There is a time for everything says shlomo hamelech. the recent posts and comparisons of the Kinus hasheluchim and the Agudah convention in various Blogs has been that the Chabad event was an uplifting joyous experience rejoicing and upbeat while the agudah convention was depressing, full of Rebuke and Mussar with a non stop cry of gevalt yidden weve lost our ways and we must repent etc. while in truth its not a fair comparison at all the actual events are 2 diffrent venues. the agudah convention was uplifting too. The Thursday night session was about the dangers of modern technology and rabbanim spoke about responsibility for our actions and the concept of yiras chet.
Yet people seem to not like sitting and hearing some divrei Mussar. we've become a society where everything must be said nicely with a smile and no responsibilty for our actions whatever we do is ok. we've been accustomed to only singing and dancing as a way to serve hashem without ever taking responsibility .During the chet haegel while they were dancing did Moshe rabbeinu uplift them and talk friendly, No, he was rebuking them for their actions. If a rav gets up and gives a Mussar shmooze people sitting there might not like to hear it but the truth hurts yes that's what Mussar is. Obviously the rabbanim feel that these words must be said and are driving home a point and making people aware. we may not like it we feel uncomfortable sitting in our seats listening to it, but it too is just as uplifting. You may ask why does this have to be at the convention ? well how often do people actually get to hear from the rabbanim and roshei yeshiva and get a chance to be uplifted.
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ReplyDeleteIt seems as though you are missing the point of why people are frankly turned off from the Agudah convention.
ReplyDeleteMaskim, strong mussar is sometimes neccesary. But, please hear the points of the detractors:
1. Mussar of old, was always started by focusing inward talking tzu zich alein. By taking the listener on the baal mussar's inner thoughts and acceptance of his own need for improvement, people strived to reach that level. At the Agudah convention, there was no mention of "I" or "we", rather "you, you, you". That's NOT mussar, that's a rant.
2. Mussar given at the Agudah convention is always about 'soft subjects' and symptoms NOT on the causes that have brought the community to this point. Few people are arguing that the topics brought up and mussared about are not problematic. People want to hear an honest assessment by the gedolim of how we reached this point and how they plan on leading the community away from the edge of the cliff.
By skirting both these issues, the Agudah convention is like a media 'puff piece'. No one is interested in that. Hence, the disinterest.