Better Know The Hedyot

DH (the blogger, not the hypothesis) has another interview with a kofer up on his site, and again we have a totally normal guy, from a totally normal background, who goes OTD for all the right reasons. But you don't need to read the whole long boring megilah, I have the highlites right here:

DH: Describe for me your background.

DH: Well I grew up totally normal MO, until suddenly my parents went crazy Chareidi on me.

DH: In what way were they crazy chareidi?

DH: Well my mom wouldn't even me let me see her without her tichel on.

DH: Hmm. The crazy part I see. So what made you go off the derech?

DH: Err, what part of 'I grew up totally normal MO, until suddenly my parents went crazy Chareidi on me' did you not understand?

DH: But did something trigger it?

DH: Yes. I met a frum MO guy and I realized MO people could be frum too!

DH: I see. And what was the first halachah you broke?

DH: Hmm. Eating Rabbanut Hechsherim?

DH: So eating Rabbanut made you go OTD?!

DH: No, silly! It was the halachos of taharas hamishpachah. They were just too difficult.

DH: Err, aren't you single?

DH: What? You mean Taharas Hamishpachah doesn't apply to singles? Mom!!!!

Tune in next week, when DH interviews someone who went from living in Teaneck and attending Ramaz to moving to Kiryas Joel and learning Chassidus all day, because his parents told him that was the one true derech, and then one day he bumped into an old friend from Teaneck who told him that RWMO was actually the one true derech, and the cognitive dissonance was so great that he instantly converted to Roman Catholocism, became a lesbian, and worst of all, now eats OU-D.

Global Pandemics make the Shoah look like child's play

Good grief. I was cruising the web for disaster porn and I found the following facts about global pandemics:

1300s Black Death - Killed 30 million + 

1800s Cholera - Killed 50 million +

1918 Spanish Flu - Killed 20-100 million

1957 Asian Flu -Killed 2 million

1968 Hong Kong Flu - Killed 1 million

And these deaths are not pleasant.

So why does God do this? Millions of people killed for what reason? Loshon Horoh? I think that people who can't believe in God because of the problem of evil are actually more moral than believers. These kind of atheists are so bothered by the problem of evil that they just can't ascribe this behavior to a God who is supposed to be all good and all powerful.

I personally like to believe in a personal God, espcially One who looks out for me personally. But the problem of evil is very difficult to deal with. Most people don't really think about it to any degree of seriousness, and therefore are happy with the usual trite answers.

I'm not sure what I would think were millions of people to die in a pandemic. Could I still maintain my belief in an Omniscient and Omnibenevolent God? Would I be satisfied with the 'You can't understand God' answer?

With respect to the Shoah, one 'answer' that always resonated with me, to the question of 'Where was God during the Holocaust', is Heshcel's famous response: 'Where was man during the Holocaust?'.  But with respect to pandemics - 'Where was God during the 1918 pandemic?' Response - 'Where was the Tamiflu during the 1918 pandemic'? doesn't work so well.

I don't have any good answers here. All I can do is daven to my personal God and ask Him personally not to test me in this way.

Modern Orthoprax: Fight or Flight?

Littlefoxling writes:

I would also ask, as skeptics, do we really want to be fighting this battle?

Yes, OJ is this bizarre system which seeks to spread its beliefs, not by arguments or convincing people, but by brainwashing, social pressure, familial pressure, guilt, etc. So, what's our response? Do we play the same game as them? And get in to fights with them about whether they should be killing us, disowning us, taking us out of their wills (true story - I know a frum person that actually did this to an OTD child), and giving us kibbudim?

Or, do we simply say, "the hell with you people!" We don't really care about your kibbudim and they were stupid to begin with. We are going to live our life and if you don't like it, it's the 21st century and there is nothing you can do about it, other than dolling out meaningless honors in the pathetic little bubble you people have created.

Strong words indeed, though hardly fighting words. So why do I advocate 'fighting' ? It used to be because I felt I wanted to belong, and I didn't want to be labeled as an apikores. But now I have an entirely different motivation. Judaism has a lot of value, a world without Judaism would be poorer. 

Judaism is too precious to be destroyed. And it's too precious to be left to the fundamentalists. 

We must reclaim Judaism from the liars and fakers, and show that you can have a traditional, observant and passionate Judaism without having to distort reality, or be the historical equivalent of a Holocaust denier. I will fight for Orthopraxy to be 100% legitimate because Orthodoxy needs it, not because Orthopraxy needs it.

We shall fight them on gelillah. We shall fight them on hagbaah. We shall fight them on pesichah. We shall never surrender!

London Bes Din: Modern Orthopraxnicks Forbidden To Get Gelillah

This is crazy. A nice, frum, but Orthoprax guy in the UK has been told that on the basis of a decision by the London Bes Din he can't get any kibbudim at all in shul, not even hagbaah or gelilah. Neither can he be counted for Zimun or a Minyan, nor can he be a witness in court etc. The Bes Din paskened that he cannot be counted as a tinok shenishba or mumar lete'avon.

This is completely nuts. Half the people in my shul don't believe in TMS (and I'm sure it's the same in most MO shuls). When a conservative Rabbi (who holds of the DH) visits they give him Maftir Haftorah.

You might argue that there's a 'don't ask don't tell policy', and this UK guy was an idiot for asking his Rabbi / London Bes Din for a pask in his case (he certainly takes his Orthopraxy very, very seriously), but I would have to disagree, since my Rabbi is well aware of people who don't hold of TMS and they still get aliyot, and I'm sure my shul is not unique.

Not only that, but I asked one of the main dayonim in an American Bes Din what the halachah was and he told me that as long as you don't categorically deny that God wrote the Torah (and allmost all skeptics will concede it's at least a possibility, no matter how remote) there's no halachic issue.

Are the London Bes Din frummer than their American counterparts? What's going on here?

This post on the DH is not an invitation to discuss the DH

Guest post by Hirhurim

In the post I'm going to tell you all about the DH. I'll explain what it is, and why it's so dangerous, and why you need to take it very seriously. Then I'm going to give some lame answers to it, and allow a 200 comment thread where the skeptics slaughter the believers. But I'm very frum, so it's ok.

Disaster Porn

There are a bunch of things that could happen which would be really, really bad. They range from 'definitely will happen, we're just not sure when', to 'might happen, but probably not'. Here's my take, in order of priority (more likely first):

1. Global Pandemic

Asian Bird Flu, Swine Flu, MonkeyPox - looks like those darn animals might be the death of us yet. Experts say this will definitely happen, and sometime soon too. In fact, it might already be happening. Yikes!

2. Global Economic Meltdown

I always thought this one would happen as a result of a pandemic, but from recent events it looks like it could happen all by itself. We may have dodged the bullet this time, then again, maybe not.

3. Global Nuclear Holocaust

Used to be we were worried about Russia. Then it was rogue Russian states. Now it's Iran and North Korea. In the future it will be Pakistan and India. Either way, when it all goes 'kaboom' nobody is going to be too happy.

4. Deep Impact ELE

These happen every so often, and certainly have happened in the past. Something big hit Sibera in 1908. Nothing much happened since it was Siberia, but if an asteroid hits NYC, it won't be good. And it doesn't seem likely that Bruce Willis will be around to save us.

5. Alien Invasion

It could happen. Let's hope it's Kalatu and not something worse. Much, much worse.

6. Religious Apocalypse

Jesus, the 12th Immam or someone like that returns to earth and all the non believers get their just desserts, while the faithful ascend to Heaven in rapture. Alternatively Moshiach comes, which will be far nicer for everyone. (Mi Keamcha Yisrael!)

Even if you are a believer, and take the story of Noach and the Rainbow seriously, that's not much consolation. Really, really bad stuff can still happen, and probably will.

Oh well, just be grateful for what you've got. While you've still got it.

Can a brainwashed fundie be a secheldick person?

One of the interesting points that emerged from the previous post is whether a person who only realizes that his religion isn't the one true religion at age 35 (i.e. me) can truly be called secheldick. I mean, if it's so extremely damn obvious (as I claim) that OJ (and all fundie religions) aren't even remotely true, how come it took me 35 years to figure that out? Am I stupid? How can I possibly claim to be secheldick?

So I try to project my thoughts back to how I felt about religion (and what on earth was I even thinking) pre age 35, but I find that difficult, for 2 reasons:

1. My thoughts and fundamentals are so completely different now, that it's difficult to even comprehend myself back then.

2. I have a terrible memory, and can barely remember what happened last week, never mind 5 years ago.

But, as far as I can tell, back then, the thought of my religion possibly being false just didn't cross my mind. It just wasn't on the agenda of things I thought about. I didn't have doubts, or even many thoughts on the topic. I took it for granted that it was true, since that was the world I had lived in my whole life. I used to have arguments about whether Chareidi or MO was the one true derech, but it never even occurred to me that the whole shebang might be a load of bollocks.

Strange, but true.

Many of the kofrim stories start the same way - 'I realized something wasn't right when my Rebbe insisted that the world was 6,000 years old', or 'I started to have doubts when he told me that Moshe was 20 amos tall, or Bilaam's ass could speak'.

But that never happened to me. I grew up MO, and it was obvious to all of us from a young age that Science was true, Breishis was allegorical, and only crazy frummies held otherwise. I don't recall any Rebbe ever telling me any crazy midrash ever. Possibly, they did and I wasn't paying attention, but I just don't remember it. Science was bichlal not a kashyeh. Heck, my father (z"l) was even a great scientist! We were secheldick MO people, not like the silly frummies.

And what about Biblical Criticism, or all the problems in Nach? How come that never bothered me? I guess the answer is that:

1. I was a Science nerd. I never came into contact with ANE history, Biblical Criticism, or anything of that nature.

2. We mostly learned Baba Kamah. My knowledge of Tenach is abysmal.

3. I never paid much attention in Chumash / Nach lessons anyway.

So, if it's possible for a secheldick person to be completely brainwashed, is it fair of me to mock Hirhurim (for example) ? 

Of course! I was a believer simply because I had never ever seriously thought about it in any depth. As soon as I did that, the obvious truth became obvious. But fundies who debate these topics all day long, and refuse to give in, well they're obviously not secheldick. Or maybe they're just so brainwashed that even being secheldick doesn't help. 

Tzarich Iyun Godol.

Better Know a Secheldick Person

A commenter suggested that I should run some interviews in competition to DH, and focus on normal people who made changes to their lives via a secheldick process, rather than people who grew up crazy frum and rejected it for emotional reasons, and now live in lesbian communes. I think that's a great idea, though I don't really have the time or patience to interview anyone. However feel free to submit your answers here.

Rules
You must come from a NORMAL background. i.e. No crazy BT parents. Not chassidish. Not Lubavitch. Not converts from Christianity. Not extreme chareidi. You had a normal education which included secular studies. You went to movies and read books. You knew members of the opposite sex. You have a college degree. You did not become an atheist at age 6 when your Rebbe tore out the dinosaur pictures from your favorite coloring book. You were not abused emotionally, physically or in any other way.

Questions
1. When did you first start to have religious doubts?
2. What caused your doubts?
3. What intellectual inquiry did you pursue?
4. Where have you ended up intellectually?

Better Know a Kofer!

Daas Hedyot has another great interview with a perfectly normal person, from a perfectly normal background, who went off the derech for perfectly normal reasons. But you don't need to read the whole interview, as I will summarize it here.

DH: Describe to me your background.

N: I gew up in Crown Heights in an extremely strict Baal Teshuvah Lubavitcher family.

DH: So what made you go off the derech?

N: Which part of ' I gew up in Crown Heights in an extremely strict Baal Teshuvah Lubavitcher family' did you not understand?

Tune in next week when we interview someone who was raised as Toldos Aharon in Meah Shearim, but eventually left Judaism because they found it 'restrictive'.

Rosh Yeshivah admits the DH is true?????

I need someone to connect the dots here.

Jesse Lempel (a YU student) ghost writes an article for a Rabbi 'Arthur Balanson' in the latest edition of Kol Hamevaser, the YU student newspaper.

In the article, Jesse/Arthur writes (rather eloquently) of his struggle with believing in TMS after learning about the DH, and how he found that all the usual answers (Kuzari etc) were bogus. It's well worth reading the entire article. Please do.

Hirhurim posted about Kol Hamevaser and someone commented there that Arthur Balanson is actually Asher Balanson, who is a Rosh Yeshivah / Maggid Shiur at Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim. You can see a brief bio here.

So after describing all his angst, and his rejection of all the bogus answers, Jesse / Arthur / Asher writes:

So I moved on to the other, more radical approach in understanding Reish Lakish’s principle [“the testimony of witnesses signed on a shetar is considered as already processed in court.” - “Edim he-hatumim al ha-shetar, na’asu ke-mi shenehkerah edutan be-beit din.” Gittin 3a], most notably associated with R. Hayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk. He claimed that the shetar actually testifies as to its own veracity, overcoming the apparent problem of circular logic by some halakhic magic. In other words, if someone claims that the shetar is a fake, he is automatically contradicted by two witnesses (a halakhic knock-out) – the shetar itself! This was a familiar argument as well. Over the course of my career, I must have told three dozen skeptics that if only they would learn the Torah for themselves their doubts would vanish. The Torah is its own authenticator. Anyone who studies it – genuinely plumbs its depths – will be convinced beyond question that these are the words of the Living God. I knew the argument by heart; I knew how to say it with just the right amount of confidence, of excitement; I even knew how to bring my voice up to a crescendo at the word “depths,” and how to execute that perfect, breath-taking cadence at “Living God” with just the right flash in my eyes and my brow wrinkled just a bit. That argument, and the Torah itself, had become a stale donut; sucking on it for a while was not going to make it fresh again. So I sat flipping through my notes, thinking: “That’s it?
That’s all I got?”

He continues:

When I look at the Bible, I see only letters – no holiness, no truth. You cannot just tell me that I am not looking hard enough. This is the hardest I have looked in my entire life – harder than when I heard those shiurim on Gittin – and still I fail. Is the Torah one of those stupid optical picture puzzles that people stare at in magazines – you either see it or you do not? What kind of religion – what kind of God – would do that to me? Disappointed with my Torah-as-shetar idea, and feeling incredibly foolish (what was I thinking?), I despaired. I did not know what to do. Could I continue to live a lie, to go on being an unbelieving rabbi? Was I willing to abandon my way of life, my God, my people – to abandon my father, my teacher, peace be upon him?

Interesting. So does he turn into a kofer? No, he ends up giving a rather convoluted answer. I bolded the key phrases:

I thought about what it would be like to make a drastic change – to jump ship and quit – and it was unthinkable. That much I knew for certain – to betray my faith was completely out of the question. And that was an idea, an epiphany, a lifesaver. Perhaps this is the real explanation of Reish Lakish’s cryptic statement, which holds that we ignore the rabble-rouser who screams “Forgery!” because the testimony of the shetar is considered “processed in court.” This is not a collection of assumptions or a self-verifying mechanism. In fact, it is not a method of verification at all. Instead, it is simply a way of coping with the challenge. So how do we deal with this assault? Reish Lakish is saying that a shetar is part-and-parcel of the judicial system and therefore is not subject to the challenges of any individual. The shetar is an accepted institution and tool of the court, and as such is already “processed in court.” To attack the shetar is tantamount to attacking the entire court system, and nobody has the power to do that without indisputable proof! Essentially, instead of verifying the authenticity of the shetar – a nearly impossible task – we undermine the standing of the challenger to claim that it is a fake. We do not have to defend the entire judicial system against every whining Joe Shmoe, and neither must we defend the shetar. The Torah, too, has been “processed in court.” It stood as the centerpiece of the Jewish people for millennia, and is part of the Jewish identity. Indeed, everything that makes us a people is in the Torah, and we are certainly a special people. I am a Jew; I could no more reject the Torah than deny my own Jewishness, and I know that I cannot do either. Jews throughout history have integrated the Torah into every sphere of their lives, and, as a result, to be Jewish has no meaning if it does not include the Torah. And I am a Jew. This, I feel, is the most comforting and satisfying argument, and it is what inspired me to renew my faith with even greater confidence than before. In Parashat Terumah, we read: “And thou shalt put into the Ark the Testimony which I shall give thee.”vii Rashi explains that the Testimony refers to “the Torah, which serves as testimony between Me and you that I have commanded upon you the mitsvot that are written in it.” The Torah is a testimonial document, a shetar, and is not vulnerable to my claims. I do not have the standing.

So what's he saying? I guess he was purposefully vague, and can be interpreted in many different ways. But the way I read it is that he's admitting the DH is (might be?) correct, but it doesn't matter, because the Jews have accepted the Torah as our way of life. This is remarkably similar to the way Kugel talks about the Torah, which is very nicely summed up in this recent blog post.

Anyone have any otheropinions on this? Is Arthur Balanson really Asher Balanson?

Torah U'Madness: Explaining wacky midrashim with cutting edge (pseudo) science!

You may remember Stern Professor Dr Babich's article on the Mabul, and my commentary on that. Well, Dr Babich has a new article explaining the scientific basis for the plagues, or at least the first three plagues. Now, scientific explanations for the plagues are actually quite widespread and fairly credible, but Dr Babich, goes one step further - he provides scientific explanations for midrashim too! This is the best bit:

The plague of frogs commences with the following, “Aharon stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frog צפרדע infestation ascended and covered the land of Egypt (Shemos 8:2). In this verse the word “frog” is in the singular and Rashi cites a Midrash contending that one frog initially emerged from the Nile River. When the Egyptians struck the frog, it fragmented into many frogs. On the surface, this appears to describe cloning, through which differentiated adult cells become embryonic or totipotent to develop into copies of the original organism. Interestingly, prior to cloning the lamb Dolly, the initial successful cloning experiments, developed in the 1950s by Robert Briggs and Thomas King, were with frogs (Rana pipens)14. With this in mind, and probably pushing a scientific explanation to its extreme, striking the initial frog may have caused shedding of its differentiated epidermal somatic cells, which became totipotent or zygotelike cells, undergoing mitotic divisions to generate multicellular frogs.

Moiradick! Tune in next week when the estwhile professor explains Moshe's gigantic 20 amos height being caused by an excess of growth hormone leading to pituitary gigantism as Moshe's epiphyseal plates had not closed. Dr Babich also explains how Pharaoh suffered from severe dwarfism, leading him to have a height of only 1 amoh, though with an extremely elongated

Who is worse, Bernie Madoff or Avi Shafran?

So Avi Shafran has apologized for his (latest) retarded essay where he compared Bernie Madoff to Captain 'Sully' and came to the conclusion that Madoff was the better man, since (a) Madoff apologized (and Sully didn't?), and Sully had a book deal and anyway was just doing his job (whereas Bernie doesn't have a book deal yet and went beyond the requirements of his job?!). Like I said, retarded.

However, now that Shafran has apologized, we have to see if he is any better than Madoff. After all, they have both done Teshuvah, which is apparently the sole criteria by which we judge people and their wrong doings.

So, I think Shafran is actually worse. Why? Well, since he's the spokesperson of Agudah and wants to keep his job, he had to apologize. But Bernie is going to jail forever, and it would have made no difference whether he apologized or not. Therefore Bernie's teshuvah is clearly more emesdick, hence Bernie is the bigger tzadik.

Tune in next week when we compare Stalin to Mother Theresa using the criteria of who was the bigger kofer.

Rabbi Avi Shafran finally loses it

Rabbi Avi Shafran's articles have always annoyed me for their extreme stupidity lack of intellectual rigor. But this article, comparing Bernie Madoff to Captain Sully and saying that Madoff isn't so bad, takes the cake! I appreciate that Shafran is trying to make some kind of mussar point, but in the process he just ends up looking extremely stupid. Is it time for the Agudah to get a new spokesman? No! Let them keep Shafran. He's too good (bad).

The funniest thing though is that the Vos Iz Neias commenters don't give Shafran much love either. I liked this comment:

Whose Olam Haba woud you rather have?
A) Capt. Sully
B) Bernie Madoff
C) Avi Shafran

LOL. Though personaly I would like any Olam Habah at all. I'm not fussy.

Better know a Kofer: Gayus

Continuing his series of interviewing secheldick, normal kofrim, DH interviews an ex Yeshivah Bochur. No. he doesn't live in a Polyamorous relationship. At least as far as we know. But you don't need to read the full interview, you can read the summary here.

DH: So Gayus, what was your background like?
Gayus: Well I wasn't allowed any exposure to secular culture or education. But other than that, it was completely normal.
DH: And why did you go OTD?
Gayus: It was a long process of deep intellectual analysis and inquiry.
DH: Wow! Can you describe this process to us?
Gayus: Sure! I heard about evolution when I was a little kid and I immediately became an Atheist.
DH: Hmmm. Did you ever ask anyone whether it was possible to believe in God or OJ yet still hold of evolution?
Gayus: Errmmm, no.
DH: I see. So do you still follow any Jewish practices?
Gayus: None whatsoever. After I became an Atheist Judaism became entirely meaningless to me, and there is simply no reason to see any value in Judaism whatsoever. But I do like learning about cultures, even Jewish cultures.
DH: (!) Are there any behaviors or perspectives from your initial mindless super Chareidi non self aware life that are still dominant in your life now?
Gayus: I'm sure if I was more self aware I could come up with something, but offhand, I can't think of anything.
DH: I see. So how do you view the religious community?
Gayus: They demand extreme conformity, and you are not allowed to engage in independant, critical thought!
DH: So can you give examples of some independant, critical thoughts you have had since you left?
Gayus: I'm sure if I was more of an independant, critical thinker I could come up with something, but offhand, I can't think of anything.
DH: Now there's a surprise. So what's the best thing about being a completely atheist secular Jew with no connection whatsoever to your roots or culture?
Gayus: Being able to read anything I like! Beforehand I wasn't allowed to read at all.
DH: So can you give us an example of something you have read recently?
Gayus: I'm sure if I was more of a reader I could come up with something, but offhand, I can't think of anything.
DH: Figured you woulld say that. So is there anything you miss about Judaism?
Gayus: Cheescake!
DH: But you can still eat Cheescake now, surely?
Gayus: Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Am I allowed?
DH: Yes, I think so.
Gayus: Great! Well then I guess there's nothing I miss about Judaism then.
DH: So is there anything you would like to tell the frum world?
Gayus: No, because they never listened to me.
DH: Gosh, I wonder why.

Tune in next week, when we interview someone who went OTD after having had his pacifier taken away from him at his opsheren!

Maharat Shmaharat: Can Orthodoxy have Women Rabbis or Not?

A few commenters have asked me to post my true views on the subject of the Maharat, rather than jut mocking the RW MOs. So here it is.

Personally, I am comfortable with the traditional model of male Rabbis. A female Rabbi would make me uncomfortable I think. But that's just my personal preference. If a woman wants to be a Rabbi, then why not? Just preferably not in my shul.

But the broader question is what will be the status of women in MO, and whether the fact that our religion in the public forum is currently male dominated is an essential value of Orthodoxy, and one which we OPers should wish to uphold, or whether it's just a culturally induced phenomenon whose time has long passed.

Clearly Judaism through the ages has given more prominence to men. We daven to the Avot, not the Imahot (that doesn't look right), though my nice Conservadox siddur does give an alternate beginnning to the Amidah which does mention the Imahot. Almost all the great Jewish leaders were men (yes Devorah, Esther, Yael blah blah). All public expressions of religion were given to women, with the exception of - nothing? Kvudah Bas Melech Pnimah. Tznius. Kavod Hatzibur. Shelo Asani Ishah.

But are all these core values of Judaism, or after the fact religious rationalizations of a male dominated society? Hard to say.

So on this one, I'm keeping an open mind. Let Rabbi Avi Weiss and the LWMO continue to push the boundaries and we'll see where it goes. I don't know why the RWMO have to get all hysterical over it. Their objections are probably coming from the same silly place as that Chareidi Rabbi who condemned female yoetzot for not being traditional, like shtenders are.

So here's my advice to the RWMO fundies like Hirhurim and his friends. Stop worrying so much about the religious expressions of other people. Just sit back, relax, and see what happens. Some level of change is inevitable.

YU calls YCT Conservative

Hirhurim writes:

RHS has repeatedly called YCT Conservative. This used to bother me because there are some very fine people there whose religiosity is unquestionable. However, this past week I started thinking about it and realized that, certainly in the 80s but also today, there were and are very fine people in the Conservative movement whose religiosity is also unquestionable. It's more a matter of ideology and I'm beginning to think that RHS is right. Since YCT is, to my knowledge, not technically involved with Rabbi Weiss' latest action, I'm not sure if it's fair to associate the school with it. But to think they are not connected is probably also naive. So while I'm not yet ready to say that YCT is Conservative, I'm beginning to understand it. (The fact that they self-identify as Orthodox is meaningless.)

Gil is probably correct, from a RW MO standpoint the LW MO are basically Conservative. Goyim even. I mean, Women spiritual leaders? Whatever next? Women learning Talmud? Women giving shiurim? Women davening to Hashem? Women doing religious rituals? What's wrong with these feminazis anyway? Why can't they be happy in the kitchen, or being shietel-machers, or perhaps editing kallah magazines? Now they want to do religious stuff too? Clearly these women are not being motivated by true spirituality, because if they were truly frum, they would obviously listen to the Gedolim on this topic. The fact that they're not listening to the Gedolim and Rabbonim is all the proof you need that what really motivates these women is that they want to hang out with girls eat cheeseburgers take people off the derech change Orthodoxy into Reform be porek ol and megaleh ponim shelo kehalachah.

CSI: Shidduchim

The Rabbi's character is so absolutely pitch perfect, I can only assume he's not actually acting.