For some reason, the religious teachers that pretend to teach and follow the holy Torah tend to be demonic. There are of course the exceptions of the genuine Litvak yeshivas in N.Y. and Bnei Brak, but the exceptions simply prove the rule,--that there is a problem. Most people would like to sweep it under the carpet, so they emphasize the prohibition of lashon hara [slander. For the laws see the Chafetz Chaim, or the short version.] thinking that by doing so they will be immune from attack while at the same time continuing to attack baali teshuva [newly religious] and others they don't like.
[Maybe the problem has gotten worse. I am not sure. Clearly, in Europe there were rigorous standards; so the run of the mill religious teachers were in fact pretty good. Maybe it is just nowadays that people that their only qualification is that they are insane religious fanatics are the ones that get into positions of power.
In any case, because of this problem I avoid the religious world in toto.
The problem nowadays is the entire religious world. But I believe that if the excommunication of the Gra had been listened to, then this problem would not exist.
It occurred to me two valid reasons to pay attention to the "cherem." One reason is as Reb Chaim from Voloshin goes into in his book the נפש החיים about the problem of idolatry. (i.e. idolatry can apply to people, not just objects.)
Another reason is that a "cherem" has a valid halachic category of an isur neder," which means the object becomes a חפצא של איסור "forbidden object." I was in fact unaware of this last problem until I saw explained it thus in a commentary of the Rambam. (I want to mention that you can go through the entire tractate of Nedarim without being aware of this problem because the connection with cherem is never explained there openly. The commentary I saw this in is in the regular edition of the Rambam on the bottom of the page. I think it was somewhere in the beginning of ה' שבועות or ה' נדרים.
One thing is certain. That the path of Torah is no where near the path of the insane religious world. These are two direct opposites.
[Maybe the problem has gotten worse. I am not sure. Clearly, in Europe there were rigorous standards; so the run of the mill religious teachers were in fact pretty good. Maybe it is just nowadays that people that their only qualification is that they are insane religious fanatics are the ones that get into positions of power.
In any case, because of this problem I avoid the religious world in toto.
The problem nowadays is the entire religious world. But I believe that if the excommunication of the Gra had been listened to, then this problem would not exist.
It occurred to me two valid reasons to pay attention to the "cherem." One reason is as Reb Chaim from Voloshin goes into in his book the נפש החיים about the problem of idolatry. (i.e. idolatry can apply to people, not just objects.)
Another reason is that a "cherem" has a valid halachic category of an isur neder," which means the object becomes a חפצא של איסור "forbidden object." I was in fact unaware of this last problem until I saw explained it thus in a commentary of the Rambam. (I want to mention that you can go through the entire tractate of Nedarim without being aware of this problem because the connection with cherem is never explained there openly. The commentary I saw this in is in the regular edition of the Rambam on the bottom of the page. I think it was somewhere in the beginning of ה' שבועות or ה' נדרים.
One thing is certain. That the path of Torah is no where near the path of the insane religious world. These are two direct opposites.
