Reply To: What Did He Gain?

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#1145537
Avram in MD
Participant

Little Froggie,

You seemed to feel strongly about this due to the contradiction in what you saw – someone dressed in a very frum manner doing something that was decidedly not frum. Of the responses in this thread that I read, I think gavra at work’s is the most helpful: that you may have misinterpreted the man you were seeing. He listed some examples (e.g., “Orthoprax”), but I don’t think those are highly likely. Here’s what I think – you saw an “almost” BT.

Speaking as a BT, when one becomes frum, it is not a “poof” overnight thing. It takes time to learn halachos and hashkafos. I started wearing a kippa before I had kashrus completely figured out, and actually received some tochacha one day from an OTD guy who was working in a non-kosher restaurant I ate in. Even though he was OTD, he had the same reaction to the contradictory image that Little Froggie did. I ended up having a nice long conversation with him, and looking back, I process the incident as one that helped propel me towards full observance of kashrus. I wonder if it had any effect on him as well.