Wednesday, August 11, 2010

why i am modern orthodox

i have many friends who are bt who will say that they always feel most comfortable with bts or people who are not frum. i think that often this is the case. no matter where we go we feel  most at home with the those who share the  values we have grown  up with even if we have changed alot since back then.
i grew up modern orhodox and even though i had  a ten year stint as being more yeshivish i returned to my more modern orthodox roots. why is this you ask? well first and foremost i do not have a new york accent so everyone always assumed i was bt. very annoying. and then i  did not get married before i was twenty five which is another reason i cant blend into the yeshiva world. i always felt like someone was watching me when i was in the yeshivish scene and it wasnt that i felt i was being watched by g-d. when i am in the modern orthodox world i am considered one of the crowd. no one doubts that i am religious. i dont feel like im being "watched" all of the time. i feel like i can be myself. i enjoy yiddishkeit but i also enjoy secular culture. i dont think that it is a contradiction.

3 comments:

katrina said...

I don't think it is a contradiction, either. Even though I feel very comfortable ritually in a modern Orthodox shul (TH and I belong to one), I am often surprised by the mentalities of the FFB's who belong there. People who were brought up Reform or Conservative (I was raised a bit of both) are more likely to have things in common with me areas other than ritual observance.

Ookamikun said...

There's also the having similar interests part.
Only so much you can talk about with yeshivish people.

frum single female said...

yes moshe this is true. there is only so much you can talk about with yeshivish people.