Yeshivot and seminaries pride themselves on having a "recognizable product." "You can always tell a ____________girl/boy" they say, and with some justification. And this is a good thing just why?As a note, my wife is a purple coat if you've ever seen one... but her actual coat is blue. :)
Beyond our all being human beings and followers of halacha, we are all individuals with unique combinations of thoughts and actions that make us who we are. Even siblings raised in the same home are not clones of each other. For a community or a group to try and squelch this uniqueness, to try and shove us all into the same mold, is unnatural. Where commonality is a rationally proven benefit to survival, then go for it. Where it is not, banish it, refuse to buckle down to it, expose it for the sham it is.
When it comes to shidduch making, what possible, real, definable benefit is there to Klal Yisroel in "standardizing" our children, so that one is pretty much interchangeable for another, in action and in thought? Again, I am not talking about halachic dictates but societal dictates.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Conversations Worth Having
A number of people have been pointing out this blog to me lately, and it's certainly worth a look: Conversations in Klal. It seems to focus primarily on shidduchim, at least lately, but a lot of it points to greater areas of concern within the Orthodox Jewish world. Excerpt:
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It's all well and good to talk about coats but what if you wear T-shirts?
ReplyDeleteGood post that one though.
Thank you for the kind plug--much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a purple coat?
ReplyDelete