First there was kosher style, then there was Charedi style. Every time there is a scandal involving an orthodox Jew committing some crime everyone gets up in everyone’s grill about these people not really being orthodox and just being fakers. The conversations always degenerate into arguments over what really makes a Jew religious, is it the heart or the clothing?
Obviously it’s the heart or internals, like the liver that make a person a religious Jew. It has nothing to do with the color of your hat or the size of your yarmulke, but there needs to be a way to label these new school fakers. I know plenty of non-observant religious Jews and loads of observant irreligious Jews.
When I was in high school there was much talk about fakers, those kids that would be model yeshiva bochurs that happened to smoke on shabbos or be sleeping with girls during off shabbosim from Lakewood, but times are a changing, and the old labeling of fakers just doesn’t work anymore.
Young fakers are now considered kids at risk or bums, while adults of the same stature are treated with respect, as long as they are just stealing money or molesting little boys, if they were to smoke on shabbos it may become a problem. What are we supposed to call these folks that are in such blatant, albeit private ignorance of key Jewish laws? I have decided that these people could be called Charedi Style.
Charedi Style is similar to Kosher Style. Kosher Style is old world food, Jew food that isn’t necessarily kosher. Charedim that are exposed through scandal, like Tropper and the Kidney guys subscribe to Charedi Style Judaism, where they look and act Charedi, but aren’t necessarily religious. I know orthoprax may be easier – but they are still Charedi in my mind, they just aren’t subscribing to the torah.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought kosher style meant food that isn’t CLEARLY treyf but may not have a hechsher and probably isn’t kosher.
i.e. a turkey sandwich from Subway with no cheese, which could’ve theoretically been kosher had the turkey been properly schechted and kept and handled properly separate from cheese and non-kosher elements, but isn’t actually kosher, would be kosher style, just as much as a pastrami sandwich on rye with mustard from a non-kosher deli would.
Heshy,
I think the word “Charedi” may be a bit difficult for a secular-jew or non-jew to pronounce (i.e. hearing them try to pronounce “Chanuka” just is hillarious, or better, being questioned “Are you one of those ‘Hi-see-dom’?”). Since your article is published for all walks of life, why don’t we amend the term to something suited for the masses?
I propose “Faker”. Its short and sweet, and defines an individual as an imposter.
Just my two cents.
On second thought, this is your blog and you have artistic discretion. I should have kept my 2-cents to myself. My apologies for my overzealousness.
Rabbi NO
What about Fareidi ?
That is brilliant!
It sounds Arab.
I thought this was already called “Foshevish” ie fake yeshivish
what about reform style? BTs who haven’t told their parents their religious yet and don’t act religious around them? I’m sure we’re a small (transitional) minority
hey, that totally applies! cool!
Kosher Style is such a piss-off. It looks, smells, and tastes the same as glatt Kosher, costs the same usually, and is frequently located in high-Jew-volume locales. Such deception!
It’s like going out to a bar or a club and accidentally taking home a transvestite. How so, you ask? So, you see her in the club shakin’ that thang, looking mighty fine, and you start flirting, and her perfume is intoxicating, and her breasts are immaculately spherical and lush. And you two make your way out the door, into a cab and back to your place. Sitting on the sofa, a little kissing and petting, clothes come off one at a time. And she starts pulling off her lingerie…and, wait a second…TREIF!!! TREIF!!!! AHHH!!!! DID I ACTUALLY HAVE THAT IN MY MOUTH!? EWWW!!! And you proceed to vomit yourself unconscious. Alas! A tragic end to such a promising evening.
I sincerely wish Kosher Style establishments would just get their S–T together, get certification (Even a half-ass, semi-recognized one, like Va’ad of SoHo or Crucifix-K or whatever), close their doors on Shabbos, and take the necessary steps to banish that nasty “Style” from their name. I even more sincerely wish Charedi Style (or Faux Frum, or Quasi-Heimish, or Forsalinos, or Yeshivishish, or Fakelach, or whatever they’re called today) would come out of the Aron Kodesh and just acknowledge that they are human beings. It usually works for the rest of us, and, quite frankly, after a while it gets hard to cover up your underlying issues under a white shirt and a black hat.
I dont know about chareidi style, only doggie style. I’m happy with that.
It’s simple really… no chareidi can do anything wrong… if they do anything wrong they’re not really chareidi… ERGO: all chareidim are 100% perfect. I don’t know why that’s so hard to comprehend.