A few months ago, I sat with a local gentleman whom I didn’t know very well. Aware that my Chassidic appearance sometimes startles people, I began discussing Chabad’s seamless embrace of the ‘non-Chassidic’ community. I guess my subconscious message was: “I may look a little strange, but I’ve got lots of friends who look just like you; I’m normal too!”
The gentleman shook his head and responded: “You know why I like you guys? Because you walk around looking as though you’re from a different century. You follow your beliefs, even when it’s inconvenient; that sets a standard for the rest of us.”
It was an important reality check for me.
I’m very committed to my Judaism, and I’ll stick to my traditions no matter what people think. I don’t enjoy sticking out in a crowd, but I’ll never forego my values to fit in.
I simply can’t. My religion means too much to me.
To some, that may qualify me as a fundamentalist or extremist.
Whatever.
How about you?
Are you deeply enthusiastic about anything?
Do you have a core belief that is fundamentally embedded into your psyche, so that you can’t imagine violating it?
Is there anything (racism, anti-Semitism, child abuse) that touches such a raw nerve that you want to yell in protest?
I certainly hope so. If fanaticism means having an unusually passionate interest in something, then please be a CONSTRUCTIVE fanatic.
I mean, if someone has his family in the back of his mind all day, measures all of his actions against how they’ll impact his loved ones and will go to the ends to protect them? Is he a fanatic? Or a devoted family man?
What if I care deeply about G-d’s guidelines for humanity (the Torah), consistently measure my behavior against G-d’s expectations and stand up passionately for the good and the G-dly? If that’s fanaticism, I pray to be such a fanatic.
Fanaticism is a problem when it means mindless devotion to a self-indulgent goal or a harmful credo. That’s not good for anyone.
And it gives us fanatics a bad name.