It is exceedingly hard not to be lonely, where nearly every mussar shmooze denouces the evil influence of "non-Torah" ideas, culture, music, literature, etc. While often referred to as "kineged HaTorah", it seems a hard sell to claim anything not written by a godol is opposite of Torah values.
In fact, why are these the only options: 1) Torah values, 2) Opposite of Torah values ???
Why can't there just be 'things.' You know, things: a novel about nothing important, a song whose lyrics you can barely hear (let alone understand), or a celebrity who facinates you more so because their story has no moral value.
Torah U'Pop Culture.
Ok, fine - I admit it: Twisted within a lot of meaningless stuff are messages - when taken seriously, as serious as The Gospel - that contain actions forbidden by Halacha. But who takes this stuff seriously? I am not a 14-year-old girl. I don't.
I won't even claim that I use pop culture as a means to find metaphors for Torah values, blah, blah, blah....I enjoy these things because they interest me. And things that interest me make me happy. And if they contain actions forbidden by Halacha, there is no inclination to trust the p'sak of Thom Yorke (or D.H. Lawrence, or Atom Egoyan) over the Chofetz Chaim and Rav Moshe. The former can't even make a laynus on a daf.
Who wants drown in pure truth, when there is so much more in the world?
God, grant me the serenity to appreciate things;
Courage to react when wrong p'sak is being presented;
And the wisdom to know the difference.
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One time, when the Baal Shem Tov was walking along with his disciples, they came accross a drunken gentile who was standing in the street singing. The Baal Shem Tov stopped and listened intently to the man's song until he had finished. Afterward, his disciples asked him what he found so interesting in the singing of a drunken peasant. "When a person sings, replied the Rebbe, he confessess about his whole life. And when someone confessess, you're obliged to listen."
ReplyDeleteTo quote the most intelligent primate ever to lead our once great country: "Either you're with us, or you're against us." I think he was talking about Torah values. There just ain't no middle ground, at least not in Texas.
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