The false prophets of the kings of Israel were religious people displayed their religiosity scrupulously. They had the ear of the monarchs. But displays of religiosity do not make up for their lack of true inspiration. [The false prophets were prophesying in the name of God, not the Baal, as we see in the confrontation between Jeremiah and Hanania. When Jeremiah prophesied doom, Hanaia who was prophesying success came over to him and slapped him and asked, "How did the spirit of prophecy leave me, and come into you?"]
The people of Israel today face a similar problem what we had then. Charismatic religious leaders that make up for their lack of sincerity and true inspiration with displays of religiosity.
And who were the real enemies of the false prophets? The true prophets. These few individuals evoked the animosity of the false prophets as we can see in the book of Jeremiah and in the books of Kings. Today the religious world is awash in false prophets =religious leaders that have tremendous charm and powers of persuasion but are incompetent in authentic Torah. The way they seem competent is they give each other credentials. This leaves the people that can really learn Torah completely isolated and disenfranchised and outsiders.
Concerns about consistent bad judgment, or, worse, abuse of power are never taken very seriously, and although the need to do so is constant. There is not ever any action taken to see that religious leaders who have overstepped their bounds do not stay long in their positions. Just the opposite. People that have been abused by them are maligned and stripped and sent out. No wonder the Jewish people left the religious years ago. And yet no one today wonder why that is the case? Why did the vast majority of Jewish people become Reform and Conservative Jews? Was this from bad hearts? Or perhaps from real abuse that was never addressed? There are pockets of decency like the great Litvak yeshivas in Bnei Brak and NY, but by and large the religious world is a surrealistic nightmare. [By name the great yeshivas are Mir, Chaim Berln, Torah VeDaat, Ponovitch, Shar Yashuv.]
The people of Israel today face a similar problem what we had then. Charismatic religious leaders that make up for their lack of sincerity and true inspiration with displays of religiosity.
And who were the real enemies of the false prophets? The true prophets. These few individuals evoked the animosity of the false prophets as we can see in the book of Jeremiah and in the books of Kings. Today the religious world is awash in false prophets =religious leaders that have tremendous charm and powers of persuasion but are incompetent in authentic Torah. The way they seem competent is they give each other credentials. This leaves the people that can really learn Torah completely isolated and disenfranchised and outsiders.
Concerns about consistent bad judgment, or, worse, abuse of power are never taken very seriously, and although the need to do so is constant. There is not ever any action taken to see that religious leaders who have overstepped their bounds do not stay long in their positions. Just the opposite. People that have been abused by them are maligned and stripped and sent out. No wonder the Jewish people left the religious years ago. And yet no one today wonder why that is the case? Why did the vast majority of Jewish people become Reform and Conservative Jews? Was this from bad hearts? Or perhaps from real abuse that was never addressed? There are pockets of decency like the great Litvak yeshivas in Bnei Brak and NY, but by and large the religious world is a surrealistic nightmare. [By name the great yeshivas are Mir, Chaim Berln, Torah VeDaat, Ponovitch, Shar Yashuv.]
