Hasidic Jews are on to something!

I heard of them in Belarus. Don't know if ever saw one though. In Chicago, I live just a few blocks South of Devon Street. Devon is perhaps the most dense multicultural chaos of a community in the United States. As I passed Jewish schools and synagogues, I developed a vague understanding of the kind of life that takes place amidst and apart from the rest of us. And then, I watched the documentary "A Life Apart" and it hit me: Hasidic Jews are on to something. Maybe, it's worth never watching television, never reading magazines or newspapers. Maybe not. But this I know: I am willing to part with many things for the sake of what they've got. I am willing to shelter and protect and censor, if it must be so, for the sake of what they've got. Of course, I am glamourizing. My casual observations and one documentary aside, I know nothing of Hassidism. But let's just say that it is so. A society void of immodesty, role confusion, isolation. A society where you do not have to set out on a likely fruitless and disheartening search for a role model. A place where your identity is clearly defined by your respected ancestors. Where children are worn as jewels in the crown and where every Saturday is a celebration of life. Yeah, I'd give a lot for that. There is a scene of a young mother waking her two sons. Before they get out of bed, they are to ceremonially wash their hands. She tenderly wakes them and stays to assist with the ritual. Not an empty ritual. No. She enthusiastically teaches them every moment all she can about their God. All they do as they go through the day says: "You are a precious part of this community. You are set apart. You are not like others because of the blood that runs through your veins, the food that you eat, the home you live in, the clothing that you wear." Sounds familiar, anybody? "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him, who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light."

Do you feel like that, Christians? Of course there is this pesky issue of carrying the light into the world. But just for a second, let's leave that alone. How many Christian mothers are truly love and appreciated just for being the holy vessels and for the mundane, day-to-day chores of child-rearing? (For those of you who delight in every little special joy of a dirty dish: kudos, but I am so not on that bus!) How many men have a close relationship with at least two generations of men older, and a strong male role model to help with everything from impotence to mutual funds? How many of us can say, to paraphrase a Rabbi, that we did not cut down the Bible to fit the cover, but instead, got a new cover to fit the Bible? How many average American Christian women can raise at least ten biological children (yes, it matters, no offence to the adoptive parents, there is something to pushing out all ten yourself) and not go nuts? Honestly people, the Hasids are on to something!

Can we have that? I don't know. Maybe. Screw TV. But we'd have to sensor the books, even the classics. No public schools. Certainly no fraternizing with the gentiles. We couldn't spread the "light" very well, but perhaps, we could have it. The Light, that is. And that gleam in our eyes that would say: "I know something really really important and my world ROCKS!!! If you promise you'll listen close, I'll tell you about it."