Do you or someone you know suffer from OCD (Obsessive Charedi Disorder)? We have exciting news. A breakthrough treatment is now available that can help you get back your life. You don't need to suffer any longer.
Not sure if you have OCD? If you have one or more of the following symptoms, you may be afflicted with this devastating illness.
People with OCD frequently make snarky comments about Charedim, especially on social media. They do this with complete disregard for any issues with lashon hara, sinas chinam, or even whether their remarks are accurate. They justify this with the claim that they are waking people up to reality, saving the world from Charedim, and saving Charedim from themselves. Indeed, people with OCD pretend that they love Charedim, care deeply about them, and only want the best for them, even as they regularly shower them with hatred and scorn.
Obsessive Charedi Disorder is a pernicious disease.
People with OCD publicly slander individuals by name, demonstrating no concern for the harm their words might cause those in their crosshairs. It is pikuach nefesh, the OCD-sufferers believe. If they do not destroy some Charedim, the Charedim will continue to destroy the Jewish people.
They also level wholesale slander of Charedim and everything associated with them, as if all Charedim are alike and deserve to be attacked. If one Charedi rabbi says something that finds disfavor in the eyes of the OCD-sufferer, it is an indictment of all Charedim, proof that all Charedim are crazy and stupid and primitive and bad.
People with OCD will occasionally give insincere praise to someone from inside the Charedi world who is critical of Charedi society in some way. The OCD-sufferer will state that this person is showing courage and wisdom, and will pretend to respect this person only because this Charedi supports the OCD-sufferer's position.
In reality the OCD-sufferer detests this Charedi as he detests all Charedim, and is only using this individual as temporary relief for his OCD. The Charedi will soon promote a more conventional Charedi position, and the OCD-sufferer will attack him without mercy. At most the OCD-sufferer will throw the Charedi a backhanded compliment, while expressing disappointment at the Charedi who seemed to be “open-minded”.
Those who suffer from OCD believe they are open-minded, yet they heap abuse on anyone who disagrees with them. This reaction is typically immediate and unbridled.
When Charedim suffer in any way – such as poverty, illness, or tragedies – the OCD-sufferer will always blame the Charedim and their lifestyle. He will leverage their suffering as proof that Charedim are backwards and evil. He will feign concern for them even as he mocks them. He will pretend to grieve for their dead even as he throws dirt on the living.
Nothing makes the OCD-sufferer more giddy than news that Charedim have been hit hard in some way. “Maybe this will wake them up”, he declares from atop his mountain of superiority. “Maybe now they will learn how primitive and stupid they are and become enlightened like me.”
The OCD-sufferer eagerly anticipates the Charedi reaction to their suffering so he can mock it. There they go again, worrying about modesty, and Shabbos, and learning Torah, and doing good deeds, and connecting to Hashem, when they should be focusing on how backwards and stupid they are. What terrible Jews!
If only the Charedim would let him help them. If only they would go on social media and read his helpful posts.
Alas, the Charedim do not generally devote their lives to social media, and they are not interested in his posts. While those with Obsessive Charedi Disorder are by definition obsessed with Charedim, the OCD-sufferer is irrelevant to them. This plagues the latter to no end. His snarky cohorts relish every opportunity to throw mud at Charedim, but Charedim generally ignore them and don't even know they exist.
The OCD-sufferer can do nothing but poison Charedim in the eyes of others, but this he does with religious fervency like nothing else. If he leaves the world having done nothing more than make others believe Charedim are backwards, stupid, and evil, he will consider it a life worth having lived.
But the OCD-sufferer does not enjoy his life. He is consumed with hatred and his obsession. It eats him up inside. It poisons his mind, it distorts his thoughts, it corrupts his soul. Those with advanced cases of OCD lose the ability to be truly compassionate, caring, empathetic, even decent human beings. They become vulgar, despicable people, consumed with hatred, comfortable only among those who hate Charedim as deeply as they do.
They can get along better with goyim than Charedim. This pleases them, too. The OCD-sufferer would be more genial toward those who hate all Jews than he would a Charedi. He would try to make friends with the former, but never the latter. He would explain why he is one of the good Jews. They should agree to disagree on some trivial things, and hate the Charedim together. They're what's wrong with Judaism.
Fortunately, there is a new treatment for Obsessive Charedi Disorder. It's called a mirror.
When the OCD-sufferer wakes up in the morning, before he runs to check the news and post his snarky commentary about Charedim, he should look in the mirror. He should contemplate whether he is conducting himself with true yiras shamayim, whether Hashem is happy with him. He should consider whether his sharp radar for Charedi imperfections, and the way he pounces on them, is nothing more than a cover for his own glaring warts.
Could it be that his intentions are not exactly pure?
Could it be that his “constructive criticism” is destructive slander?
Could it be that someone with sincere criticism coming from a place of genuine concern would express himself differently?
Could it be that he is really doing nothing more than feeding his own ego and medicating his feelings of inadequacy?
A deep, honest look in the mirror will help clarify these and other such questions. Over time, the Obsessive Charedi Disorder will be alleviated. It will be replaced with humility, honesty, and understanding. Yes, Charedim are imperfect in many ways – some of them biggies – but so is he. Maybe they are just people trying to get by, figure out life, and be good Jews. And maybe most of them are doing a pretty good job of it, despite their shortcomings and flaws.
If you or someone you know suffers from OCD, there is hope. You don't need to suffer anymore. You don't need to lose your life and your afterlife to this terrible disease.
Best of all, the mirror comes with no harmful side effects. Get one today, and get your life back.