(Jewish) Fundie? I'm not sure

[Pretzel]

Hello my fellow FJians I need your thoughts on this lady

rivkamalka.com .

I stumbled upon her page searching for ways to tie a head scarf/tichel properly and I found her instructions style and color - wise to be the most fitting to my taste. However, I have been wondering whether she is a fundie too. Is there even something as a Jewish fundie? Can we even remotely compare "Jewish fundies" to the (mostly) evangelical fundies we're snarking on here? I am really intrigued and would like to know what y'all think.

On the one hand Rivka masters the art of fundie speak perfectly, however, she also supports women working outside the home as can be seen in a video featuring her sister and her take on working moms. Then again Rivka is also all "love" "blessing" etc. and she apparently got some critical reactions on a video which must have been about her saying that infertile women may be released from their burden by wearing a tichel. However, she strongly advises against anyone preaching about tichels but rather about encouraging by a woman "infecting" others just by wearing her own tichel with pride, which is IMHO , a good thing.

So.... :think:

[flyawaystray]

I would classify those who are ultra Orthodox as fundamentalists, like the Haredim.

[Peas n carrots]

There most certainly are gunfire Jews. I live in an area with a decent sized population of Orthodox Jews.

With any group some are more fundie than others. Satmars are some of the most conservative, while the Orthodox women I tend to encounter work outside the home until they start having kids and generally have a decent education.

[Peas n carrots]

Btw...if you are interested here is a link to a podcast called Living After Faith where they interviewed Ari Mendel, who left an ultra-orthodox sect. It's a really fascinating look into that world:

http://livingafterfaith.blogspot.com/20 ... mment-form

[GeoBQn]

Pretty much no matter how orthodox a group of Jews are, they are able to point to a different group of Jews and say, "Now THAT group is TOO Orthodox." I laughed inside when I was talking to a friend who is leaning Modern Orthodox, and she mentioned that a friend of ours from college had gone "scary Orthodox."

[Arete]

Can we even remotely compare "Jewish fundies" to the (mostly) evangelical fundies we're snarking on here?

You can most certainly compare the Haredim in Israel and parts of the US to some of the evangelical fundies we snark on here. In ISR, they attempt to legislate their level of observance into law, they want separate public buses for men and women to ride, or at the very least separate seating for men and women (and this is the defacto arrangement in buses running in heavily Orthodox neighborhoods), their schools are atrocious and do not teach secular subjects lest their children be contaminated, they beat up or otherwise intimidate women who they don't feel are modest according to their standards. Their men do not want to serve in the army or work, so it leaves it to the mother to both work AND have as many children as she can. So yeah, fundamentalism is a problem no matter which one of the children of Abraham are practicing.

[treemom]

I take that back. I remembered the crown heights riot happening a different way, and now that I actually read my source material I realize I was incorrect.

I, for some reason, thought what spawned the riots was the Hatzlah ems choosing to treat the Jew before the dying child. I was wrong and apologize.

[2xx1xy1JD]

One question that we periodically debate here is just how we define what a "fundie" is.

These threads always generate lots of different opinions, but the general consensus is that:

- a fundie can be from any religion (and the term can sometimes even apply to other ideologies)

- being a fundie means something other than simply being very religious

- being religious often means focusing on your beliefs, while being a fundie tends to involve judging what other people are doing and trying to shove your beliefs down their throats

- other aspects of fundiedom include anti-intellectualism and literal beliefs with no room for debate or discussion, rejecting any education or influence that may shake dogma in any way, seeing the world outside of one's narrow group as inherent evil/depraved, obsession with female modesty and sexual behavior to the point that it sort of eclipses everything else and fuels women-hating behavior

So, are there Jewish fundies? Yes, they exist. Some happen to be ultra-Orthodox or "Charedi", some are young thugs, and some can seem more mainstream but have drifted to the right in recent years and sometimes latch onto messages from the Christian right.

Is Rivka Malka a Jewish fundie? She's certainly very religious, and she's somewhat influenced by some mystical/Chassidic teachings, but that in itself doesn't necessarily mean that someone would be a "fundie" according to this board. She's quite involved in Jewish outreach. She also seems to have been quite affected by a close brush with death that she had: aish.com/sp/pg/48922877.html. From what I saw on her site, there's nothing hateful there or any promotion of a social conservative agenda designed to restrict freedoms and impose religious doctrines on the general public. The parenting bits are about unconditional love, not beating your kids with plumbing line.

ETA: I just read her post on discipline, and thought it was pretty awesome:

rivkamalka.com/the-d-word/

After reading so much crap from the Pearls and their deranged fans, THIS is what I needed to read. Yes, discipline is about setting limits, in a way that is firm and swift, but not cruel or demeaning. But more than that, discipline is about setting an EXAMPLE. If you want disciplined children who demonstrate great moral values, then BE a disciplined person who demonstrates great moral values. Good parental discipline isn't about power trips. It's about showing kids that you are a rock, someone that they can always count on to be there for them, someone who cares about them and is committed to always doing what is best for them....even if that means sometimes saying no or requiring them to do something.

[flyawaystray]

Ugggggh, the Pearls. They are so gross :(

[Mary C Doates]

Hello my fellow FJians I need your thoughts on this lady

rivkamalka.com .

I stumbled upon her page searching for ways to tie a head scarf/tichel properly and I found her instructions style and color - wise to be the most fitting to my taste. However, I have been wondering whether she is a fundie too. Is there even something as a Jewish fundie? Can we even remotely compare "Jewish fundies" to the (mostly) evangelical fundies we're snarking on here? I am really intrigued and would like to know what y'all think.

On the one hand Rivka masters the art of fundie speak perfectly, however, she also supports women working outside the home as can be seen in a video featuring her sister and her take on working moms. Then again Rivka is also all "love" "blessing" etc. and she apparently got some critical reactions on a video which must have been about her saying that infertile women may be released from their burden by wearing a tichel. However, she strongly advises against anyone preaching about tichels but rather about encouraging by a woman "infecting" others just by wearing her own tichel with pride, which is IMHO , a good thing.

So.... :think:

Well, she seems to take some of her philosophy of life from reading The Secret, which I suspect fundies of all persuasions consider to be New Age-y, believing that there are some metaphysical forces that will grant you material things, rather that praying to a specific God for your needs. I think this might make her fundie-lite at best.

[Pretzel]

Thanks for your input, folks. I'm glad we're kind of on the same page about her. I just didn't know what to do with her, where to put her on the fundie chart, kwim?

JD, I find her take on parenting and her views on Relationship vs. Religion to be truly edifying, too. I love listening to her, I love how she puts love on top of everything and that she doesn't bash other religions while elaborating her own.