TYH and Rupture and Reconstruction

More on Thank You Hashem, Some Correspndence

A letter from a very thoughtful individual I was once privileged to teach. My comments are in purple (personal details omitted):

Hi Rebbe,

Thank you for covering the TYH movement on Rischa- I thought it was great but did not mention two significant points:

1. How we (the “mainstream”) really set the stage for TYH. For example, if we extolled groups singing Acheinu in airports after October 7 as if it were a real expression of achdus, can we blame people for singing “I want to be like Zusha” and believing that singing is a per se expression of avodah?  The worship of singers, chasing segulos, etc were all there before TYH.

Of course this relates to the points made on the first podcast that the “status quo” makes many feel very empty.  However it goes beyond that - TYH has a more crass way to express priorities that have already become common in the mainstream.

I am not sure I agree with you completely on this point. I think that some moods that are enhanced by music are moods that we ant to cultivate and that music that is appropriate for such moods should not be discouraged. Reb Yisroel Salanter encouraged the use of music in the avodah of mussar. And I think anyone who has hears the Alter Rebbe's niggun at a chasunah knows how hauntingly uplifting it can be. OTOH, we know one can go from a Carlebach kumsitz right back down to one's previous spiritual level. So, I am conflicted on this point. I think Acheinu did provoke feelings of empathy and yearning that were positive, at least before it became ritualistic. And those feelings would be a legitimate avodah. The TYH music is a different phenomenon, as much of it is inane and more of the frenzied genre than the more profound emotional kind.

2. TYH in relation to other “populist” movements in Avodas Hashem.  Every movement has some element of chiddush and some continuity.  I have not done formal studies, but TYH is strong in the Five Towns, and my read as an observer is that the “continuity” in TYH always includes the highest standard of the gashmiyus in the frum community.  You will always find a great kiddush at a TYH minyan, and will not often find a TYH bumper sticker on a jalopy.  There are certainly positive aspects of TYH and one can give intellectual or spiritual theories, but these all seem secondary to justifying the strongest gashmiyus elements in the community.  Contrast with Rabbi Schiller’s “Stefansky-ism” which has its own issues but which roots its “continuity” in baal habatim learning in a more accessible, and accepted, manner.

Yes, I don't think we picked up on this point enough. Today's Kivrei Tzaddikim junkets are a far cry from the Breslover mesirus nefesh to get to Uman in Communist times. These are luxury tours and trips. What you point out is very true. This is reminiscent if Dr. Chaim Soloveitchik's point in "Rupture and Reconstruction" - only then it was about Halachic stringency and affluence. That clearly worked for some people some of the time and is clearly still effective to lesser or greater extents throughout Orthodoxy. But while it may work in Lakewood it doesn't work in the Five Towns. So we need a faux-spirituality to compensate for the affluence factor. This a great point that should be elaborated.

This topic obviously struck a chord for many people and can be approached from many angles.

On the other hand, although I am obviously inclined to the “JLT” movement, I wonder why such focus on the Yom Hadin?  I don’t really think about Yom Hadin when thinking about whether to learn - there are more immediate and compelling reasons. (Maybe I would be better if I would do that more?)

Yes, the JLT video (I am not sure it is the same organization, but JLT has other problematic aspects) is misguided in that sense. That is why I focused more on real simcha in the sense in which Viktor Frankl uses it. How the BD shel Ma'alah judges you on Yom HaDin is scary, but it is also not that simplistic and it doesn't work well as a motivator already for a few generations. I think maybe in the early years of Mussar, before Mussar became intertwined with Machashavah, yiras ha'onesh was very effective. Now less so. Dr. Soloveitchik references that development indirectly, in praising the raw fear of the Ba'alei Battim in Boston over the sophistication of the bachurim in Ponovezh.