Difference between "israeli charedi" and "american yeshivish

Dev80

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 4:15 pm

I am not the epitome of Chareidi (I have internet, I'm on imamother Smile

) but we do identify with that 'group' in Israel so this is how I would explain it....

-In Israel, the chareidi sector's* standards are more rigid in order to be more insulated. This can include the fact that having internet is not 'accepted'*, smartphones are not accepted either, as others were saying boys don't really play sports past a certain age, women wouldn't generally have long flowing sheitals...these are just some examples that I can think of. These are not the things that make the essence of the group since the essence of the group would be the beauty of making Torah the center of their lives, even if it means living with less gashmius and doing what they can to insulate from outside influences

-I think in America the 'yeshivish' sector can have the same essence and values where torah is the center of our lives and we live around the torah but a lot of the externals that wouldn't be widely accepted in Israel are okay in the more American yeshivish circles (like long sheitals, smartphones, maybe even colored shirts in some circles) It's not to say that in America they're less frum or torah-minded but these externals do not define you as much.

Does that make sense?? This is my view of it not necessarily the way it is and I couldn't really think of other examples.

*couldn't think of a better word
**Israelis that I live around really don't have internet, Americans do have it and somehow get their kids into cheder

ETA: THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT EVERYONE WHO ASSOCIATES WITH THESE GROUPS FOLLOW ALL THE 'STANDARDS' OF THESE GROUPS. Obviously we are humans and have our own way of doing things, I'm trying to be very general here.

Last edited by Dev80 on Mon, Oct 06 2014, 5:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

Dev80

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 4:18 pm

Another example would be for men to work, in Israel it's only more recently becoming accepted that a chareidi man may have to go out to work to support a family and in some places those men don't feel fully accepted (but I think this is changing) but in most places in America I think it's understood that at some point a man has to go out to support his family except for the few who do stay in kollel longterm (or join community kollels)