Baalei Teshuvah are great candidates for Torah Im Derech Eretz. Most grew up in Western countries and Torah Im Derech Eretz. is designed for that. Here's a blog entry from a new BT that recently learned about Torah Im Derech Eretz.
"Sometimes I wonder….How will I ever find a community that fits my hashkafa?
I want a place that emphasizes Torah and its values- ahavas yisroel, treating others with respect, judging favorably, achdus, being a light to the nations.
I consider myself modern yeshivish but recently I started reading about Torah im derech eretz (I just learned about the difference between that and Torah uMadda) and I probably align with that a little more.
I think it’s important to be involved with the world and spread Jewish values to the world; not isolate myself in a frum community and shut out the rest." continue
This is certainly true. As someone of broader background, I can say that not only does the Torah Im Derech Eretz hashkafah make sense and seem natural and logical to me from a secular standpoint, but also from my understanding of Torah and the hashkafah of the Chachamim of the Gemara. It is not only the learning side of the hashkafah that is appealing. The style of living, the sense of kavod and decorum, acting and presenting oneself in a respectable way--or the behavioral/middos-based definition of derech eretz--is also impressive and wonderful. Unfortunately, I only began to study and take Torah Im Derech Eretz seriously after becoming part of another community, one that doesn't take it too seriously and completely misunderstands it and makes a mockery of it. Only after seeing this other community, with its isolationist stance, with the eyes of the seasoned member and not of the excited newcomer, have I come to value Torah Im Derech Eretz as I should have long ago.
ReplyDeleteWonderful comments. Thank you.
DeletePeople do make a sort of mockery of it even as they respect R' Hirsch. They look at the Germans as if they are cute and quaint. One wouldn't know without experiencing it first hand that's its hard core. As R' Schwab said, TIDE is not a chulah it's a chumrah.
You are not alone. It took me 25 years to get here. I'm also filled without regret which I try to use as fuel to catch up on lost time.
Do you live in the Heights or do you sort of practice this on your own? Do you keep the German minhagim? Do you want to join our mailing list? The link to join is on the top of the web site.
I suppose that I practice it on my own. I sort of always have, as my background makes it natural for me. I've continued with my higher education, secular pursuits, and unique approach to selective engagement with the broader culture even after being immersed in my current community. I knew, in sort of a general way, that R' Hirsch had a Torah-based understanding of this as being the ideal, but thought that I could simply do it on my own within a community that didn't do it itself. After being a bit disillusioned and frustrated with years of dealing with some people's reaction to my approach, I turned to R' Hirsch about a year or so ago to study him more in depth on my own.
DeleteI was raised very American, unreligious, and simply adopted most of the minhagim of the community that I live in by default. My interest in my family background, however, has sparked an interest in the minhagim of the places from which they come, specifically Alsace, Bavaria, and modern-day Poland/former German Prussia. All of these areas practice some version of German minhagim, though not Frankfurt style, and some areas are minhag Poilin as opposed to minhag Ashkenaz, which is slightly different.
I will join the mailing list, certainly. Glad to have stumbled upon this blog. I currently live in Boro Park, and have no real connection to the Washington Heights community whatsoever.