Why Orthodox Judaism is a Cult - Part 1

Evangelical Christians often use the word "cult" to describe any group that claims to be Christian but is guilty of one or more major heresies. This is not the definition I will be using. I am going to define a cult as an organization or group that seeks to control its members through indoctrination and then isolate its members from any outside influences that might threaten this control.

Organizations such as UC Berkley have criteria for what makes a group a cult. An organization is a cult if it has many of the following features:

1.  Love Bombing - Instant friendship, extreme helpfulness, generosity and acceptance...Group recruiters "lovingly" will not take "no" for an answer-invitations impossible to refuse without feeling guilty and/or ungrateful. "Love", "generosity", "encouragement" are used to lower defenses and create an ever increasing sense of obligation, debt and guilt.

2.  Schedule Control & Fatigue - Study and service become mandatory. New member becomes too busy to question. Family, friends, jobs and hobbies are squeezed out, further isolating the new member.

3. Submission - Increased submission to the leadership is rewarded with additional responsibilities and/or roles, and/or praises, increasing the importance of the person within the group.

4. Intense Study - Focus is on group doctrine and writings. Bible, if used at all, is referred to one verse at time to "prove" group teachings

5. Totalism - "Us against them" thinking. Strengthens group identity. Everyone outside of group lumped under one label.

6. Isolation, Separation & Alienation - Group becomes substitute family. Members encouraged to drop worldly (non-members) friends. May be told to change jobs, quit school, give up sports, hobbies, etc.

7. Secrecy - Group hides inner workings and teachings from outsiders. Sophisticated cults may curry media interest or even employ public relations consultants and ad agencies to manage their image.

and most importantly

8. Information Control - Group controls what convert may read or hear. They discourage (forbid) contact with ex-members or anything critical of the group. May say it is the same as pornography making it not only sinful and dangerous but shameful as well. Ex-members become feared and avoidance of them becomes a "survival issue." 

Speaking from experience, Orthodox Judaism has many of these features. There is an outreach industry called kiruv which seeks to turn non-Orthodox Jews into Orthodox Jews, regardless of how manipulative the organization has to be. They invite people in by offering community, fellowship and meals. They open their homes to strangers and offer the arms of friendship. This friendship comes with a price, subtle pressure to conform to the group's behavior.

One favorite tactic is called the BT yeshiva. A normal yeshiva is a place where Jewish men around college-age, live and spend 12-14 hours per day studying Talmudic law for a few years. The BT yeshiva is a similar idea. Young, single Jews, especially those on trips such as Birthright, are invited for a free meal and a place to stay. They can live and study for years on end at no cost to them, with the only condition being that they spend a good amount of their time studying in classes which focus on how to conform to Orthodox Jewish law, and also indoctrination as to why Orthodox Judaism is true.

The real magic about this approach is that people in yeshiva are pretty isolated from the outside world. Social psychology sets in, and the beliefs and behaviors of the yeshiva culture seep into these new recruits, with little outside contact to hold this transformation in check. Their worldviews become manipulated in an almost Truman Show -esque fashion. By time they are finished with a few years, they are ready to live and believe like a proper ultra-Orthodox Jew, always living in an Orthodox community, so that the indoctrination can be maintained.

The idea is to make it as easy and as pleasant as possible to become more and more dependent upon the Orthodox Jewish community for emotional, social, spiritual, and eventually financial support. This community becomes one's entire world, and that gives the community tight control over its members. The more integrated one becomes, the more difficult and painful it is to get out.

Orthodox Jews who come to believe in Jesus often lose everything as a result. The Orthodox community is very good at getting everyone, including the person's own family, to shun the individual. All support is cut off, and their own families will not speak to them. These Orthodox families sometimes even hold funerals for Jews who leave the community, especially if they come to believe in Jesus.

The reverse is almost never the same. I have met people raised in hardcore, homeschool, Fundamentalist Christian backgrounds who have become atheists, Jews, and even Muslims. Very rarely do these Christian families shun them or cut them off from support.

For those still unwilling to accept the idea that Orthodox Judaism is a cult, ask youself the following question. Why is it that those who apostatize from Orthodox Judaism, particularly those born into the system, require halfway houses in order to make the transition? This is not true of Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, or even Reform or Conservative Judaism, but it is very true of Orthodox Judaism.