A friend of mine is at the grocery store. The casher is talking on her Whatsapp while he waits and waits. He says to her finally, "Hello, I'm here." She says, "I'm not interested in you." He says, "Aren't you supposed to be working?" She says, "If you don't like it there's a Yesh (another grocery store) across the street."
That's what they call Israeli chutzpah. You think it's funny? You want to minimize it and say, "Oh that's Israel." No harm, no foul?
Really, no harm? Do you want to raise your children around people like that? Would you raise your children around evangelical Christians or Sabbath violating Jews? What about people who mock gadolim? What about people who aren't machsiv Torah study?
This is just as bad. I know aliyah pushers who keep raving about the advanced Torah study in Israel, even though it isn't more advanced. It's just a lot of shouting. But to them, their (erroneous) view of the Torah study is all that matters because they don't really value the Jewish religion in its entirety. They don't care about Yiras Shemayim because such chutzpah eradicates any hope of that. They don't care about middos either.
The Vilna Gaon says, “All G-d’s service is dependent upon the improvement of one’s character. Character traits are fundamental to the performance of mitzvos and to Torah principles. Conversely, all sin stems from unimproved character traits. The prime purpose of man’s life is to constantly strive to break his bad traits. Otherwise, what is life for?”[1]
[1] Even Sheleimah, The
Vilna Gaon Views Life, p. 17 (1:1–2).
I have witnessed personally many hundreds of examples of chutzpah and other bad character traits in Israel. Do the aliyah pushers care? No, they don't because they are the most chutzpadick people of all. They are people who are so brazen that I believe it's reasonable to deem them erev rav. That's not a term I use very much because it's so amorphous. It's gets thrown around, particularly in Israel, the land of ad hominem attacks. But with aliyah pushers, I believe that the shoe fits.
Compare to Nashville, Tennessee.
Cashier: "Good evening sir. How are you today?
Customer: "Find thank you. A beautiful day isn't it?"
Cashier: "Yes it is. Your baby is so cute. What's his name?"
Customer: "His name is Meir."
Cashier: "That's such a lovely name. I never heard that before. What an adorable baby."
The cashier says all this as she works efficiently to ring up your order. Meanwhile, another person bags your groceries.
Casher: "You have a good day now, sir."
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