How dare you post such a thing, AmericanInIsrael. And those rabbi were not "the same guys" because there is no such sect and no such ceremony as was described. How you can not know this is beyond me.
Charedi Jews are traditional Orthodox Jews. "Modern Orthodox" Jews are the left wing of Orthodoxy, and growing lefter by the minute.
I am disappointed in you dignifying such an abominable claim.
I did not dignify the charge I responded to it, quite a different thing. If the story is true or untrue is up to the teller, not the listener. I never witnessed such things in my time in Israel. But Israel has its wacko’s too, after all they are only human.
You know, the funny thing is that if this story was true, it would be the exact equivilant of a Jewish Inquisition. A tribunal hunt for fake faith. Only with the Jews they don’t burn you at the stake for being a secret Christian, heck they don’t even torture you. Bing, bam boom, in 10 minutes your on your way home...
I would strongly disagree with this. Haredi Judaism is more akin to Reform Judaism, except on the right. Whereas Reform Judaism abolished Torah commandments to fit in, the Haredim have added stringency upon stringency for the point of walling themselves apart in a mock 18th century Poland. Its ideology is no more than two hundred years old. Traditional Judaism was not Haredi, stressed leniencies, and interacted with the modern world. The greatest Hakhamim of all time, such as Rambam and Yehudah HaNassi, would feel much more at home in a Modern Orthodox congregation than a Haredi backwater.