How Torah morals become confused with Torah aesthetics, a brief thread:

R. Ben here identifies the hypocrisy and condescension in the critiques of the mag. Mocking it from one’s couch, sitting in front of the AFC Championship football game, requires a lapse of self-awareness. https://twitter.com/benzgreenfield/status/1353576020532736001

As a Modern Orthodox Jew, I occupy a space of privilege with respect to the things I do to spend my money and fill my time. I can own a TV, I can flaunt my expertise in The Office at a Shabbat meal, I can host a Super Bowl party, and no one will look down on me for that. 2/10

“Modern” (only in quotes because I don’t know if they appreciate the label) yeshivish and chassidish people, to whom this magazine is ostensibly geared towards, can’t do that. Their options are more limited. So what do they do? Watches, fine liquor, charcuterie boards. 3/10

It only seems more “gauche” because it’s more embodied, it’s more sensual, it’s more immediately redolent of the pleasures of the flesh. But the fact is, it’s no worse a use of time than watching (most) movies. (Disclaimer: I love movies). And we’re sensitive to that fact. 4/10

So what do we do? We defend our own practices and project our insecurities onto easy targets, like Mochers. Just look at the cover. There are typos, laughable industrial-masculinity complex word salad (“Man Eats”), bad graphic design. And just look at those glasses. 5/10

In other words, we confuse our morals with aesthetics. We tell ourselves we’re calling it out for its moral failings, but we’re really calling it out because the subpar aesthetics remind us of our own subpar morals. And the cycle repeats; our morals become increasingly aesthetic.

The end result is that we become completely blind to our own moral shortcomings. Because aesthetics is subject to social pressure and shaped by popular opinion, so if other people look good and frum doing it, why wouldn’t we? 7/10

A quick example: few Orthodox shuls have wheelchair ramps to the bima (central platform). Why? People will tell you it’s because no members are wheelchair users. But what if a guest uses one? Then, maybe, they’ll think about installing one. Because it 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 bad. 8/10

One more: most Orthodox people have no problem using Instacart or Uber even though they don’t pay their workers minimum wage. Why should they care? No one’s looking. It doesn’t 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 wrong. 9/10

May we remember the words of the Baal Shem Tov:

“Just as one who looks in a mirror can see their own flaw, so too, one who notices another’s flaw can see that they have that very same flaw themselves.”

סוף https://www.sefaria.org/Keter_Shem_Tov.1.83.1