify the extraordinary pride he feels when a goy writes something positive about hasidim in the media? If he is the superior one, why does he want to impress the inferior non-Jew so badly? Isn’t it human nature to want to impress those we hold in esteem?

There is a joke ascribed to Rabbi Abba Chiya Tauber of Monsey. He explains that at a bris, when the baby is brought into the shul, all the congregants stand up. After the actual bris, when the infant is taken out of the shul, nobody bothers standing up. “Of course,” he says. “When the baby was a goy (so to speak), everyone stood up deferentially. We respect the goy. But now that he’s a yid, nah, we don’t have to impress him. He’s just another yid.” The hasid will get the joke, laugh and nod his head in agreement. And tomorrow he may guilelessly inform you that Jews are superior to non-Jews.

Another case in point: Ask any hasid if he wants Moshiach to come and he will adamantly insist that of course he wants that. Ask him if he believes that Moshiach is coming soon, and you will most likely get the same fierce affirmative response. But if you observe the actions of these individuals who are so quick to contend their yearning for Moshiach, you’ll find that unless they’re old or ill, they really don’t want Moshiach all that much. And they certainly don’t act as if they believe Moshiach is coming anytime soon. If they are, why are they toiling to build magnificent, expensive homes? Why do they ensure that the foundation is strong enough to support these homes for a century and longer? If Moshiach will be here this month or even this year (or even in two years), what’s the point of putting so much sweat and labor into something that will shortly become redundant?

Many people engage in doublethink. (Orwell certainly didn’t coin this term with hasidim in mind.) But hasidim are, I believe, particularly adept at it. And it actually makes sense. In their study of Torah, Orthodox Jews spend considerable effort debating issues that are entirely irrelevant today. They delve into the details of various korbanos***, arguing, disputing, and bringing proof from numerous commentators with such urgency, it would appear, to an outsider, that the issue must be decided today. They may invest significant time in discussions about, for example, argaman, one of the threads in a kohen’s garment. As a result, they keep honing the ability to hold binary ideas on parallel planes in their minds. While one part of their brain knows that what they’re studying is entirely irrelevant, the other part gets as worked up about it as if its conclusion were vital immediately.  For hasidim (and others on the right of the OJ spectrum), there are increasingly more issues which conflict with modern relevancy. Not only do they have to struggle with laws about korbanos, but they must also weigh the laws against homosexuality, for example, which the Torah implies is a choice one makes, against modern science’s conviction that it is biological. They must also weigh Judaism’s premise that each Jew is obligated to “repair the world” against the accepted contemporary view that “you owe nothing to anyone but yourself.” Faced with all these conflicting notions, the sanest coping mechanism is doublethink.

When one, therefore, wants to draw a conclusion about a hasid’s mindset, it is important to factor in the doublethink angle. The hasid’s racist comment that he flings out so insouciantly may be just that: a comment. Nothing to do with what he really believes. The chauvinistic remark is, quite likely, a remark tossed out, out of habit, not based on an intrinsic belief. A particular rabbi’s public announcement that we must show no mercy on any Arabs will almost certainly produce not one hasidic murderer. Unlike the popular belief that ideology leads to action, in the case of hasidim, ideology and speech are often entirely antithetical to their actions.

*I am defining Torah not merely as the Pentateuch but as the entire body of Jewish sacred writings, including the oral tradition

**Examples include the original admonition in Exodus: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-11) and the Talmudic dictum: "Whoever is careful with the observance of Shabbat, will be forgiven for all his sins, even idolatry" (Masechet Shabbat 118b).

***Ritual sacrifices up to the time the second Jewish Temple was destroyed