BloginDm always has a calm, rational smart approach to things. Whereas my response is often logical argument mixed with the ripe stench of injustice and the anger it evokes in me that comes through in my posts. Please go over the BloginDm and read his excellent post, (scroll halfway down for to get to the wig post, but the first half is also good to read) He has new (clearer) pictures of the store, including wig stores with the SAME (even bigger) displays in Boro Park. He also shows us the exact setup of where the store is and where chaim berlin is.
After you have read his post, please come back and read this post.
The problem is that when I read these things and hear about them they just get me so riled up. We’re living in some seriously weird times. Our Gedolim and Rebbe’s are sadly passing away, and they are not being replaced quick enough. I know that can be taken as a knock on todays “crop” of Torah leaders, but its not. I’m just saying there were more, and they were on a higher level.
Without going outside my own neighborhood, the best example I can give you is what we are going through in Lubavitch. Only a true Sonah Lubavitch would disagree that The Rebbe’s impact on not just Lubavitch but world Jewry was earth shattering. The hundreds of thousands of Jewish souls that were affected by The Rebbe’s leadership, love, warmth and spiritual inspiration can’t be denied.
As strong as Lubavitch is today, and as hard as we try to carry on, we miss all of those things The Rebbe provided. The same thing goes for many other religious groups who lost their leaders over the last 25 + years. I think we are all suffering from the loss of too many leaders.
I think what is happening in replace of that is this new sort of spiritual consumer activism. The talmidim and followers of todays generation are trying to over compensate for a lack of true vision and inspiration and direction - by effectively directing themselves. Who can be the most machmir, who can be the most strict, who can find the most problems. Who can be the smartest, the holiest - it’s becoming a free for all.
(Just to go on a tangent for a second here. I think in many ways , the Meshichist/Yechi people are partly a result of what I’m saying here. Without the inspiration and direction of The Rebbe they over compensate by going taking the concept of Moshaich, something that was near and dear to the Rebbe, and have used the Moshaich issue wrongly, while trying to overcompensate with their actions. They have taken Moshaich, something the rebbe was very passionate about, and used it to replace what they are missing without his inspiration and leadership. Ok, enough babbling, back to our main story)
The biggest proof of my theory is that in this newest story, it wasn’t Rav Shachter himself who decided the wig store’s pictures were a problem. It was “brought to his attention.” This is like that kid in the class who wants all the attention. “Rebbe, Rebbe, look at me, I’m following along in the gemara!”, “Rebbe, Rebbe, look at me, I’m ten minutes early for seder, I’m never late!”, “Rebbe, Rebbe, look at me, I skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner to stay in the Beis Medrash and go over your last shiur!”
Only, sadly, we’re in a situation where in many ways there is no Rebbe in the story. So the student keeps calling out louder, with more chumrahs, hoping to get someone, anyone’s attention. Hoping whoever the new rebbe is will hear his yells and give him the attention he craves.
People are being overly frum. I know some of you may be thinking - whats wrong with being “overly” frum? Let me explain, the term over frum does not really fit. It’s not that you’re being frum to the fullest extent. It’s not like I’m only doing 300 mitzvahs, and you went and did the full 613. It’s something different. Being overly frum is like going outside of the rules you have set up for yourself.
It’s like driving to a Starbucks in Seattle when you live in New York. You can get the same exact coffee right here, but you want people to think your the biggest coffee aficionado there is, so you drive a ridiculous distance to the original location of Starbucks to get your coffee. It’s not that your more devoted, you are both drinking the same cup of coffee, so why did you waste your energy going to Seattle?
It doesn’t make sense to get upset that students or members of your school/shul will be affected negatively by seeing a picture of a woman in a shaitel - that to you already allow your own wives to wear. If we all wore veils and didn’t let our wives wear anything but burkahs and someone opened a wig store in the middle of this fictional town, then I could see the problem. But these same people see frum (chaim berlin’ish even!) women wearing DAVKA these types of shaitels. What would the point of a boycott be if they didn’t actually shop at that store to begin with. These men also see these same women wearing these same sheitals all the time.
They see them when they go to family events and their mother in laws and sister in laws are there. They see them at weddings. They see them on Shabbos when their friends wives come over for lunch or when they drop their kids off to play at your house with your kids. They seem them walking down that same block when they go to get coffee by the kosher bagel store there, or go across the street to get lunch at one of the two kosher restaurants there.
What I’m trying to say is that THIS shaitel and look is not just accepted by but widely used by the actual people in the community complaining. It’s outside the “frum” cap they have placed on themselves. To explain further, the wives of Chaim Berliner community members do not shave their heads (as far as I know), but many women do in Boro Park and Williamsburg. There is a significant majority of women who WOULD NOT wear those shaitels from that store if they were from Williamsburg.
For them, those wigs themselves are not allowed. So if someone had that store across the street from the Satmar Beis Medresh at least it would MAKE SENSE that they were offended. It’s within the “frum” cap they set for themselves. As BloginDm points out there are wig stores in Boro Park with even larger displays, and if the chassidim aren’t boycotting these stores (as if they’re wives would let them!) then what is going on at Coney Island Avenue?
Anyway, I think at this point it’s a non story. I just wanted to say what I had to say, I think us bloggers care more then anyone else. I’m sure it will fade away, just like all the other bans, and over chumrahs and scandal bans of the month. The truly sad part in all of this is that with each one of these bans people are less and less affected and its wearing down the respect people have. The more it becomes a joke, the less people will react when we’re told to be more machmir for something that really would hurt us spiritually.
