In this ideal Eretz Yisrael, there are no secular Jews. That's because it's set in a fictitious world in which everyone accepts the divinity of Torah. But not only are there no secular Jews - there are also no dati-leumi Jews. And there don't appear to be any Sefardi Jews either. There's Ashkenazi Litvishe charedim and chassidim. Those are the only Torah Jews which exist in this ideal universe.
Actually, there is one exception. There's a professor who is a conspiracy theorist against vaccines. It's great that the book portrays this person as an unpleasant crank. But why is this lunatic the only person in the book who not only lacks a beard, but also wears a blue shirt and has a small blue kippah?!
(In case you're wondering - there ARE female characters in this universe. Not many - just one, who appears on one page. Still, that's infinitely more than you might accept, and perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies.)
But after finishing the book, I suddenly realized that there are two other type of people who are strangely absent from the entire book. Bear in mind that the bulk of the book is about governments meetings of charedi ministers and their discussions about the risks of coronavirus and what to do about it. And do you know who never appears? A medical expert!
That's right. The cabinet ministers are constantly discussing the dangers and arguing about what behavior is dangerous, and yet never once do they need an expert medical opinion! There are no physicians, no epidemiologists, no immunologists.
What is the reason for this? I wonder if this is because such a character is impossible to exist. In a world where everyone is charedi, there simply can't be any physicians. Because nobody goes to college!
Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, I think that it's because in the author's mindset, there is simply no need for such a role. Who needs experts? Everyone's an expert!
But it's the other conspicuously absent type of character that is even stranger.
There are no Gedolim.
When the cabinet first meets to figure out the sin that brought the virus, nobody thinks of asking the Gedolim. When they try to decide which is the primary spiritual hishtadlus that the medical hishtadlus needs to accompany, they don't ask the Gedolim. And when they decide to what extent the health precautions will infringe upon religious life, they don't ask the Gedolim. They just argue it out among themselves.
But this "corona court" is not The Gedolim. Because later in the book, when there's a question that vexes the cabinet - whether to delay weddings until after the pandemic - they don't ask the corona court. Instead, they decide that this is a question to be sent to Gedolei Yisrael.
It's just so strange. The book takes as its premise that the Gedolim are the source of ultimate wisdom, and yet the charedi prime minister and cabinet ministers argue out the most major decisions themselves without bothering to ask the Gedolim.
Why do the Gedolim play no part in the decision-making and guidance on these crucial issues? I can't even come up with a theory to explain the author's mindset. I'd welcome suggestions.
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Hi rabbi slifkin.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear your views on the recent court ruling about reform conversion. (I don't mean your views on the reaction to it by chareidim and other parties but rather the actual ruling)
Can you write an article on this?
Oh, this looks like an amazing book, I must get it for my kids right away! Rabbi Slifkin, thanks a million for the review!
ReplyDeleteI know. I want to get it, too. I didn't know it was a graphic novel. I love pictures!
Deletehappygoluckypersonage
Deleteperhaps you could critique his review, if you disagree with it and we may learn something
“I can't even come up with a theory to explain the author's mindset. I'd welcome suggestions.”
ReplyDeleteHere’s a suggestion: Many Gedolim are fools and the author of this witlessness is as equally adept in foolishness as they are .
The answer: the author forgot to consult with the Gedolim. After all, why have a goyish cabinet and prime minister in a Torah run country?
ReplyDeleteThe author is either a woman or a closeted apikorus.
ReplyDeleteWow. This is just profoundly shocking. It's hard to see how we don't end up with a fundamentalist government in 30-50 years in Israel not all too different than Iran.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how we do wind up with a fundamentalist government like Iran, ever.
DeleteHaving gedolim able to veto any governmental decision is precisely Iran's system of government. Remember that they have an elected President and and elected parliament (which even has a Jewish member).
DeleteIranians also eat meat. we should still continue eating meat at least on Shabbos and chagim
DeleteIran can manufacture a nuclear bomb and the whole world is afraid of it. It's not a backward country
DeleteI agree with Yakov. The Iranians have n been seeking their expertise to North Korea and b allied regimes for decades. Also the experiments of AQ with chemical weapons and IS' indigenous attack drone capability - and Israel's own story in 1948 onwards - are salutatory lessons in how silos of expertise are often barriers to practical technology rather than harbingers of it.
DeleteMy own theory as to why medicine costs as a percentage of GDP have outstripped inflation is that doctors have built siloed specialisms designed to be entirely non fungible to protect their bargaining position.
We should be learning from Iran how a fundamentalist religion can function successfully in the modern world.They have both successes and failures, and we should learn from both. At this point we are incapable of having a state based in the Torah. The Muslim law isn't all that different. Incidentally, Iranians do very well in both the international mathematical competitions and in the Olympic wrestling and weightlifting. They make alot of sense.
DeleteWait, the PM isn't presented as the gadol hador?
ReplyDelete"There are no physicians, no epidemiologists, no immunologists."
ReplyDeleteWell, at least there is proof of a parallel universe (last slide, top left).
Maybe in this parallel reality, multiverse there are no Gedolim who are as powerful or wise as here. Or, maybe, the author is writing a satire about Gedolim's invisible power where none exists. Is this irony? Also, another character who doesn't appear should be listed. If this is a world where everyone is charedi, where is the messiah?
Can you post more pictures? I enjoy reading these as much as the article. And are there any future plans to disrupt this in your museum book store?
ReplyDelete**distribute**
ReplyDeleteRotation agreements would change the ministers so often that nothing would ever get decided before it was time to start over again.
ReplyDeleteThere is another type of Jew you didn't notice or comment on: the yeshiva drop-out gofer in the first page. The author recognizes that even in this universe they are inescapable and inevitable
ReplyDeleteThe book aside, its worth highlighting a general point. Assuming we agree that Torah is from G-d and everlasting, and I hope we do, then it is a no-brainer to wish for politicians who are sensitive to halacha and Torah ideals.
ReplyDeleteActually the very best leader would be a politician who is a wise Torah scholar and gadol in his own right. And that will happen when Moshiach finally arrives!
May he arrive sooner than later and set the world straight. Amen.
Maybe it was written either by askanim or their family members, or charedi politicians or their family members.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we don't realize but they are giving you an inside look into what actually happens, behind the surface level "the Gedolim say!" image that is created to attach authority to pronouncements today but isn't actually a real thing.
They are showing that "perfect world" where they don't have to pretend anymore because they have all the power and no one questions their authority. So they don't have to attach the Gedolim to their own decisions.
The number of medical experts on the management of NOVEL Coronavirus 2019 available at the beginning of this pandemic is easy to enumerate. Zero. There were none. It was a *NOVEL* coronavirus. It behaved differently to Influenza, and the attempt to shoehorn on the Influenza plan to a completely different disease was and is very much part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThat's why we had spurious science AGAINST mouthwashes (which may be mildly effective), FOR handwashing and hygiene theatre (transmission by fomites seems to be exceedingly rare), WEIRD time and distance limits for transmission (15 minutes at 6 feet from the CDC - evidence base is NIL), as well as the widespread MEDICAL ANTI MASKER EXTREMISTS , the initial reluctance to use steroid therapies, the use of reduced hydration levels which amplified the effects of Cov-19 on blood coagulation, the sanctioning of mas sporting events, the huge rate of hospital acquired infection, etc. etc.
Doctors can and should be forgiven for not knowing about things they cannot know about. This mistake was to CLAIM a SPURIOUS expertise. The EXPERTS spent all of February 2020 DOWNPLAYING the virus. They felt compelled to make all DEFINITIVE and UNQUALFIIED announcements, many of which were lethally incorrect. The general public were clearly ONE STEP AHEAD of the EXPERTS and began their own lockdowns earlier, began using masks including high quality masks much EARLIER, and began unlocking in response to reduced prevalence at a much earlier time than clumsy officialdom. But health experts were in a panic. Mistakes were INEVITABLE, and they can be FORGIVEN. All the experts need to do is say "sorry, we were WRONG". But that's not going to happen.
These EXPERTS worry one CRACK in the EDIFICE of the Medical Expert BELIEF SYSTEM will bring the whole system down. People will stop complying with them. I say it won't. TRUST THE PEOPLE WITH THE TRUTH, tell them what you know, tell them what you don't know, and people will WANT to do the RIGHT THING. In failing to be FRANK about what they got wrong, the EXPERTS perpetuate MISTRUST.
That is the signature, textbook lesson of every previous public health crisis, such as the BSE and foot and mouth disease debacles here. And yet sorry seems the HARDEST word.
But otherwise, you like the graphic novel?
DeleteThe one Rabbi Dr Slifkin (PhD) (Mir) thinks should have NECESSARILY non existent EXPERTS in it? I regret it is UNLIKELY to grace my BOOKSHELF.
DeleteI suggest you REDIRECT your question about RANTING about the contents of GRAPHIC NOVELS to the RABBI DOCTOR.
Ephraim --
DeleteThat made me laugh out loud.
I am reminded of the great cinematic masterpiece known as Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, in which the title character sometimes CANNOT control the SOUND OF HIS VOICE!
DeleteAnyway:
Firstly, I appreciate, Mr. Hat, you including anti-maskers as those who think they know stuff but don't.
Secondly, sure, there were no experts on THIS virus in December 2019. But there were experts in other coronaviridae. There were Experts in Immunology. Experts in Epidemiology.
And Experts in the scientific method. The fact that everything the CDC said in March 2020 was not one thousand percent correct, does not imply that they are wrong about everything. Their advice adapted and changed as new data came in, and people became more expert-y in the novel virus.
And as for the fomite thing, doesn't fomirte usually refer to an infection hanging out on a surface for a prolonged period of time? In our case, hand washing and sanitizing was directed toward those who scratched their nose and then shook hands, toward those who rubbed their eyes and passed a pen to another, and to those who unfortunately touched a surface that someone else had recently sneezed on, spat on, or simply sprayed his saliva on as he was talking. Did people go overboard with the hoarding of the hand sanitizer? Holy Red Cow Batman, yes they did, but c'mon, do you really oppose the position that one aspect of limiting transmission of infection is to WASH YOUR FRIKKIN' HANDS?!?!
So consulting experts on human Coronavirus would have seemed sensible, no? Too sensible for the politicised public health doctors and scientists www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8961245/amp/SAGE-used-dodgy-data-WIKIPEDIA-model-Covid-crisis-spring-BBC-documentary-reveals.html "Liverpool University Professor Calum Semple, a member of another SAGE sub-committee called NERVTAG, added: 'Quite a few of us had read the literature for SARS and MERS but there was no particular specialist who has just focused their entire life on human coronaviruses.'"
DeleteI'm all for the scientific method. Where's the scientific method for discouraging mouthwashes? For discouraging masks? For the to UK official advice to still be "Hands Space Face"? There is none. Avos 5:7 applies וְעַל מַה שֶּׁלֹּא שָׁמַע, אוֹמֵר לֹא שָׁמָעְתִּי
I do not appreciate the way you and the entire medical profession have failed to come to terms with the MEDICAL anti masker and the depth of failure that entailed. There was no good evidence against masks when this propaganda was being promulgated. The science has NOT changed. The breach of TRUST is IRREPARABLE as far as I am concerned until there has been frank admissions, apologies, and reform to the politicised nature of public health advice. It looks to me like doctors prioritised their own needs for protective equipment ahead of the public. There is a CONSPIRACY of silence and the public are RIGHT not to trust you until there is ACCOUNTABILITY for mistakes.
I've always said that the evidence that high quality masks work is strong. Being a security guard or working in. a meat processing plant was around 50 percent more dangerous than being a front line nurse. There's no evidence - just speculation and contradictory low N observational studies in medical environments- that facemasks of low quality have any significant protective value.
As to the formite thing, you have once again masterfully appeared to disagree with me but actually agree. I live as a tiny minority in a country which issued official advice to wear gloves while opening the Aron and not to share lulavim. Crazy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-54156124
Finally I took INSPIRATION on the RANDOM use of of capitals from yourself, Dr Y!
There are some one-issue voters. Then there are one-issue *people*.
Delete[Chazal] can and should be forgiven for not knowing about things they cannot know about. This mistake was to CLAIM a SPURIOUS expertise... [others] felt compelled to make [believe Chazal were infallible in] all DEFINITIVE and UNQUALFIIED announcements, many of which were [unequivocally] incorrect. The general public [today are] clearly [many] STEP[s] AHEAD of [where Chazan were millennia ago] ... But [some people today are] in a panic. Mistakes were INEVITABLE, and they can be FORGIVEN. All [today’s Jews and Jewish leaders ]need to do is say "sorry, [Chazal] were WRONG". But that's not going to happen.
Delete[Some people] worry one CRACK in the EDIFICE of the [] BELIEF SYSTEM will bring the whole system down. People will stop complying with them. I say it won't. TRUST THE PEOPLE WITH THE TRUTH, tell them what you know, tell them what you don't know, and people will WANT to do the RIGHT THING. In failing to be FRANK about what [Chazal] got wrong, the [some people] perpetuate MISTRUST.
So, I'm currently legally under house arrest due to the Coronavirus. I lost several hundred thousand pounds and a business but, thank God not the family house, due to lockdowns. This is the biggest thing since WW2. Scientists and doctors have failed us monumentally Rabbi Dr Slifkin keeps posting about the greatness of these experts, seen through the prism of a children's book, which is rather like lauding credit rating agencies in 2009. You don't seem to complain about his obsessive monomania. With the greatest respect, Dave - jog on.
DeleteJeffrey is making *exactly* the point I was trying to make about what a rational response to a year of public health failures should look like.
The only reason smug upper middle class WASP 'rationalists' berate poor people and place failed scientists and doctors on a pedestal (while likely breaking the rules where convenient) is as a coping mechanism for anxiety.
Wow, with all the policy debate and parliamentary procedure, this book looks about as exciting as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace!
ReplyDeleteObviously - in an Israel run according to the Torah, the Cabinet Ministers are the Gedolim!
ReplyDeleteJust like in days of old, when the Sanhedrin ruled and the greatest talmidei chachamim were appointed to it.
I think R' Slifkin's point is that, interestingly enough, in the world of the comic book the cabinet ministers are not the gedolim, since at one point they feel it necessary to refer a question to "Gedolei Yisrael".
DeleteI do like how the "prime minister" is the guy with the longest beard though...
Actually, yesterday's daf yomi stated that one should NOT live in a city run by talmidei chachamim - presumably a fortiori a whole country.
DeleteRe: Gedolim are cabinet ministers:
DeleteWhat's wrong with Gafni and Litzman and company?
of course all the leaders are haredim. all others have left, converted , or mitas beis din as a horoas shaah....
ReplyDeleteR'Slifkin, you should make sure you are allowed to post so many pictures from the book, and that you are not violating any fair use laws.
ReplyDelete“I can't even come up with a theory to explain the author's mindset. I'd welcome suggestions.”
ReplyDelete=======================================
Plausible deniability if rules don't work out?
KT
I would suggest two main reasons.
ReplyDelete1) By not showing the gedolim, and in particular not illustrating the way in which the work of the gedolim might change if indeed they were at the top of a national political system, the author avoids offering an implicit criticism of the way the gedolim work now. This neutral move sidesteps the very real problems (and indeed the impossibilities) of this political configuration, as well as how even the imagination of it might reflect back on today's system with a negative light. Instead the author simply leaves it vague and "off scene" with some sort of implicit separation of powers or delegation of specifics to the ministers / askanim, which is kinda what happens now.
2) There is often within fantastical or polemical literature an aspect of hidden confession from the author's unconscious experience and inclinations. Extremely reactionary texts, read carefully against their grain, can become excellent arguments against the interests they purport to represent. In this case, the author presents a system in which the gedolim have way more power than they do now--obviously a flattering and officially hareidi fantasy--but in the margins of this fantasy the deeper truth becomes clear. The gedolim are divorced from day to day life and specified decisions, neutered as it were (apparently by choice) and the culture prefers it that way! Extreme deference to decisions of the gedolim relegates them to another world, thus granting relative autonomy to local authorities and minhag. As in totalitarianism, extreme deference to the Leader is usually coupled with a thriving domain of nullification, part conscious and part unconscious. In this graphic novel, the present hareidi configuration is brought to its extreme in terms of power, but schlepped along for the ride and magnified are the absurdities of the thing. YES WEDDINGS is akin to the gnomic proclamations of the Oracle of Delphi, which are mysteriously wedded to another world but which can be interpreted as meaning opposite things.
On this day one year ago one of the unelected experts the learned RABBI DR argues should have been given power said this
ReplyDelete"The public could be putting themselves *more* at risk from coronavirus by wearing face masks." The masks could “actually trap the virus” and cause the person wearing it "to breathe it in" . This GEM was brought to you by Jenny Harries, England's deputy chief medical officer.
And yet you argue we should have deferred to these CLODS.
DeleteThere was a little known candidate for the London mayoralty in the UK last year named Rory Stewart. This day last year he called for a national lockdown. He was opposed by Dr Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, who said such a lockdown was unnecessary. Thousands paid with their lives for Professor Whitty's subsequent education.
Yeah. Then they changed their minds based on new evidence. Are you really going to flog this inance dead horse forever?
DeleteMeir, you aren't paying attention. So I'll continue.
DeleteA) there was no evidence to support the original position. An old influenza low quality study showed masks could be deleterious but it was not remotely conclusive and still isn't. People should have been allowed to make up their own minds.
B) the evidence base subsequently didn't expand in any meaningful way. The only change is that the doctors in July has stopped panicking about their own access to masks.
The willingness of you so called rationalists to make excuses for your medical and scientific Gedolim defies belief. And until you deal with the facts of failure and cover up, I am going to continue rubbing those facts in your faces, day after day after day, as they happened.
Yesterday, for example, marked the anniversary of the appearance of Nick Phin, Deputy Director, National Infection Service at Public Health England, on Newsnight to advise that people should only avoid weddings and parties if they have a fever or cough, as "you're unlikely to be infectious when you don't have symptoms"
Today is the anniversary of the Sterophonics performing in Cardiff in the basis of UK government advice.
There was no good reason for these errors apart from hubris, groupthink denialism, and a lack of accountability. All these people are still in post and publicly basking in their supposed success, while you berate poor people.
Perhaps the gedolim have all passed away from Covid because the "shuls, chadarim, schools, yeshivos and kollelim" were all kept open.
ReplyDeleteThe point about schools is a valid one. Lockdown enthusiasts have blighted the lives of the most vulnerable in society - vulnerable to loss of almost everything apart from Coronavirus. This derision, this hubris, this sense of having be already being vindicated by the facts, is entirely misplaced.
DeleteForgive them, children, for they know not what they did.
Apropos of (almost) nothing, this author doesn't really seem to understand how comic books work...
ReplyDeleteIn the 2nd panel of the 1st pic above, the "Minister of Yeshivos" (according to his name placard) says "I think we need to give more tzedakah! Doesn't it say that tzedakah saves from death?" and then a disembodied voice (a bas kol? The speech-bubble tail trails off somewhere to the left...) answers "Ummm...no. Of course not." To which the Minister of Yeshivos answers, "Does Mr. Minister of Yeshivos think there is a need to give more tzedakah in the yeshivos?" Is he talking to himself in the third-person?
It is interesting that the moral of this page seems to be "stick to your area, and leave generalism to the higher ups." This is kinda a Fordist mentality, not exactly a traditional Jewish one. Here it is meant to maintain the "central space" for inscrutable integrated authority, e.g. for the Gedolim and their appointed "prime ministers". It is a simplistic moral--keep your eyes on your own matters, don't let them stray to another's. It seems to relegate these ministers to "expert" status, but also to recognize that they are not exactly experts.
DeleteIn case you're wondering - there ARE female characters in this universe. Not many - just one, who appears on one page. Still, that's infinitely more than you might accept, and perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies.)
ReplyDelete...
1 more is not infinitely 'more' than you might accept it is infinitely 'times' than you might accept
Oops I meant "expect" not "accept"!
DeleteYou’re spending a lot of time on a book you don’t even know who the author is and although it’s entertaining it may be a bit much imho
ReplyDeleteLearning today's (shabbos) daf (Pesachim 112a), according to advice rabbi Akiva gave his son, we see why the gedolim are not in the mythical government of the book. He advises "do not live in a city whose leaders are talmidei chachamim". Rashbam explains that they would be preoccupied with Torah study to the detriment of the communal affairs.
ReplyDeleteWhen they "three judges, one from each community," what's the third? Maybe that's Shas there, although as said above, they'd be indistinguishable.
ReplyDeleteThis has been pointed out, but I want to stress that there's something else missing here, namely, the Mashiach they supposedly hope for. After all, if there was a Mashiach and Sanhedrin (at least as charedim envision it), you wouldn't need gedolim, ministers, or anything in this book! (And of course the Messianic Age is supposed to be perfect, again at least according to their view, so no viruses either.) This has a few implications:
1. It's a dirty little secret of the charedi world that they view *any* form of Jewish sovereignty in Israel as heretical. Sure, we think of Satmar and their buddies when we think of that concept, but it's actually true of all charedim. After all, if the "Three Oaths" are binding, it makes no difference who's in charge. Even a State populated (and of course run) entirely by charedim, along strict halakhic lines (if that was even possible), would be forbidden. Again, charedim- even the aforementioned Satmar- don't mention this, as it's much better PR to complain about secularism or whatever, but it's still true.
So therefore, this book raises a question...how does this "dream state" not violate charedi ideology in its very essence?
OK, so it's fiction, or maybe they can say they inherited it from the Zionists (which of course ultimately proves Zionism's point, but whatever), or some such excuse. But then that leads to a larger question:
2. We are told that Mashiach's arrival depends on our actions- well, our spiritual actions, not, God forbid, our physical ones. So why, in a completely charedi (and thus, supposedly, ideal) world has *he not yet arrived*? Curiouser and curiouser...
1. Not true of all chareidim, it is really a Satmar thing.
Delete2. Chareidim have never claimed to merit Mashiach's arrival. For over two thousand years we have acknowledged that our sins have prevented his coming.
1. I beg to differ. Ask any charedi if the Three Oaths are binding. See what Artscroll, for example, has to say about them. And then bear in mind that the Three Oaths do not make exceptions for religious states.
Delete2. Please tell me what sin of charedim today is keeping Mashiach from coming, and bear in mind that this book says those don't exist in their time.
1. I am chareidi, and I would say the Oaths are not necessarily halachic the way Satmar seems to think. I am pretty sure this is the position of other chareidim as well. I would need to do more research.
Delete2. Bear in mind that chareidim today say selichos, tachanun, avinu malkainu, slach lanu, kinnos, Yom Kippur davening. We definitely think we are sinful. I didn't read the book, maybe they really hold they are perfect and you have good kasha!
Of course nothing is absolute- I am speaking in generalities.
DeleteNachum that's neither true historically nor currently. The Aguda in Israel formally disagreed with the Satmar apprach back in the fifties. They accepted and ageed with the opinion of the son in law of the Gerer Rebbe, R Levin, that it was not per se forbidden to create a state. That's why they were willing to be in the government, unlike Satmar. Other Admorim subsequently also concurred, including the current Belzer Rebbe. The Brisker Rav agreed with the Satmarer about a blanket prohibition on the state, but the Chazon Ish did not. The Brisker Rav's opinion may have become more popular but if you think all Litvishe Charedim agree on this you simply haven't asked around enough. For example R Ze'ev Lef is on record as describing himself as a Zionist based on his Mesora from Telz.
ReplyDeleteTake away point - blanket, knee jerk statements about any large group of people rarely stand up to scrutiny.
The various political Cherems pronounced by EU scientists and public health doctors against the AstraZeneca vaccine - mainly motivated by Brexit and internal politics - are further proof of the irredeemable side to public health. People are going to die due to the absence of those vaccines.
ReplyDelete