I'm trying to make a change

I’m sure some posters noticed that over the last few days, I’ve been somewhat upset. The whole thing with my friend Feif Un affected me, and I let my emotions run away with me. Last night, I took a few minutes to try and think clearly about things.

My Rav, who has semichah from YU, has told me many times that he hates labels such as “Modern Orthodox”, “Ultra orthodox”, and others. He says the only one he really like is Chareidi, which comes from the pasuk ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????????? ??? ????????. He says he likes to think he falls into that category.

I’m going to try and change how I look at things. I remember when I was in Darchei Torah, I listened to R’ Gifter speech on “Diversity in Orthodoxy”. That’s the speech where he says his famous line, “I am not an Orthodox Jew. I am a Torah Jew!” I think I’m a Torah Jew as well, as are most people here in the CR.

I have said many times that all views which follow the Torah should be respected. Instead of arguing about views to try and make people respect my views, I’m going to try something else. If I just show respect to other views, maybe people will be affected and do the same.

I was once told in the name of R’ Avigdor Miller zt”l, that if someone hates you, the best way to change it is to show pure love to the person. If you do that, the person can’t help but change their stance towards you. I’m hoping the same thing applies here in terms of respecting others.

I’ve spent so much time trying to defend my views that this change won’t be easy. But I think it’s something which will be good for me, so I’m going to make the effort.

Does anyone want to join me in this?