Manipulative Rabbis and their effect

amother

Sun, Aug 11 2019, 9:14 am

Hi- For some background, throughout my journey in Yiddishkeit I was always incredibly inspired and passionate. I had a real fire and took Yiddishkeit very seriously- I loved it, loved Hashem, loved tsnius, loved Shabbos and was very makpid in basically all areas. My husband got involved with a very controversial Rabbi though, and it was total insanity. My husband was basically brainwashed and was mislead by this Rabbi.... it was all crazy and I was never on board with it- but he looks and acts like a very frum yid so it's confusing. anyway Boruch Hashem my husband saw through all of this recently but it totally destroyed my emunah. It was so hard in our shalom bayis. we are trying to rebuild but it influenced me of course and I really need help building up my emunah again. does anyone have suggestions on how to do this? thanks for not passing judgement....

amother

Chocolate

Sun, Aug 11 2019, 5:05 pm

There are series of 4 books called "Living With Emunah" by Rabbi David Ashear.
In the frum community maybe one out of every four men have Semicha. It's inevitable that somewhere along the way you will find a Rabbi with a personality disorder. You have to speak to your friends to find out who to look up to.

amother

Firebrick

Sun, Aug 11 2019, 8:23 pm

Logically, it's true that there will be charlatans among us and that we must separate ppl from religion, but at the same time, it can be very traumatic to be personally affected by such a person, especially if he's in a position of authority or influence. So op, I really do understand ur pain and how this can really impact one's emunah.
I think the way to get through this is to view this difficult experience as you would any other nisayon. Some ppl face serious illness. Some face serious financial challenges. Some face difficulties related to their children. Every hardship is an opportunity to grow, to try to stay strong and connect with Hashem. Having such a person come into your life and shake your foundations of trust is no less a serious nisayon. If you can stay strong through this and seek out Hashem in your pain, you will be able to look back at this difficult time and hopefully see it as a period of digging deep and achieving tremendous growth.